Canterbury to Stratford Upon Avon

We left Saloman's and went to Canterbury. We were fortunate enough to have stayed within the cathedral precincts and have complete access to the Cathedral pretty much whenever we wanted. It was amazing to look out the window and see this ancient Cathedral glowing orange in the light of the moon. People have been coming to Canterbury for over 1500 years to worship God--it is a place of pilgrimage. I did my best to feel the history, imagine the different people walking and riding hundreds of miles to worship at this exact spot. Sometimes, it is hard to really grasp things like that.

We then headed to Oxford to tour the college of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, T.S. Eliot, and Lewis Carroll. The colleges and town were beautiful, and we had a wonderful tour of the city despite the bone chilling cold.

Arriving in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the town of William Shakespeare's birth, I could tell right away that the place goes all out for it's most famous son. Throughout our time there, we walked by the As You Like It Cafe which served "William's Shakes", ate at a cafe termed "The Food of Love", shook our heads at Romeo and Juliet's "adult" shop. While there, we had a packed schedule of events at the Shakespeare Center in town. We got to have several discussions on the play "Twelfth Night" which the Royal Shakespeare Company was putting on at the time. We got to see the show not once, but twice, which was phenominal. Afterward we had a question and answer time with one of the main actors. We took an amusing stage combat class. It was a rewarding week, filled with more amazing theater experiences and the chance to delve into Shakespeare texts.

All these towns had taken on the look of the season and we decked out for Christmas. With a month left before home was on the horizon, for the first time I started looking towards the end of the trip and looking forward to celebrating Christmas at home with family.