We were literally the first people to go through the house and pretty much had the house and garden to ourselves. After touring the house and leaning a lot about the life of Shakespeare and his family in 16th century England, we walked around the gardens a bit. Inspired by the day, a few in the group performed scenes from some of Shakespeare's plays. Two of the museum's actors came out and did a couple monologues for us as well, but the highlight were the two musicians who taught the group a song as well as a fun little dance.
Because rain was predicted for the day, we decided to punt (row boats) down the Avon while the weather was still pleasant. The kids had a blast menuevering their boats, while avoiding the many other boats that move up and down the river. As if on cue, just as we finished punting, the sprinkles of rain began. The rain didn't put a damper on the day, though. It was light and really did not last long.
After lunch we visited two other homes connected to Shakespeare...Nash's House and Hall's Croft. Nash's House belonged to Shakespeare's only surviving grandchild and her husband. What's important about this house, though, is that the house Shakespeare himself bought for his own family (New Place) once stood next door. It has not survived, but the history is still alive there. Hall's Croft belonged to Shakespeare's oldest daughter, Susanna, and her husband, the town physician. He was a wealthy man, and with Susanna inheriting nearly all of Shakespeare's wealth, their house stands as an example of what money could buy in the early 17th century.
From there we finished out our day of Shakespeare at Holy Trinity Church. This is the church he was married in and where he and his family are buried. It is a beautiful church, and it's bells rang all day celebrating the life of Shakespeare. It was a nice end to all our touring today.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was given to us to shop and to find a nice restaurant or cafe to eat at for dinner. While the shopping was an excitement for the girls (they just had to get to Jack Wills) the guys were excited that they could eat again. :) Some also made their way to the Starbucks in town and did what they could on the free wifi to connect to family and friends back home.
Seeing the life of Shakespeare celebrated is exciting, but it is a sobering reminder that this man used all his God-given talents to serve himself rather than to give glory to God. Our devotions reminded us today to use our accomplishments to give the Gospel a platform to help a lost world see how great God is.
Please pray that...
our greatest joy in this life can be traced back to Christ and His victory over our sin;
our enjoyment today wouldn't be self-indulgent, but rather, because of who we now are in Christ; and
we would have at least one chance to speak of our living Lord to a Brit today.
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