Starting our day off we meet nice and early to catch our bus that will drive us to Blenheim Palace. After a two-hour journey we arrived at the palace and met our wonderful tour guide Tim once again. We began our tour with a walk through the staterooms. These rooms are all so very large and beautiful and have so many beautiful objects that have been obtained by various dukes and duchesses. My favorite reoccurring piece was the collection of porcelain ware. According to Tom, each duke had their own set which made for quite a large selection. Each set had different patterns and pieces within, and I found them all to be so very beautiful. I have a soft spot for vintage fine porcelain. The porcelain would be washed once a year during their deep clean. It was the 10^th duchess’ duty to wash, and she appointed her administrator, Archie Illingworth, to dry the China.  also enjoyed the various paintings in every room. I’ll be honest and say that I could not identify a lot of them, but it is quite nice to be able to put a face to the names that Tom talked about with us. They all looked so lovely in their vintage attire. I was rather fond of the Green Writing Room, which was a private study space. The ceiling in this room is considered to be the finest of the three Hawksmoor ceilings in the eastern rooms. This one specifically is called the hanging ceiling. Unfortunately, during our visit the saloon had repairs being made so we couldn’t see anything past the scaffolding and nets. Just from looking at the size of the room alone, I can tell that this was a highly favored room in the palace. The rest of the suite tour went by rather quickly. Soon after that we walked through the secret garden and took in the beautiful view of the flowers all throughout. We really wanted to get to the maze after Dr. Marks raved about how good it was but sadly, we didn’t have enough time to get there, get through it, and get back to the bus. After everyone took pictures of the garden we gathered towards the bus and made our departure for Oxford.  

We had a marvelous time walking through the sites of the New College campus, or the College of St. Mary of Winchester in Oxford. They refer to it as the New College because this is the second Oxford college to be named after St. Mary Winton. This college was founded in 1379 and is one of the thirty-eight colleges of the University of Oxford. This college is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whose statue stands above the front gates by the three founders. I found the architecture of the building to be so magnificent. I could not even imagine building something so grand before they even had power tools. When we walked into the dining hall, looking at the ceiling had me in awe. Not only is this hall the tallest, but it is also the oldest hall in either Oxford or Cambridge. The University was such a wonderful site, and it amazes me that it is still in use, despite the history of the building. I think that this was a great Saturday and I am eager to learn more about this city tomorrow.