Day 9 ... highlights the City of Chester and Shakespeare's birthplace

... today was the end of our bus tour and we had a couple of great stops - one being Chester [one of the few remaining walled cities in England], and the last being Stratford-upon-Avon [the birthplace of William Shakespeare]. This morning began with Beanie secretly telling our tour director, Peter Staff, that today is her dad's birthday and that he really didn't want anyone to know ... BUT she really wanted the whole bus to sing him "Happy Birthday" ... which of course occurred because as Peter put it, "how can he say no to that sweet face ".

Once arriving at the City of Chester we went to the centre of The Rows and walked halfway around the the fortified walls taking in the Roman ruins of an amphitheatre and a bathhouse. From there we carried on to Stratford which was alive with crowds and sites - we spent time in the public gardens by the lake where there are statues of some of Shakespeare`s more well-known characters, and then we toured Shakespeare`s home and birthplace. In its day the home would have been seen as quite opulent. After walking through the residence we went out into a lovely garden area where there were two actors taking requests to act out different Shakespeare plays. Of course I had to get my "two pence" in and ask for a scene from my favourite "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" ... they chose a scene featuring Puck and the King of the Faeries - twas brilliant and I truly loved it ... we stayed on a while longer to here recitations of Othello and Hamlet [this is my "people" story of the day ... these two actors are phenomenal].

We then began the trek back to London and to a hotel where we are having just a quick overnight and then we're off to Amsterdam tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to settling down in the area and truly exploring ... must pack it in for now as I hope to go for a last run through Hyde Park before breakfast and I know it'll be an adverture making our way to Gatwick Airport ... we're opting out of the 100+ British Pound cost of a taxi and we're going with public transportation !!

Today's Photo: view of the River Dee as we walked atop the fortified walls surrounding the City of Chester

Cheers to all - RGR