Under the greenwood tree,
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat-
Come hither, come hither, come hither!
Here shall he see No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
Well, I’m not particular fond of visiting places, related to the famous people. I personally find this a bit too thick. I’m ok with the historical places or nature wonders. However to travel to see “House where such and such were born or died” – not my favourite type of travel. I believe people need privacy, even after they long dead. If I’d be famous, I won’t want crowds of strangers to wander through my rooms, examine my possessions…But Stratford is something else to me. It is not just the market town, where Shakespeare was born and has died. This is town where he began and ended his life. And there are still a lot of speculations about the influence this place had on him. To me personally – I think that if he returned to Stratford after all those years of fame in London that might just be there is a reason, there is something in the area, in the air, in the waters…something that formed his style and pushed his muse. I wanted to try to catch that “something” and that was why we went there.
Stratford is less then 10 miles away from Warwick. So it was literally “written in our maps” that we should go there. It is a small town. Most of which is – the famous historical centre with the beamed houses, some of them unimaginably old. If you look up from time to time you’d be amazed by wavy roofs, terracotta dragons on roofs, odd little windows and lots of black and white buildings - painted black and white by the Victorians because they thought it looked neater. There is an old pub in Stratford - an inn, that been there from 14 century!(right hand side on the picture)
We didn’t go into the museums inside the houses connected to Shakespeare. Instead we just walked around the town centre, spent a few moments by his birthplace and the place where he said to have died.
Birthplace – House where William Shakespeare was born:
New Place - House where they said he’d died:
And we took a short river cruise on the river Avon to see picturesque surroundings…And it was there, on the river, when I felt it so strong – there was something in the air. Something that makes your ears to hear the luring whispers of the lovers, makes your eyes to see everything through the charming glass of beauty, makes your senses to feel that touch of the rose petals falling down on your skin…
What caught my eye – everywhere you can see people walking in couples…along the river…sitting on the benches…in a small café by the river, not noticing us sailing by…not noticing the whole world passing by…The population of Stratford has been literally “overcoupled”
And I must say – when drifting on the river…watching beautiful restful river walks along the banks of the peaceful Avon, swans, unnumbered amount of swans, drifting along with us…young, old, various age lovers, where've you look…I could swear if I’d wished for it very strongly, I might’ve notice the spirit of master William himself mixed with the crowd – so “shakespeary” the atmosphere was…It is a very romantic place. Kind of place where you’d want to be with Someone Special…
If Glastonbury is a Land Of Fairies, Stratford is definitely- The Land Of Lovers.