The Holy Trinity Church in Stratford is just huge! It's really amazing what people were able to do before modern construction equipment.

As we made our way inside, I had to duck because the door was lower than my head. :   I was immediately impressed by the beautiful stained glass windows.  Normally our crew is quite a chatty bunch, but in the church we felt no need to talk. We were simply awe-struck.

We met the Reverend Martin Gorick who was incredibly friendly, interesting, and smart. Reverend Gorick talked to us about the long history of this parish church. Just wait until you hear how old it is in the video. I thought it was particularly funny that the church's "modern extension" is older than my country.

Reverend Gorick told us about the Reformation, the Church of England, how changes in religion affected the lives of many people, and may even have influenced a young Shakespeare. Listening to Reverend Gorick talk about religious conflict in England and how some of the buildings still have scars from that time period made me think about the world today. It was very clear to me that history does repeat.

The modern extension is where some of the Shakespeare family is buried, including William Shakespeare himself.   His grave is marked with an epitaph, that he is said to have written. There is a monument to honor the playwright and people from around the world travel to see where Shakespeare is buried. Several flowers were placed by his grave from the day's visitors.

Yours,

For Extra Credit:
Learn why King Henry VIII is important to the Church of England.

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