Stratford Trip Pt I

       This past weekend we took a train from London to Stratford. Even though we were just short of two hours away London, we were still 100 miles away from what we now call home. On the train ride, we saw just how quickly the scenery changed. We went from the busy city of London through the rural countryside and into Stratford-Upon-Avon. It reminded me of my trips from Chicago to Grinnell as we go from a busy heavily populated area to a smaller close nit almost family-like environment. I also felt like we were in a family-like environment as we were staying at The Croft which is bed & breakfast type of establishment. Bed & Breakfast is very common here in London/Britain. You rarely see the big Marriots & Hyatts. Typically, bed and breakfasts are private homes with fewer than 10 bedrooms. Therefore, the Grinnell-in-London took over this B&B as well as the neighboring B&B next door. The owners were very kind and had a lot of pride in their high quality of services, local knowledge and were very personal. I was some what surprised that each B&B was run by a single person that did all the cooking and cleaning. Like hotels, they cleaned our room and changed our linen each day. Made us breakfast to order in the morning. Nevertheless, it was definitely a lot different than being in a basic hotel. Below are the pictures of the Bed & Breakfast.