Travel Day to Stratford-upon-Avon - August 25th

We were scheduled to travel via taxi from Stow-on-the-Wold to Stratford-upon-Avon this morning. I had booked a taxi a couple of days ago to pick us up at our lodging at 10:30 am. We weren’t in a big hurry as we couldn’t check in to our hotel in Stratford until 3:00 pm, but I had booked a 1:00 pm tour of Shakespeare’s birthplace so we wanted to get to Stratford by 12:30 pm.

After waiting outside our hotel for a good 15 minutes past the agreed upon pick up time, it was obvious our driver was a no show. The hotel had given me a list of @ 8 local taxi drivers, plus 2 others that provided more long distance/airport transportation. I called all the local drivers with no one even answering their phone before I finally resorted to calling one of the long distance services. At last! This particular driver answered his phone, and, although he was unable to help us, he did refer me to a friend of his named Mark. I contacted Mark and he was available. 

This must have been early on in
our wait for the taxi - I was still
smiling!

We arrived in Stratford @ noon, dropped off our luggage at the hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and made our way to the house where Shakespeare was born. The tour was exceptional, with a lot of information about Shakespeare’s parents, his early education (he left school at the age of 15), his marriage to Anne Hathaway (he was 18 at the time and she was pregnant with their eldest daughter), his other children, and his early rise to fame.

To cap it all off, we have tickets tonight to Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Shakespeare's Birthplace


Entrance to Shakespeare's birthplace from the garden

Front parlor - furnished as it would have been in
Shakespeare's day


Rich had to have a photo with the statue
of his favorite playwright








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