While we wanted to focus our short visit on London, we also wanted to see at least a little of the country, and since my parents were staying in Oxford, Blenheim Palace seemed like the perfect place to explore. It's about an hour from London and is the only non-royal palace in England. The building is a huge, baroque edifice, and the grounds go on for miles. Oxford is on the way there from London, so the plan was that we would rent a car in London, drive to Oxford to pick up my parents, and then spend the day at the palace and grounds. The weather continued to cooperate with us, so we had a lovely day.
The day began though, with finding the rental car place. Google told us to go into a garage under Hyde Park. The entrance looked a little creepy, and as we walked farther and farther underground, we weren't entirely sure that we were going the right way. Then we started seeing parked cars. There were your usual fancy brands, but then we started seeing Bentleys and McLarens. We even spotted these classic fancy cars.
We figured we probably weren't going to get murdered, but we had rented a Ford, so where was our car in all this?? Finally, we found the Enterprise stall, all the way in the back corner, and, sure enough, there was a Ford sitting there that could fit all six of us. The gentleman who worked there was very nice and quickly got us on our way.
We found my parents' hotel in Oxford, and then continued to Blenheim. The parking was on one of the huge lawns, but we took a picture so that we could find our rented Ford again, and then hiked our way up to the palace.
The baroque label is no joke. There are curlicues everywhere.
We had watched a special on the palace before visiting, so we knew to look up when we walked in the main door to see the eyes above.
We didn't have a guide for this trip, but there was a friendly one near the door whose group wasn't appreciating him, so he took the time to talk to Elena about the giant door with its giant lock and key. She thought it was all pretty cool.
The entrance hall was massive and impressive.
There were all kinds of cool things to notice, like the fact that one of the breastplates had a big hole in it. We wondered what happened to the guy who was wearing it.
There were also lots of artifacts that had been used in the house over the centuries. One of our favorites was a huge display case full of hand painted toy soldiers.
It just so happened that we were visiting during the annual fashion display where various British designers set up mannequins with their clothes in rooms of the house. Jeff was not pleased with this development and complained that the displays took away from being able to see the artworks in the house. I can see his point, but the ladies all had fun commenting on the clothes as well as the artwork.
The room where Winston Churchill was born had more low-key mannequins.
Our favorite room though was, big surprise, the library.
Queen Anne was good friends with the first Duke of Marlborough's wife, and it was through this friendship that a lot of money was put into Blenheim as it was being built. There's a movie about the friendship (and the falling out) called The Favourite which we haven't watched, but it's supposed to be very good.
The library turned out to be the family favorite. We are all book lovers.
Jeff even managed to get a picture of the giant organ at the far end of the library without any fashion in it.
After the library we went out into the gardens.
We ended up in three groups of two. Jeff and Vivian with their long legs and explorer spirit went all around the gardens together.
Mom and I walked more slowly. We admired the gardens and kept an eye on the rest of our people as they wandered around.
The sun was out, and it was perfect weather to be walking around outside.
Eventually, we all converged at one of the paths and decided we should go check out the special Winston Churchill exhibit.
Vivian couldn't resist a dramatic pose with the Churchill wax figure.
He apparently had a lot of hair as a child, but we still found it a little creepy that they kept his curls in a display case.
Most of us moved through the exhibit pretty quickly, but Dad and Elena read almost every informational plaque.
We finally had to hurry them along to make our lunch reservation. On the way out, we saw some people in 1940s costumes with a beautiful vintage car. We asked one of the people handing out maps what was going on, and they said that the people were filming a little documentary for the museum to use. Jeff made sure to get a picture of the car on the way out.
My dad had made us lunch reservations just down the street at a place appropriately called the Duke of Marlborough. They even had a portrait of the first duke on their chimney.
The food was well presented and delicious. It was the perfect meal after walking around outside.
Our bellies full, we got back in the car and retraced our journey. I learned that I never again want to drive in Oxford on a weekday afternoon. There were so many bikes everywhere, I was convinced I was going to accidentally kill someone. Driving in London was much easier, and we got the car back safe and sound and ahead of schedule. We all agreed that it had been a great trip out of the city.
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