Our last weekend here in England, started off with a coach ride to get to Blenheim Palace. The drive was about 2 hours due to traffic. The weather was quite beautiful today and perfect for the amount of walking we had ahead of us. The Blenheim Palace was built to almost look like the Palace of Versailles in France, but better because at the time England hated the French. There was even a lion statue that was choking a french cockerel to get the point across. When we were in the estate, we could see the blueprints, tools, and the list of workers that helped build the palace. Unfortunately, Duke Churchill had passed before he could see this beautiful masterpiece finished. The gardens were absolutely beautiful and I loved that we were able to see many birds enjoying the gardens as well. I was able to grab a cream tea and sausage roll from the pantry. Tim, our tour guide, raved about the scones as well, but they only had fruit scones and I wanted a plain.

Then we took a 30 minute bus ride to Oxford. We walked past Ashmolean museum, where they held the cape that Pocahontas wore when she got married. I wish we had time to go in there because I love Ancient Egyptian exhibits. I am a history nerd and did enjoy this part of the trip. Learning about how these Universities were built and which famous people attended them. New college was a site to behold. They had such a beautiful dining hall and garden. I wish that the chapel was open. Those of us Harry Potter enthusiasts, wanted to see the tree where Draco Malfoy was turned into a ferret. I do understand they had an event going on in there and were safeguarding children, which is more important.

Christ College was also another institution that was used as inspiration for Harry Potter. Warner Brothers built the hall 3x larger for the actual film. This hall is the one we see Harry, Ron, and Hermione sorted into Gryffindor house in the first movie. It is also the same hall we see them dine in after that. Before we could enjoy the campus, we went through the “kissing gate”where it only allows one person at a time to go through. The mechanism felt like a safety measure to stop people from entering and doing nefarious things. It is a bit of a tight squeeze and does cause a traffic jam. Tim reminded us that we had to be assertive to get through or you will wait forever to get in. Their grounds were expansive and we watched children briefly play cricket. I had never seen the game before in person and only on television. It looked like a lot of fun. The Thanes river runs behind it, but it is also known locally as “Isis.” They do have longhorn cattle that roam near there, but the grass was quite tall and couldn’t see much of them. I really enjoyed today and was able to get nice knick knacks to bring home. I could see myself coming back and maybe get a tour of Christ College’s grand hall.