Yesterday I had no internet access all day, so I'm cathing up a bit jow. After breakfast we took a bus to our next hotel in Coventry. I'd tell you tge countryside was lovely, but I don't really know because I slept almost the whole way. We had lunch in Coventry, then hopped right back on the bus and traveled to Warwick Castle.
The castle was very cool. Not only is the building itself an amazing structure to see, climb, and photograph, but they've essentially turned it into an amusement park. I watched a falconry show, complete with a specimen of the world's largest species of eagle, a giant 15lbs bird with an 8 foot wingspan. The thing probably stood around three and a half feet tall when perched. It was huge, with a giant almost Tucan-like beak. I got some pretty good shots of it swooping over my head, despite my crappy camera.
Inside the castle, I took lots of pictures of swords, suits of armor, axes, and very old rifles, knowing these would probably be the only pictures of the trip my son, Noah, would have any interest in. I'm sometimes surprised at his interest in all things violent, considering he has two Quaker pacifist parents. Then I remember all my interests as a kid and admit the apple does not fall too far from the tree.
After the halls, I climbed up the tallest tower and got some great pictures of our students and the surrounding city of Warwick (pronounced War-ick). Then I caught up with some other GLs to watch a reenactment of a medieval joust. The acting, the jokes, and the cheezy storyline were atrocious, but the actual jousting, sword fighting, etc. were cool. I really want to bring Noah here someday soon.
We had to run out of the castle before any of us got to do everything inside, which is starting to feel like the norm on this tour over-packed with so many sights. We hopped back on the bus and traveled to Statford upon Avon (Strat =Street, Ford= a river crossing, and Avon is the river running through town, so the name means the town was built where a Roman road met up with a place to cross the Avon river). Here we went into Trinity Church and saw the grave of William Shakespeare. It might not have peaked the interest of all the students, but we English teachers loved it. We then had some brief free time, mostly filled with dinner. Some of ys went to an Italian restaurant. I had the wild boar tagliatelle and learned I really like wild boar sausage.
After dinner we went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Julius Ceaser. The dumb show (not as in stupid, but as in the mute part before the actual play starts) was really cool, and the kids were really into it, but the beginning of the actual play was quite slow, even for those of us who weren't struggling with the language. I kept myself awake by nudging Sean, Aidan, and Andrew when they fell asleep, and then giving them updates on the story. By intermission Justine had lay down on the floor, and the guys were clearly lost. Once the house lights came up the students told me they couldn't understand anything that was being said, and I felt guilty for making them stay awake. One of our chaperons, Tia Jones, was enjoying the show even less than the kids. She said, "It was the most torturous thing I had to sit through since a time share presentation I sat through for tickets to Disneyland." upon finding I had no such gifts to offer, she took a group of malcontents and they escaped into the city before the second half. Of those who remained, most liked the second half better, but even the teachers admitted it wasn't as good a production as we'd been hoping for.
After the show we came back to Coventry and most folks crashed. We learned this morning that three of the guys spent some of the night sneaking around the hotel with the little wooden bows and arrows they'd purchased at Warwick Castle, "hunting" for lord-knows-what. Other than one stubbed toe, no was was injured in the hunting expedition, and that goofball received no sympathy this morning.
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