What a busy, busy day we had after a rather leisurely morning.
To be or not to be - that is the question. Shakespeare was the theme for late morning/early afternoon. We made our way to Stratford-Upon-Avon - Shakespeare's birthplace and also where he died and is buried. We took a walking tour around this picturesque little town on the Avon river. We stopped at the home where he supposedly was born, the homes where both his daughters and later his granddaughter lived. Continuing on, we visited the Guilded Church, built in 1269, which is known for its stained glass windows and the pipe organ. From their we traveled onto the Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare, his wife Anne Hathaway, his daughter Suzanna, his son-in-law John Hall, and the first husband of Elizabeth, Will's granddaughter. What an amazing place this is. hard to imagine that we were standing right next to the final resting place of such a historical figure. The irony of our lunch today was the name of our restuarant - Marlow's, as it was rumored that Christopher Marlow actually penned Shakespeare's plays.

From there we continued onto Warwick Castle. On the way, our new coach driver, Ian, challened us to climb the 530 steps on the tower to tower tour of the castle. As I'm sure you have guessed, this was a challenge we could not refuse and many of us made the trek. What amazing views from the top! Afterwards, we explored the rest of the castle until we met up the soldiers of the garrison who quickly enlisted our students to help defend Warwick Castle against intruders from foreign lands. So it was off to training - starting with learning about the defensive structure of the castle. We were fed in soldier style - outside - in light rain and then it was off to combat training.


First off, we learned sword fighting. It was amazing how quickly they picked up these skills. Yes, be afraid, be very, very afraid! :-) After mastering 30 minutes of sword fighting, we headed to learn archery and the proper dress for an arch-men. If you want to have fun with your kids after we return home, in a stern voice give the commands "Hands up, hands on knees, drum roll....WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" The last stop in our combat training was stave training, where the students received a stern lesson in how to properly handle their staves (long wooden sticks with knives on the end - although the ones the students used omitted the knives). I think we have the makings of a pretty impressive 12th century army.

The grand finale of the evening was experiencing the firing of the world's largest medieval siege machine, trebuchet, which stood 18 meters tall (approximately 60 feet) and weighed over 2 tons. the fireball looked like a comet passing overhead.
Late night - just arriving to the hotel at 10:45 p.m. Tomorrow it is off to Oxford!
**** MORE PICTURES FROM TODAY WILL ARRIVE TOMORROW :)