Today we woke up early to catch our bus to Blenheim Palace and Oxford! We quickly ate breakfast and loaded the elevators up to meet down on the ground floor at 8:50. Then we all loaded up the bus and settled in for our two hour drive to our first stop, the palace. On the way over I took a little nap and of course everyone got their picture of that but it’s okay. What’s life without some fun snipes and silly pictures?
After exiting the coach bus we met up with our favorite, Tim the tour guide! He was a guide at previous sites and we all love him. He’s full of cool facts and is extremely knowledgeable about every place that we visit with him. This is my first time visiting all these places and I feel confident about my knowledge about them after visiting with Tim.
After getting everyone sorted out we made our way through the beautiful front gates of the palace. I think I can safely say I’ve never seen anything like this in my life and I never will again. This is one of the grandest of not the grandest buildings I’be ever seen in my life. It seemed to go on forever, stateroom after stateroom. The architecture is something you can only imagine. Designed by a theater architect, the palace has lots of theater elements about it. Even the outside that allows for beautiful scenic views point back at the theater elements in the design.
We walked through the hallways that were lined with portraits of the previous people who lived in or meant something to the palace. Many famous royals and families can be found within the walls. Once done with the walking tour we went outside to go see the famous sprawling gardens. They also didn’t disappoint. The rolling grounds looked like they went on forever. A maze, statues, great lake, and more complete the grounds the palace sits on. The views provided were absolutely beautiful and complete the high class aura that surrounds the castle and its grounds.
After the castle we jumped back on the bus with Tim to get to Oxford and the university. It was a quick drive compared to the morning and we quickly began exploring the area. Oxford is what I think of when I think of a typical English city. It’s a buzzing city full of students that attend the university that’s in the heart of the city.
Oxford University is pretty different compared to the schools in the United States. To start, most of the buildings are old and historic buildings that have been there for a long time. Second, the schools that fall under the Oxford University aren’t separated by majors like the ones at United States universities. Instead they are all individual schools that have the same majors within them. At home the schools under the university are separated by major. Here students pick their school based on who teaches their path of study there.
