Hello from the US of A!!!!!
We had a great time but it’s good to be back home.
We left the hotel and went to Stratford on Avon. It is a quaint,
medium-sized town about 70 miles northwest of London. It has narrow
streets and like all English towns, it is almost impossible to find
a parking place. After parking in a parking garage, we walked to
the Shakespeare birthplace, or at least they think it might have
been his birthplace. This building was his parents’ home but it
isn’t certain that he was actually born there. Also at the site
is a small museum showing copies of documents involving the Shakespeares
and about life in Stratford during William Shakespeare’s lifetime.
The building is being restored to its early 1600 level and being
decorated and furnished appropriately. Recently, its décor has been
late 1700’s. His father was a glove maker, minor town official,
wool dealer, and moneylender. One end of the house was the father’s
shop and is also being restored. There are 5 houses in Stratford
that that are part of the Shakespeare Heritage Trust but we only
had time to visit the one.
The picture of the statue of the jester is located in the middle
of the street near the house. The inscriptions on it quote lines
from Shakespeare’s writings regarding jesters or fools.
We got back on the M40 to get to Heathrow. Dennis had rented the
car with the condition that we would return the car with an empty
petrol tank, that’s a gas tank to Americans, so he was determined
to buy any more petrol. As we were getting closer to the airport
the gas gauge was going lower and lower. At 35 miles the needle
hit the top of the empty mark, at 20 it was in the middle of the
mark, and at 10 miles the warning indicator started to blink. We
turned onto the M25, the beltway around London and it was still
blinking, besides there was nowhere to buy any fuel. We turned into
the airport access road, still 3 miles to go, and hoped we wouldn’t
have to stop anywhere for long. We breathed a sigh of relief when
we drove into the car rental return. As we boarded the bus for the
terminal, Dennis checked to see how much fuel they had pumped into
the car. The pump read 50 liters and they were still pumping. 50
liters is a little over 13 gal. And this was a small car of the
type that, in the US, typically has a 12-gallon tank. Apparently
we came in on fumes.
We had driven 1481 miles since Saturday morning. This didn’t include
the two ferry trips. We had seen a lot of the British Isles.
We got our tickets, had a leisurely wait and enjoyed a good flight
home.
As I said, we had a good time but are glad to be home.
Marty
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