We started our road trip at 7am when we boarded our bus. Casmin and I sat in the very back of the bus and took up those five seats for ourselves. It was one of our best decisions. After our driver gave us a 40 min spoken tour as we were driving he finally decided to be quiet for a few hours. This was the greatest thing that could happen at that point in time since we were so tired. I laid down on three of the seats and took a nice long nap for the rest of the bus ride until the driver yelled "HEY!" time to wake up! He then proceeded to give us a little tour of Coventry as we drove through to the Cathedral. The Coventry Cathedral is interesting because the old remains from the one that got destroyed during the blitz is right next to the new one they built. They new one is very art decoish and modern for the time. Apparently you could go up in a tower. Camille did and yelled down to us, when we asked how she got up there she yelled "Money!" haha So yeah I didn't think it was that worth it. I also decided we had better not yell in the cathedral ruins. My favoritepart was when swing music started coming from this little room down some stairs. I danced to it for a little and decided an investigation was neccessary. These three little old men had turned it on and I could tell they were just waiting for us to come in and see there movie and display.
We all sat down at the old fashioned school desks and watched a movie about the blitz and the Cathedral.
The little area was set up so you would see what it was like to be a kid during that time. They had the little school house, a kitchen and other little displays. I couldn't stay long though because the bus was calling.
The old Coventry Cathedral.
Welcome to Kenilworth Castle!! Or the dream playground! Not only were little kids in armor running around sword fighting but girls in our group also took the oppertunity to run around exploring and climbing. I didn't do much climbing.
I took the liberty of climbing on one wall and Casmin felt the need to capture a picture of it. I decided to forgo the way others climbed and just scale the wall. Everyone else climbed up steps and walked along the ledge to get to this wall but I didnt want to take the time.
I finally got up the wall and got my picture. It is a little awkward position but it was a small ledge so there wasn't much that could be done.
The castle still has beautiful gardens. They even have a little bird room with pheasants in it.
Some old ruined stairs that I wished I could climb but I just couldnt fit through the small window in the door. Sometimes I just need to be able to shrink.
One of the archer windows
One of the gazebos in the garden. One thing I learned on this trip is that I defintiely need a beautiful garden.
So all through the castle we kept thinking we saw the tower that the Swan Princess was thrown in when she was a swan. Then we found the one actually called the swan tower, in that moment I knew it was real.
I decided it was about time that someon guard the castle gates again.
Just a beautiful arch way
The back view of the castle and a few of our groupies sitting down picnicing. Don't worry I didn't spend anytime eating at the castle because I wanted to make sure I saw it all since I knew I could eat on the bus. It paid off because Casmin and I found this little hole in the wall and went in and found a cool little room.
Trapped inside the castle walls, but who cares when you are surrounded by such beautiful countryside.
I was so excited to see this becasue you can tell that it used to be a fireplace! It was huge! Then I was able to notice were the floor used to be and everything. The floor isnt there anymore because it was made of wood and that is also why some towers don't have stairs.
Okay these people were short.
Some fun facts about the castle are that the King of France sent the King of England at the time (I don't remember exactly who) a gift of tennis balls. The English King took this as an insult meaning that he was too young to be king and should just play, so it started a war.
It is thought that Queen Elizabeth's love and favorite Lord (Robert D. ?) killed his wife so that he could be with Elizabeth. They would visit each other often. Of course he and Elizabeth never got married though becuase he was going to propose with a play and parade, but it rained so she cancelled it and never rescheduled. On the bus Casmin and I listened to music and ate our lunch. We brought a huge grocery bag full of food to ensure we would not go hungry and maybe even save a little of the food money they gave us for other things...clothes maybe being one of them. We drove through beautiful countryside called the C........., it was amazing with gorgeous houses. Casmin and I dibsed every house we drove by. Our driver told us that you could tell the wealth of the people in the villages by the size of their church. The more money you give to the church means you are going to heaven. We saw lots of old cottages and thatched roofs. The closer to Anne Hathaway's Cottage we got the more thatched roofs we saw. I don't mean Anne Hathaway from Princess Diarie's either. I am talking about Shakespeare's wife, who was 26 when they got married and he was 18. Crazy! Apparently they most likely did most of their courting at her house.
She really knew how to keep a lovely home and garden. or I guess the peole taking care of it now do, because it was beautifil.
There was this cute little bush house with a bench in it! Love Love Love!!
This was the most interesting scarecrow I have ever seen.
Again more short doors. I don't know if these people just ducked or we have just become taller. I guess I am a really tall person anyways.
Look at here adorable little cottage. It almost reminds me of Snow White.
Okay not only were the flowers beautiful but I saw some of the biggest bees I have ever seen in my whole life. I was imagining if I were to get stung by one and then I ran as far from them as possible. So Casmin and I headed off for the maze. On the way we decided to take a picture where we sat in the grass and of course I got a grass stain on the back of my new pants. That was a fun surprise. So I walked with my hands behind my back from then on to hide it. We got to the maze and decided to run through it. I ended up chasing Casmin until I caught her and then we took a lovely stroll and tried to talk olden day. Our stroll continued into the forest. It was cute ther were little things hanging randomly and some shakespeare quotes.
There were tons of bugs though. I even got some in my shoes!!
I had to clean the bugs and woodchips out of my shoes plus it was nice to just be bare foot in the grass for a little bit.
Anne Hathaways Cottage and Garden
There was a flower called Princess Elizabeth!
The littlest Shakespeare book I have ever seen or read. After Anne Hathaway's Cottage we drove to the Arden Farm, which I loved!! There were animals everywhere! Yes I am indeed obsessed with animals if you haven't been able to tell by my multiple picture so animals. The first thing we saw was a Falconeering show. They showed us the love owl and how it flies in at marriages to bless it and then we got to see a falcon fly and try to catch what the falconeer had on a string. Falcons are so fast! The next thing I saw was the best ever....a white horse! Dreams come true!
The cutest little horse ever! He even let me pet him and would come over to me.
Owl in a Basket...This is a baby owl! I thougth it was fake until I saw it move.
The love owl.
European Eagle Owl
A buzzard
A wishing well outside Mary Arden's house (Shakespeare's Mom)
My beautiful Horse
An old fashioned carriage
The pigsty! They were nasty. Then Casmin brought up bacon and I had to leave. Just thinking about eating the cute little pigs is nasty.
Just a lazy little goat
Mary Arden's actual house
Another tiny tiny door way. Why so small?
The outhouse...I do not feel like it really offers much screenage.
At least it had a big wooden door in front
This rooster was huge! Yes I could tell that the chickens had a pecking order. The rooster wasn't the pushy one like you would think he would be in charge but it was a different chicken. I admit I did watch the chickens for a little. I would have watched the goose more too but it sat like a statue.
Our bed and Breakfast was so nice! It felt so good to be there I wanted to go to bed the second we walked in. The beds were the comfiest I have slept on for awhile and I am pretty sure the pillows were feather pillows. I didn't get to eat right then because we had to get dinner and go to a play. We went to a pub called Weatherspoons and I was going to get fish and chips but they ran out so I got a hamburger instead. We then went to Merchant of Venice, but it had a different twist because it was set in Las Vegas. I really liked the different twist and thought that it was creative and kept me interested. Patrick Stewart played as Shylock so after the show we waited for him and got his autograph.
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