Today’s adventure is taking the train to Oxford and
seeing the sights in that part of the Thames valley. We buy tickets at
Paddington, board the train after a short delay, and enjoy the hour or so ride
to Oxford.
We step off the train, wondering how to go about visiting
the city, and the answer is right in front of us: The Hop On/Hop Off tour bus
stops at 20 locations around the town. We board and hop off at stop 7, Christchurch.
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| Christchurch |
We walk around the grounds and as we go down one of
the streets, there is a terrible accident in which a Lorry has been the crash
target of a sedan. But wait, there are manakin’s legs sticking out the windshield?
It’s a film location! We find out later that it is a scene for an upcoming
episode of the sixth season of Endeavour.
Oh yeah, we are in Oxford.
We continue on our walk, enjoying the architecture.
After a mile and a half, we are hungry, so stop in at the Wig & Pen for Lunch. Amy has Fish & Chips, I have sausages
& mash.
After lunch, we walk back up the street to the Bodleian.
There is a Tolkien Exhibit! This is an enthralling exhibit, for me. Tolkien, on
the faculty of Merton College in Oxford created The Hobbit for his children. This exhibit contains source materials
for the creation of the story. Tolkien did some paintings for the story which
are on exhibit. There is a lot of very interesting material, including a lot of
material on The Lord of the Rings. (Unfortunately,
no photos were allowed.)
We head back to the bus route and finish the circuit
back to the Train Station. We see lots of colleges. We even see the pub where C
S Lewis, Tolkien, Charles Williams and Hugo Dyson read their new material to
one another (the Inklings group). We really enjoy the look and feel of Oxford.
Back at the Train Station, we take the bus to
Woodstock. It is here that we see the impressive Blenheim Palace.
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| Entrance to Blenheim Palace |
Queen Anne granted Marlborough a large tract of land here and a substantial sum of money to build a suitable Palace on it after his victory in the battle of Blenheim (Aug. 13, 1704) during the War of the Spanish Succession. The victory ended the attempt of Louis XIV to control Europe.
We tour the State Rooms, which are incredible. This is
the finest palace I have ever been in. There is a series of rooms dedicated to Winston
Churchill, who grew up on this estate. It really is good to be in the 1%. Seriously, though, Churchill was quite a leader.
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| One Third of the Library |
After touring the Palace, we have tea and cake on the
Water Terrace.
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| A Fountain in the Water Terrace |
After the break, we walk around the grounds. We see the location
where Winston proposed to Clementine. It’s really grand. This is a top
attraction to visit, I highly recommend it.
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| Blenheim from the Gardens |
We head back to Oxford & on to London. On the way,
we decide to dine at local spot Made in
Italy. Amy has the Tagliatella alla Bolognese, I have the Spaghetti alla
Carbonara.
Another fine day in the UK.
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