That Friday, oneof the biggest travel magazines, Travel Weekly, came to our office to do a big story on the company. Apparently AA Appointments (who I work for) has won various awards, including lots for "Best Travel Recruitment Agency," but it was still a big deal. I had to wear a suit jacket and everything and we had a professional photo shoot. In the end, I was v. glad when that week was over and Kate and I were going to Oxford.
As usual, Kate and I got up early and headed to the train station to catch the train to Oxford. We got there and wandered around checking out the different colleges and the town. We really wanted to go to Christ Church College where they filmed parts of Harry Potter (the Great Hall, varioius courtyard scenes) and also wehre the man known as Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland as inspired by experiences at Christ Church. However, since we arrived at the beginning of lunch, all the colelges were closed to tourists since the students who actually when there had the audacity of actually using their facilities.
Now looking for something to do, we went to check out a possible tour at the Bodlien Library, one of the 6 official copyright deposits (a library that recives a copy of every book published) in the UK and a library that doesn't let anyone actually take out its books. The only way a non-student can get into the library is through a tour, which also includes a visit to the Divinity School (as seen as the Hospital Wing in Harry Potter, and the library scenes filmed in the Bodlien). However, there was a graduation ceremony and no tours that day. Again thwarted, we decided we should eat too.
We went to the Eagle and Child, a pub known for frequent visits by JRR Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and their literary/academic circle in the 1940s and 1950s. It was a fabulous pub with fabulous food and we were v. much refreshed before heading back towards Christ Church. We did the touristy thing and did the tour of the college, which was v. fascinating. After that tour, we went to the museum in town for a brief walkthorugh before it closed. At last we gave into the need to go to our hostel and actually check in and ditch our bags. We didn't stay long before we left to find something to do before actually going to bed. Kate wanted to check her email, so we went to a café (as mentioned in the previous entry) and then went in surch of a pub called The Turf Tavern (the place where allegedly Bill Clinton didn't inhale). This was hard to find as we had to go down an alleyway and another alleyway to get to this small, though v. cool pub. After a drink, we went back to an Irish pub we had past earlier in the day to listen to the live Irish music. They played lots of great songs, some of my favorites and some of them new, and even played "Wild Rover" ("if you don't know this one, then you're... I don't know... American!"). (photos: Gargoyles at Oxford; me at the school; the Eagle and Child; The Great Hall; and the window at the Great Hall with Alice in Wonderland characters. )
The hostel was definately a hostel and the bed felt like I slept in a trench or something and was very glad to wake up and leave the next morning. Kate and I headed quickly for a croissant for breakfast (Kate ordered a cornish "pastey" before catching herself) and then to the bus station to go to Blenheim Palace. Blenheim is a huge country house that has been the home to at least 11 dukes, starting with John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, who defeated the French army in a huge victory for the first time in a generation at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. As a reward, Queen Anne gave Churchill a lot of land and money and he built Blenheim Palace. Eventually the family title passed to his daughters, who then married the Spencers (as in Diana Spencer), and Winston Churchill was the son of the younger brother of the 10th (or maybe earlier) Duke. He was born at Blenheim and often returned there as PM.
The Palace was great and even better decorated for Christmas. It had a theme of The Twelve Days of Christmas where you had to find all twelve days hidden around the palace. That afternoon they even had live choral and orchestral music and caroling. As we toured the gournds, we were pursued it seemed by a helicopter landing on the lawn near the private quarters of the Palace. We stole a picture more so to remember the feeling of being supposedly chased down by a helicopter than to photograph the passengers. We think the helicopter contained either friends or family of the Duke, and I even think we saw the Duke himself that morning. (We arrived just before it opened and an old man in a golf/newsie hat was walking his dog, heading back towards the private quarters, though we had no idea at the time. Come to find out, it looks just like the current Duke and who else would be walking their dog there?). (photos: Blenheim from the front entrance; Sheep at Blenheim (I heart sheep!!!); gardens at Belenheim; the Helicopter)
Finally, we headed back to the bus and then back to London, though stopping again at the Eagle and Child for another attempt and thwarting at a Sunday Roast and having to settle for sandwiches for dinner.
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