If you wanted to have glorious sunshine all the time you should’ve stayed back in Jakarta. In England, you should be thrilled to experience the wet weather, mixed with the cold, freezing your toes, noes, and everything in between. We did. The Mop left town in the dead of night, and the town square was restored to its former glory.

The river that shone in the sun before could barely be seen, though the energy of the swans and ducks continued unabated.

We ran into a Sunday market outside the RSC:

Then it was time to pack and bid goodbye to the charming town of Stratford-upon-Avon, especially our hosts, Sue and Simon at the adorable Adelphi Guest House.

Our friend, Jamie drove us from Stratford to our next destination, Warwick. Our first stop was Warwick Castle, their biggest attraction. The words ‘attraction’ and ‘theme park’ put a fear in my heart, and this one is owned by Tussaud’s. To our very pleasant surprise, not only is the castle very attractive, that is, well preserved and impressive, but the scenes depicting life in the medieval times are done beautifully, and you can see the stamp of Tussauds in the expressions of the models. Climbing up the turrets in the castle, you can see the beautiful views of Warwick town and the landscape beyond. The river below is Avon. The theme shows we saw were fun too, especially the Trebuchet launching the fireball.

Did you see the very realistic expressions of the wax models above? Hah, one of them is a real person. Can you guess which one? He appears in a couple of different scenes.

Warwick Castle was first built in 1068 by William the Conqueror, then rebuilt in stone in the 12th century, and fortified over the years. Click the link to learn more about its history. The visit took up a good 3 hours, plus some more with kids I suppose. We loved it!

*Title credit – guess who!