Oxford

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We are still in Oxford and absolutely loving it. We are staying at the same hostel that we stayed in 3 years ago which is a lively place not far from the centre of town, literally 3 minutes walk. The atmosphere is really friendly so it will be a bit sad when we say goodbye to our new friends and head off to Rome tomorrow.

The other morning due to the time difference between here and NYC I found myself unable to go back to sleep after waking at 5am. So I grabbed the trusty iPod and spent the next 2 hours walking around the town listening to OK Computer. It was fantastic to see the sun rise over the old buildings of the University.

We have spent today at the birthplace of another great historcial and western political figure, Sir Winston Churchill. As I previously mentioned we saw Bill Clintons birthplace in Arkansas which was a little 2 story cottage. This place is a palace, literally a palace. Not a mansion or castle but a veritable palace, called Blenheim Palace (pronounced Blen-num). No wonder he became Prime Minister and was instrumental in winning WWII, he surely could have reached no lesser post after being brought into the world in such magnificent surrounds.

The story is that his ancestor, Sir John Churchill, was reponsible for winning a war against the French. It seems the English like to win wars against the Frenchies so the King at the time gave Sir John £240,000! That was in 1705 so the figure would surely relate to Billions of dollars these days. The money was to build the palace named after one of the major battles of the war. It was to be his personal residence as well as a symbol of victory in the war. The place is absolutely stunning, I have never seen anything like it. If you have a moment, have a look at the photo's at http://www.blenheimpalace.com, definitely worth a look.


So we are coming to the end of our breif stay in the mother country. She has been good to us but it is also very expensive, hopefully the Euro will be nicer to us. Tonight we are going out for an All-day English Breakfast, for dinner. Today we had Devonshire tea in a quaint little village near the palace. It felt very English but I am not sure which is more English: Devonshire tea in a little village or getting horribly drunk and incredibly burnt at the cricket. Its one of those eternal questions, I suppose 😊

Hope all are well.


John and Kristian

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Comments

[bob]

rollercoaster
hey young man sounds like yer all well and all just a quick one b4 i head out to work but if yer anywhere near london ihear there one of the biggest roller coasters in the world not far from there if you get a chance worth a look . everyone's well dad!