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Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford is famous for being the birthplace (and burrial place) of Shakespeare. It's now the Shakespeare Mecca. You don't see much in the town that doesn't somehow reference him or his works. Apart from the Shakespeare connection, it is still a cute town. As we were there on the verge of the tourist off season it wasn't very busy, but I can imagine that in the full of summer it would be a nightmare. While here we visited Shakespeare's birthplace. In the house is a small museum about the history of the house - it was much more interesting than I would have thought! It's hard to imagine that original artifacts were once sold, and people wrote graffiti on the walls and such. We also visited Holy Trinity Church where he and much of his immediate family are burried. Around the corner is the location of Shakespeare's final home although unfortunately it was destroyed by a subsequent owner who was seemingly trying to keep the tax revenue from the town. Next to this spot is the house of Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-law. It is set up as a museum and there are some interesting things to be seen there. The "tour guide" (and I put it in quotes as the tour did not move) was extremely well versed in the lore of the area and as a result we were almost bored to tears before we could manage to get away. While in town you can also visit the Royal Shakespeare Theatre; cruise along the Avon or just wander through town. If you're in England it's one of those "must do" sorts of things. If you're at all interested in Shakespeare there's a huge amount of interesting things to see.
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