Stratford

Salutations lords and lady’s from the land of Shakespeare.

Translation, wassup.   I'm in Stratford Upon Avon.

Yesterday we decided to start the morning by walking to the house of Anne Hathaway (pronounced hate-a way),wife of Shakespeare. Hilariously, the majority of the time we spent there was taking a walk through the woods around the house.

So we pretty much took a walk, so we could go an a walk.

The house was boring but a good example of an English Tudor House with a thatched roof. There was a  tour guide who told us:

1. Anne Hathaway inhereted the 2^nd best bed when her husband William Shakespeare died.
2. Anne was 26 and William was 18 when they got married – their daughter was s out walking he meets born 6 months later. She was not born early.
3. People would sleep with cheese above their beds since there was no refrigeration and they lived on a farm.

Enjoy the pictures below that have pictures of the walk and the house. 

After the Hathaway House we went to the Royal Shakespeare Companies production of Hamlet.  In case you don’t know the story – here it is:

Hamlet in a Nutshell

Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark and off at University when his father dies.  He comes home and is horrified because his mother has already remarried his uncle (his father’s brother).

One night while Hamlet is walking he meets the ghost of his father who tells him he must avenge his death because he was murdered by his brother. 

Hamlet doesn’t know if this is true so he gathers a troop of actors and has them put on a play re-enacting his father’s death as told to him by the ghost.  He carefully watches his uncle (the new kings) reaction to the play.  Sure enough, half way through the play within a play, The Uncle finds he cannot breathe and runs away. This proves to Hamlet that the ghost is telling the truth and the uncle must die. 

Before Hamlet has a chance to murder the uncle, the uncle sends him to England, with 2 of his university friends.  Unbeknownst to Hamlet, the friends have betrayed Hamlet and are carrying a letter from the king (his uncle) to execute Hamlet upon his arrival in England. 

Hamlet however catches wind of the plot to kill him and makes his way back to Denmark where his love interest Ophelia has killed herself by drowning. 

Bottom line: Pelonis dies (Ophelia’s dad and the kings advisor - Hamlet stabs him thinking he was the king), Queen Gertrude dies (by drinking a poisoned drink that was meant for Hamlet), Larities dies (brother of Ophelia, by the poisoned sword that Hamlet wheeled), King dies (drinking from poisoned drink and stabbed by poisoned sword), Hamlet dies (also by being stabbed by poisoned sword).

The only one left was Horatio (Hamlet’s only true friend) so he could tell the story. Also because nobody wanted to kill him. 

This was a fun play to see – even if it was a little gruesome. 

See you next time on my blog. 

 But before you go,check out these pictures of the Hathaway house.

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Stratford Upon Avon

I'm back! That's right, Simon David Ace Grossman, Lord High Ruler of all Awesomeness is here to tell you about his latest adventure! 

Yesterday my mother and I hopped on board the 12:18 train to Stratford Upon Avon, following in the footsteps of the great bard himself. For those of you who are unaware, William Shakespeare was born in Stratford. If you don't know whoWilliam Shakespeare was, he was known as The Bard of Avon, owned his own acting company, and and wrote over 35 plays. Please look at the following pictures to learn more.

 This is Shakespeare portrayed as a demon, as many of his plays included death.

This is what some people think Shakespeare would look like nowadays, since he was wildly popular in his time. Also sometimes people like to update his plays and set them in modern times. Did you know that West Side Story is based off of Romeo and Juliette?

This is me standing next to a bust of the bard himself!

This is fireplace in Shakespeare's childhood home.

This is the kitchen in Shakespeare's childhood home.

this is Shakespeare's childhood home.

These are pictures of the garden in New Place, the large house Shakespeare bought.

thanks for coming! today we are going to see Hamlet. Wonder how it ends...

I'm back! that's right, Simon David Ace Grossman lord high ruler of all awesomeness is here to tell you about his last adventure! Yesterday me and may mom hopped on board the 12:18 train to Stratford Upon Avon, following in the footsteps of the great bard himself. for those of you who are

I'm back! That's right, Simon David Ace Grossman, the Lord high ruler of all awesomeness is here to tell you   about his latest adventure! yesterday my mother and I left the confines of the city and boarded the train to see

Hello again! Fancy seeing you here! Do you come here often? Well you should! Today I shall tell about my travels to the Churchill War Rooms! The Churchill War Rooms were originally called the Cabinet War Rooms, since the Cabinet (a group of military advisers for Britain that included the Prime Minister) met there. The Cabinet War Rooms were a series of rooms that were used as a Top secret place to plot against the Nazi's in WWII. Everyone who worked there was sworn to secrecy. Please enjoy the following pictures.

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This is a picture we took right in front of Big Ben! We were right outside the Westminster Tube Station, and had to pass it to get to the Churchill war rooms. Did you know that Big Ben is actually not it's own building? It is a part of the House of Parliament! The House of Parliament is like the US Congress but instead of Senators and Congressmen and women they have the House of Lords and the Ministers of Parliament.

This is the sign that says Churchill War Rooms. We passed right by it while we were waiting in line.

In the Churchill War rooms we saw the actual rooms. We saw inside the rooms that only Winston Churchill and a few of his top staff used. There was a secret room used to telephone the President of the United States - President Roosevelt. While this seems like nothing for the present times - back then it was incredible technology.  Everyone else thought the secret room was the only flushing toilet available.  There were also bedrooms so people could spend the night. One of my favorite places was the map room - it was covered with maps of Europe and Russia and it was there where they would make their plans on how to stop the Nazi's.  

Winston Churchill seemed like a hard boss but a nice man.  

Remember to keep watching, next time you will hear about our train ride to Stratford Upon Avon, and my big viola world tour! Keep looking every day! 

And here h

Hello again! Miss this fabulous blog yet? Well you should! In this edition you'll find out about the fabulous   London Museum Of Natural History! 

First we (I was there with my Aunt Bonnie and cousin Dow. Dow, who is my age, and I lived in London at the same time - when we were 2 - 5 years old.  Now she lives in Geneva, Switzerland and she and her mom rendez vous'ed with us for this trip) went to the favorite exhibit from our past, THE DINOSAURS! Unfortunately many of the school groups had the same idea so we decided to check out the mammals. The mammals exhibit was interesting and informative. Did you know that some scientists argue that a panda bear is actually more like a raccoon then a bear? The majority of scientists however, agree that the panda is a bear and the red panda is a relative of the raccoon's. There are also over 20 kinds of bats and they are the only mammal that can fly.

Then we couldn't stand it any longer. we had to see the Dinosaurs even though there were a ton of people - just too many childhood memories. First we walked up steps onto a sort of metal catwalk. On the floor were many dinosaur skeletons, there were also many in the air. At the end of the cat walk, we found ourselves on a ramp. but we could only see what was behind us not in front of us. This was due to a large wall covered with t-Rex facts, for instance the t-Rex was tall enough to ride a double decker bus, and the t-Rex weighed about out as much as 30 2nd graders. then suddenly we heard a very loud "rrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" as we turned a corner we saw it, A LIFE SIZE TYRANNOSAURUS REX! it was about 24 feet tall, with arms that were about 1 foot long.

Up next was the Darwin Center. In the Darwin Center there are over 100 scientists at work, trying to use different pieces in the museum to find out what starts, spreads and stops diseases like malaria. they are also at work trying to think of names that fit different species.

I hope you enjoyed your visit! Please click on this great virtual tour of the London Natural History Museum:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdQDm4gdSOc



and here I am...

And this afternoon we are off to The Cabinet War Rooms!