Our group traveled across England yesterday from Grasmere to Stratford upon Avon. Train rides are usually pleasent (at least this one was) and it gave me lots of time to catch up on reading and journaling. We arrived in Stratford and it seemed extremely flat compared to the beautiful terrain of the Lake District, tourists flooded the streets filled with Shakespeare toursit shops... not exactly what I had in mind. Our hostel is about a 35-40 minute walk from town, which is both fortunate and unfortunate. While the walk gives everyone a good dose of fresh air, it also is far enough that it's super hard to motivate ourselves to walk downtown. That also excludes any pub visits or evening activities... probably planned that way so we would read rather than run around town!
This morning our group went to the Holy Communion Service at the Holy Trinity Church, (the same church where Shakespeare is burried). The service was quite nice, and there were two baptisms! We were amazed at how many children they had running around the church. The English don't have the same urgency to rush their screaming toddlers our of the church like many Americans do. Usually when a baby starts to cry in an American church service, it's a race for the door, trying not to disturb the preacher. In contrast, this morning there were babies yelling, screaming, talking loudly everywhere, and the parents just gave a polite "shhh" (which did nothing) and continued trying to focus on the sermon. So, while I enjoyed seeing all the beautiful English babies running around, I wished that they could install some sort of temporary 'cry room' in these massive old churches.
I have two weeks left of living out of my backpack (hooray!), and two more destinations: Oxford and our last week in London. I'm beginning to miss home very much, and I'm craving a good spelt-banana waffle from the Waffle Co. in Juneau... that means I'm ready. ;)
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