Another Day, Another Palace
Or would you trust me to look after your kids?...
Well today was Luuk's last full day in the UK, so we decided to head up to Oxford to have a look around.
The first stop was Blenheim Palace, the home of the Duke of Marlborough, the family of which Sir Winston Churchill was a member of. Anyway, the house was built in the 18th century and was bloody huge! Like most places, it now relies on tourism for its survival (places like this are apparently extremely expensive to maintain).
So we started off with a tour through the house. Like most stately homes it was full of art, furniture and gold. Blenheim, however, was even worse then usual, with the early members of the family (who collected the art and decorated the place) seemingly having a passion for the most awful, but expensive, things money could by. In any event, the best part of the interior (in my opinion) was the library, the rest, well lets just say I don't think I would like to live there!
Following the interior, we decided to do a walk around the gardens before heading into nearby Woodstock for lunch. We started out the back where they had this great big fountain and sculptured gardens with paths leading all the way around. At one point we had to leave the path and head onto the grass, but Peter said we had to jump over the grass onto another close path (he was not serious). I did it, and then when Luuk went he landed awkwardly and sprained his ankle (poor kid). Not really relishing a walk, we decided to give him a break and have lunch there and then.
After lunch Luuk said his ankle was feeling a little better, so we walked around the grounds which, as expected, we quite spectacular. While the interior of these stately homes tends to be quite awful, the gardens are quite the opposite, and a lovely place to walk around.
We then headed to the fun park, which had a butterfly enclosure and a maze! Peter, having been there before, completed the maze, but we were close behind him. By this time, Luuk's ankle was very sore, so rather then head into Oxford town for a look around, we decided to head straight home! Luuk was flying home tomorrow and I was hoping the ankle would heal overnight.
Ignore the screwy photos for this entry, Blogger was having issues when I was trying to post them!
The House!
Some of the gardens
The back of the house
More gardens
The village of Woodstock where we had lunch.
More gardens.
More house.
More gardens.
A waterfall!
The rose gardens.
Fountains
Some turtles.
Artistic closeup!
1 comment:
Damn well I knew my way around the maze: this was my third visit! ;-)
We musn't get confused dissing interiors we wouldn't personally choose just because they are examples of their time and we don't like that time for some reason.
I personally prefer Georgian architecture to Victorian examples. Still, I can see the beauty in Admiralty House.
Many people don't like the 50's/60's concrete "monstrosity" style, better know as the International Style. But nobody would suggest they were intrinsically awful. The UN building in NYC is a fine example of this period, and unless you are John Boulton, you're not dissing it.
Assuming you are of course, like all right-thinking adults, a cultural relativist and can see that your taste in music isn't inherently superior than mine just because.
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