The everyday blog of Richard Bartle.
RSS feeds: v0.91; v1.0 (RDF); v2.0; Atom.
5:34pm on Wednesday, 11th July, 2007:
Comment
Stratford-upon-Avon.
As a counterpoint to my occasional series of posts on places I'd like to visit, I thought I'd start one on places which, although I don't actively not want to visit them (as I might, say, the inside of Wormwood Scrubs), I nevertheless am not all that bothered about visiting despite glowing reviews from millions of tourists over many years.
The first of these places is Shakespeare's home town, Stratford-upon-Avon.
My mother is really interested in Shakespeare, and always has been. When she was at school, there was a trip organised to Stratford-upon-Avon once but she couldn't go as her parents were unable to afford it. She didn't even mention to them that there was a trip, so they wouldn't have to go short of something to pay for it. Although this says a great deal about my mother, when she told me about it I wondered why it was she wanted to visit the place anyway? It has no appeal whatsoever to me. It's not as if you can't see Shakespeare's plays elsewhere.
OK, there are some nice, old buildings in the town that have managed to survive through the centuries because of their association with Shakespeare, but the are are plenty of other old buildings around I have yet to see, so I've no special urge to have a look at these ones in particular. There may be other sights there worth seeing, but if so I don't know about them. Yes, if I was in the area and someone suggested we went there, sure, I'd tag along. It's just not a place I'd go particularly out of my way to visit.
That said, three million tourists a year disagree with me.
Referenced by Places I'm not all that Fussed about Visiting #2.
Referenced by Places I'm not all that Fussed about Visiting #3.
Referenced by Places I'm not all that Fussed about Visiting #4.
Referenced by Places I'm not all that Fussed about Visiting #5.
Referenced by Places I'm not all that Fussed about Visiting #6.
Referenced by The Eye of the Beholder #1.
Referenced by Places I'm not all that Fussed about Visiting #7.
Referenced by Places I'm not all that Fussed about Visiting #8.
Latest entries.
Archived entries.
About this blog.
Copyright © 2007 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).