Trinity Church

Our tour to Stratford had made a stop at Oxford earlier and then taken us through the Shakespeare birth home. It was midday and of course, everyone was hungry. We were turned loose for 45 while minutes on Henley Street, outside the Shakespeare home, for a pleasant lunch and for some souvenir shopping. That is what most of the tour members thought. Having been told that there was no time on the itinerary for a visit to Trinity Church, we walked into a restaurant, ordered paninis to go, and ate lunch at a brisk walk.

The effort certainly paid off. The sense of pilgrimage could not have been completed without seeing the famed injunction not to 'digg the dust encloased heare.' With the walk, we had time to see the ancient churchyard, see the gravesite right front in the chancel, view the baptism and burial records on site, and look at the renovation underway at the old church. The pilgrimage was complete.

On Avon

For a literature teacher, for a drama teacher, for anyone who loves great writing, a visit to Stratford-On-Avon is more a pilgrimage than a tourist visit. Not much looks surprising, as we have seen photos of Shakespeare's birth home right in the midst of town, and we have seen pictures of the Hathaway house and flower garden out in a more rural area. We have seen it all, we recognize it, and yet we walk there in awe.

Truly our visit to the Globe Theatre two days earlier was more important, more alive, more of the essence of Shakespeare. Every time actors breathe life into Romeo and into Juliet, the spark kindles the flame and Shakespeare lives. Every time I have a ticket to a Shakespeare play I learn something new about the characters, people I know, and myself. But touching base with Stratford was very special.