4-2-07 - Cardiff to Stratford

Woke up early this morning. Having missed the wine tasting last night at the vineyard where we were staying, I wanted to be sure we could get in a tour of the grounds. It was totally worth it. There's a lovely path around the grounds, and you can take the short version or the long one. I think we took the medium one, past the vines, down by a little pond, and we were able to watch the sun come up while drinking our hot chocolate (for mom) and Welsh tea (for me. when in wales,...). Afterwards, we went in for a lovely breakfast in the main dining room. I got to try some blood sausage for the first time. It wasn't bad. It wasn't very good, either.

We headed back to Bath to return the car - made a flawless re-entry, and the rental place is under the same roof as the train station - Easy!

Got our tickets and schedules sorted out and boarded the lovely train to our first stop at Reading - Easy!

Made the transfer to the train headed for Leamington Spa - Easy!

Got stuck ON the train at Leamington Spa and missed our connection to Stratford-Upon-Avon. D'OH!*

Is the day ruined for our heroines? Ha Ha Haaaaah - Nevah!

Thanks to the trusty competance and helpfulness of British rail workers (seriously!), we were able to make a shift to a different station at the next stop, waited for the next train to Stratford, and arrived there only an hour after we were scheduled to. (*Side note - 4 punk-ish looking kids were on their way to Stratford as well, and when Mom asked them a question about how long until the next train, one exclaimed, "You're AMERICAN!!" Mom smiled sheepishly and confirmed that yes, we were American. "That's So COOL!" the girl replied, before answering Mom's original question. So yeah. We're so cool. sweet!)

We got to our hotel and bumpety-bumped our luggage up the narrow steps. The room was snug, but did have its own bathroom, and we only had to go up one flight of stairs. This was fortunate.
We had just enough time to freshen up a bit and head to the theatre where we saw Ian McKellan in King Lear. Let me repeat that in case it didn't sink in the first time:

We Saw Ian McKellan in King Lear.

(official photos here)

I had been looking forward to this for a long time, and it did not disappoint. They did an unabridged version, and it ran about 3 hours and 20 minutes, and up in the top of the theatre, it got a little warm and stuffy. I can see the argument for trimming Shakespeare's works down to a more manageable 2 hours, but I'm glad we got to see the full thing. It's an event, a once-in-a-lifetime thing to see these amazing people do this piece, and I'm glad they didn't skimp. But for Joe Schmoe's Theatre Company, for god's sake, edit!

It was a fantastic production, and afterwards we hung out a little while before leaving the theatre. As we were exiting the building, I said to mom that I thought we should go to the right instead of to the left, which was the way back home. Mom is an excellent companion, and indulged me. We nearly ran into Sylvester McCoy, who had played The Fool, wearing a three-piece white suit, hat, and carrying a cane, and looking not unlike The Doctor. I told him I loved the show, and his performance in it, and he graciously signed my program. He even asked my name to include it in the inscription. Lovely man.

Continuing on toward what was apparently the stage door, I passed Romola Garai (Cordelia), and saw Sir McKellan ringed in by a group of people signing autographs. Considering he'd just given one heck of a 3 hour performance, he was looking fresh as a daisy. He managed to extricate himself, and was headed away when I got his attention. I told him he was fantastic, and thanked him for a wonderful performance. He quickly signed my program for me, and made his escape. He was nice about it, but he clearly wanted to ge tout of there. As we were heading back in the direction of home-for-the-night, we saw Mr. McCoy heading into The Black Swan (or is it The Dirty Duck?). Apparently the rumors of it being a post-show hangout for the actors were true. If I hadn't already been traveling all day, then sitting in a warm dark theatre for the past 3 hours, I totally would have gone in for a pint, but I just didn't feel up to it. I didn't even get to the point of asking Mom, but I have a feeling she would have agreed with me.

We stayed up talking a bit about the show, and the actors, and Mom remarked that she thought I had some sort of radar for where the actors were and when they'd be ready to greet people. tee-hee. that cracks me up. radar. Lovely!

As usual, more pictures are up on the flickr site, and thank you for being patient with me as I sssslllloooowwwllllyy get my memories together for this blog.

*note to rail travelers: Start to gather your baggage at the last stop before your stop, not just before the train comes to a halt.