Pomp and circumstance galore
Today we visited the two most pomp and circumstance-ful sites I think we've seen on this trip so far. The first was Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlborough (relative of Winston Churchill). The second was Oxford.
We didn't really know what we wanted to do when we woke up this morning. We've found as we've gone along that our sight-seeing plans get looser every day. In York we had lots of activities scheduled. Now we're just kind of going with the flow. We have a really Cotswoldy walk planned for most of the day tomorrow, so we decided today was a good day for a field trip. We're only about 30 miles from Oxford here in Chipping Campden, and Blenheim Palace is right outside of Oxford, so we hopped in the car and drove ourselves to the Palace about 99% stress freely.
Let me just say, and pardon my language: damn! Blenheim Palace is easily the most wealthy-looking residence I have ever seen, including the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, where the Queen stays every summer. The first Duke of Marlborough won a giant battle against the French in the early 18th century, and Queen Anne awarded him with a 2000 acre plot of land and about a bajillion pounds to build a house. Almost 30 years later, Blenheim Palace was finished. Every room was built to impress. Every garden is manicured to a T. Winston Churchill was born there. Tapestries abound, the ceilings are painted with gold leaf, and in the state dining room, the walls are covered with a 40-foot high mural, designed to look like an extension of the architecture of the room. We were slightly less impressed with the interactive media exhibit about the weirdnesses of the Spencer-Churchill family over the centuries, but all in all it was worth the arm and leg they charge at the gate. The Duke of Marlborough I think must certainly give Queen Elizabeth a run for her money.
After a good few hours at Blenheim (in the very non-hippie English town of Woodstock), we got back in the car and headed to Oxford. We parked in a park and ride lot and caught the bus in. We were starving when we arrived on Broad Street, so we got some yummy and cheap sandwiches. (Side note: I am sitting on High Street typing and a very well-dressed English lady just commented on the speed of my typing as she passed by. "You're quick!") We only had the afternoon to spend in town, and Oxford is a pretty large, bustling town, so we got on one of those double-decker tour buses and saw the whole thing from the open second floor. Admittedly not the best way to see a town, but our feet were tired and we only had a few hours, so it was just what we needed. We saw Christ Church College (and actually returned to visit the gardens for a few minutes), where the Great Hall scenes for the Harry Potter movies were filmed. They were charging about 5 pounds to get in, so we decided to skip it. Coincidentally, Alice of Alice in Wonderland fame was the daughter of the dean of Christ Church College. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) was a professor who told her and her sisters stories to entertain them. You do the math. We also saw the Eagle and Child, a pub that was popular with C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their friends - a literary society who called themselves the Inklings. To end our visit, we stopped in the university's museum, where for me the highlight was Chief Powhatan's robe, brought back from Virginia in the 17th century. We weren't really in Oxford long enough to get to know the town well, but I'm glad we got to see it. We head to Cambridge on Tuesday (where I visited six years ago), so we'll be able to compare notes then.
This evening in Chipping Campden has been pretty relaxed (as I suspect most evenings here are). Tomorrow morning we're going to church, and then to walk. This will probably be our last update for a few days - we are having a lot of trouble connecting to wi-fi here for some reason, and we end up getting frustrated with the computer and snippy with each other more than should really happen on a vacation. Even now I can feel my teeth grinding as our pictures from today will not upload. Not enjoyment-conducive. So we're taking a few days off, and we'll catch up on Tuesday when we get to Cambridge. Enjoy your weekend!
-Emily
We didn't really know what we wanted to do when we woke up this morning. We've found as we've gone along that our sight-seeing plans get looser every day. In York we had lots of activities scheduled. Now we're just kind of going with the flow. We have a really Cotswoldy walk planned for most of the day tomorrow, so we decided today was a good day for a field trip. We're only about 30 miles from Oxford here in Chipping Campden, and Blenheim Palace is right outside of Oxford, so we hopped in the car and drove ourselves to the Palace about 99% stress freely.
Let me just say, and pardon my language: damn! Blenheim Palace is easily the most wealthy-looking residence I have ever seen, including the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, where the Queen stays every summer. The first Duke of Marlborough won a giant battle against the French in the early 18th century, and Queen Anne awarded him with a 2000 acre plot of land and about a bajillion pounds to build a house. Almost 30 years later, Blenheim Palace was finished. Every room was built to impress. Every garden is manicured to a T. Winston Churchill was born there. Tapestries abound, the ceilings are painted with gold leaf, and in the state dining room, the walls are covered with a 40-foot high mural, designed to look like an extension of the architecture of the room. We were slightly less impressed with the interactive media exhibit about the weirdnesses of the Spencer-Churchill family over the centuries, but all in all it was worth the arm and leg they charge at the gate. The Duke of Marlborough I think must certainly give Queen Elizabeth a run for her money.
After a good few hours at Blenheim (in the very non-hippie English town of Woodstock), we got back in the car and headed to Oxford. We parked in a park and ride lot and caught the bus in. We were starving when we arrived on Broad Street, so we got some yummy and cheap sandwiches. (Side note: I am sitting on High Street typing and a very well-dressed English lady just commented on the speed of my typing as she passed by. "You're quick!") We only had the afternoon to spend in town, and Oxford is a pretty large, bustling town, so we got on one of those double-decker tour buses and saw the whole thing from the open second floor. Admittedly not the best way to see a town, but our feet were tired and we only had a few hours, so it was just what we needed. We saw Christ Church College (and actually returned to visit the gardens for a few minutes), where the Great Hall scenes for the Harry Potter movies were filmed. They were charging about 5 pounds to get in, so we decided to skip it. Coincidentally, Alice of Alice in Wonderland fame was the daughter of the dean of Christ Church College. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) was a professor who told her and her sisters stories to entertain them. You do the math. We also saw the Eagle and Child, a pub that was popular with C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their friends - a literary society who called themselves the Inklings. To end our visit, we stopped in the university's museum, where for me the highlight was Chief Powhatan's robe, brought back from Virginia in the 17th century. We weren't really in Oxford long enough to get to know the town well, but I'm glad we got to see it. We head to Cambridge on Tuesday (where I visited six years ago), so we'll be able to compare notes then.
This evening in Chipping Campden has been pretty relaxed (as I suspect most evenings here are). Tomorrow morning we're going to church, and then to walk. This will probably be our last update for a few days - we are having a lot of trouble connecting to wi-fi here for some reason, and we end up getting frustrated with the computer and snippy with each other more than should really happen on a vacation. Even now I can feel my teeth grinding as our pictures from today will not upload. Not enjoyment-conducive. So we're taking a few days off, and we'll catch up on Tuesday when we get to Cambridge. Enjoy your weekend!
-Emily
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