Final day of Tour (Belfast Next) - Aug 20

Severn River, Ironbridge, Englad

We left Wales this morning, as headed back to England.  We crossed the Severn River, which separates England from Wales. It is the largest river in Britain.  It's a tidal estuary; there is a place on it where you can surf a portion of the river.

By the way, the river is pronounced "Seven". English also have some interesting pronunciations.  Sometimes they randomly do letters, like the "r" in Severn, other times i am convinced they just make up a pronunciation.  For, Leominster is pronounced "Leminster", Leichester "Lester", and  Worcestershire is "Wooster".

We passed by a country field, and in the middle of it there is part of a wall from a Roman structure.  England takes great care to preserve whatever ruins they find from the past. Unfortunately, this was the "badlands" of Roman empire because it's how far north it was. So because of this, plus time, there are not many remains left.

Ironbridge

 We stopped at Ironbridge, a city named, aptly, for the 100 foot Ironbridge that spans the Severn River. The Bridge was built by Abraham Darby. Who was a pioneer of the cast iron process (which is why they call this the "cradle of the industrial revolution"). He sold the processing rights to the English Navy, making him "quite rich".

He wanted a bridge across the river to connect factories. The bridges of the time were not lasting, so he built the first wraught iron bridge. People could not believe that he was making the whole bridge out of iron. But 237 years later, is still holding up.

Anne Hathaway House

Our last stop before returning to London was Stratford-Upon-Avon. We stopped briefly for a picture of Anne Hathaway's house (Shakespeare's wife, not the actress). After 3 kids, he moved to London to work, leaving his family behind.

While in London, he got work behind the scenes at the theater. Eventually, he gets an opportunity to act (which is what he was best known for during most of his life).

He eventually starts writing plays believing there is money to be made.  he started with the popular historical plays of the time and does quite well. So he branched out to the comedies.

His success in London allowed him to buy his father a coat of arms and his own family the biggest house in Stratford (which we now call Anne Hathaway's house).

As our guide, Pieter says, like Leonardo di Caprio, he wanted an Oscar. And like Leonardo he needs to change his style of writing and get a gritty play. So he writes …

Around 50 years old, he retires to Stratford upon Avon with his wife. Two years later he dies.

Shakespeare redefined the English language, inventing 600 words that would not exist in the English language is not for him.  (Eg. Academy, blushing, hint, mimic, tranquil, puking, etc.)

Shakespeare Birth House

We stopped in the city of Stratford, where Judith and I went to the house in which he was born and raised.













Some Trivia about Shakespeare:

Birth room window - signed by visitors in 1800s,
Including Tennyson (inset=closeup)

• His dad was a glovemaker (tanning his own hides), illegal wool dealer, moneylender, and town bailout (like mayor today) - ambitious!
• Tudor England had   laws r that.  defined how you could eat. As middle class, his family could eat 2 courses for the main meal.
• He had 7 siblings, 4 of which died in childhood
• His wife was 9 years older than him
• His brother, Edmund, joined him as an actor in London
• His son Hamnet, who died at 11, was likely the inspiration for the name "Hamlet"
• He had 3 children and 4 grandchildren, but then his family line stopped. (so, no, you're not a descendant)
• Shakespeare birth house was leased out as an inn after his father's death for almost 250 years

Theater with new friends

After checking into the hotel, I went to dinner and the theater. A few of us saw "Kinky Boots" (others went to Beautiful.  The musical was good, although I thought a few of the songs tried to hard to make a point. But it was a good musical. 

Kinky Boots Set