UNITED KINGDOM - DAY 12

Today we travelled to Stratford, the home of William Shakespeare. His family were quite wealthy and William didn't go to school until he was 11. He left at 15 with very little education as he wasn't interested in school. He liked to watch the traveling players and to dabble in poaching.

He was married to Anne Hathaway when he was 18 to her 26. Within several months Anne was pregnant, and Will Shakespeare got spooked and ran off and wasn't see for five years. No one knows where he was during this time.

William was discovered in London acting and part owner in a theatre, The Globe. He returned home to meet his daughter Judith. He settled down with Anne and very shortly after that she was expecting again. This time Will left for 14 years. Anne had twins a girl and a boy, Susannah and Hamlet. The only reason he returned home the second time was that his son was stuck down with an illness. Unfortunately Will didn't make it home in time, so he never got to meet his son.

He settle back down in Stratford and spent the rest of his life there writing sonnets and his plays. He must have known that he was dying because several months before he died, he wrote his own obituary. He died on his birthday and was buried 13 feet deep.

We wandered around the town. There wasn't much to see beside Will's house and grave.

We boarded to bus and headed to Warwick to the best castle in England. It had everything, dungeons, goals, magnificent state apartments, Madame Tussaud wax-works showing everyday life during the 16th century. We climbed Guy's and Caesar's Tower for panoramic views out over the Warwickshire countryside. We even saw the end of the bird's of prey show, where they had this huge bird, known as an Egyptian Vulture fly from the knight's hand up to the top of the tower before flying back again and landing on his arm again. The knight would have to have strong arm muscles to support the size of the bird.

The best thing by far was the firing of the greatest of all medieval siege weapons, the Trebuchet. It was awesome. They set the ball on fire and had to wait until it was just right before firing. If they fired to soon, the ball would go out mid flight and if they left it too late the trebuchet would catch fire and burn.

That night being the last night on tour, we all went to the Porridge Pot for dinner. It was a great night. We had all bonded at various times throughout the tour and it was sad that we were going to be parting ways in the morning.