Day out at Statford-Upon-Avon

Hi guys,

So in October last year (that sounds so weird to say! I mean 2014 if you are confused) I visited
Stratford on a school trip. This trip was a part of the Comenius project. In this project 5 countries are involved: England, Italy, Turkey, Poland and Estonia. In October it was our turn to host so students and staff from a school in each of those countries travelled to England to experience the schooling here. All there flights and trips where paid by the government free of charge and they where housed by students at my school.

Stratford if a big tourist destination in England as it is the birthplace of the playwright and poet- William Shakespeare. Also it is beautiful with it's old fashioned Tudor houses and the wildlife it's a perfect place to take a tourist.
(Sorry the photo of the Tudor house isn't very good we where walking along the road and couldn't stop to get pictures, this was the best I could get.)

I love Tudor houses I think they are beautiful and I would love to own one myself when I am older.

When we got to Stratford it was around 1o'clock so we went and had our lunch in a beautiful area, best of all we had a picnic!

We where eating outside the Royal Shakespeare Company which is alongside the river Avon. It was the best lunch I've ever had on a school trip, everyone was having so much fun and enjoying themselves it was amazing.

The fountain above was a next to the area where we ate.
Also the photo is starring Scaffolding, Elly and Connie, sorry about that.

After that we walked along the streets past all the weirdly shaped buildings crammed in as to not take up areas of beauty.

While walking there we where supposed to be taking photos of these lampposts (streetlamps in America I think) that where donated from different places around the world. They where interesting and nice to look at but not many people took any photos. I didn't so I cant show you any.

The fun thing was all the teachers where way ahead of all the kids and they where just talking so we could just do what we wanted. This involved going in red telephone boxes, doing parkour, racing and taking so many selfies in front of buildings that looked important.
These may not seem like fun normally but when your hyper on a school trip anything is fun.



We where making our way to the Church of the Holy Trinity where Shakespeare was buried. (You can see a picture of it to the right and one below.)

This church is so pretty. It has amazing details on it. But I don't have any pictures of the best bits as they where in the graveyard area and I thought it wouldn't be respectful to take photos there.

We could go inside to see Shakespeare's grave but I didn't go in as everyone was just taking photos but I didn't want to. Me and a few others waited outside and looked round at the church. As everybody was taking ages we went to the park next to the church to use the toilets and to look round at the other lampposts donated.




After that we just walked along the streets looking at the different shops and houses. We passed Shakespeare's house and some amazing gardens.

When we got back to where we started we went into the Royal Shakespeare company to go to the gift shop and look around.

Then we went up the tower (I cant remember the name) to look around Stratford. Guess what- we had to go in a lift.

I am petrified of lifts, so this is one of my worst nightmares. To make it worse we are going to be really high up, I'm scared of heights. Lucky there was no spiders otherwise I would of had a heart attack.




Let me just give you a image of how scared I am of heights.
Last school year when I was in Year 9 we went to London. When there we went in the London Eye, at this time I didn't know I was scared of heights, until I was up in the air.
If you don't know what the London Eye is it's the massive wheel that you sit in and it turns round (google it, I cant explain it very well), I think it is the biggest in England but I'm not sure.
So basically as soon as it started moving I started feeling sick. I was trapped, in a pod with a bunch of kids from my school most of which are horrible to me.
My friend and my brother told me it was okay and that I would be safe so I stood up and looked out at the views.




It was wonderful until they started rocking the pod. I sat on the seat in the middle with thoughts of the pod breaking and us all dying and started having a panic attack.
I've only ever had one panic attack in front of people who aren't my friends and this was the worst I've ever had.
This was like my nightmares, I was trapped, crying, half way up into the sky with people who make my life a misery. I was unable to move so scared to let go of my bag or my phone in case it dropped onto the floor and I knew if that happened I would be unable to get it.
On the way back down they had a group photo and I couldn't get of the seat to be a part of it.
I wish I could of seen those views of London but it just wasn't possible.

This time felt different.
When I stepped into the crowded lift I grabbed my friends hand and she said she could see the fear in my eyes. Then the lift moved and I screamed. In a crowded lift luckily hardly anyone new me.

The lift reached the top and my head was spinning I was surrounded by glass looking out over Stratford. I tried to take good photos but I was shaking so these are the best I got.

My friend said to lean on the bar (which was in front of the glass window.) and I did.

When I did that I suddenly felt safe. I was able to walk round and glare out at the sights and I cried. But not because I was sad because I was so happy that I was able to do it to conquer my fear. I am still scared of heights but now I know how to overcome it.

Here are some more photos of the views. Sorry about the bar I'm small I couldn't get a higher photo.

I have got some photos from the river cruise we went on but I will save that for another time.

Also I have fixed the comments so you can now leave your opinions so please do, whatever it is it will be helpful.

Thanx for reading,

Scarlett x