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May 27, 2011 - 11:28 p.m.
"blenheim palace"

5/27/11 - 11:28pm Oxfordshire
5/27/11 - 6:28pm New York

Hey Journal!

This morning, we got up around 8:30 and Dan took a shower, while I slowly got dressed for breakfast. We went out, and down to the dining room area, and we had some cereal for breakfast, followed by the usual bacon, eggs, and sausage. I don't remember if I had mentioned this before, or not, but the bacon here is AMAZING! (In England, that is!) It's not like out bacon back at home, it's sooo much better. It's these thick strips of hammish-ness. It tastes so good, and I'm pretty sure it's much better for you than our bacon!

After breakfast, we took a walk around the town and then at about 10:00, we got in the car and headed for Blenheim Palace. It was about a 35 minute drive from here once we arrived, we paid for admission, which we later converted to an Annual Pass! (Of course, I don't think we'll be back here in a year... but it was free, and came with a cool membership card thing, which we figured would make a nice souvenir.)

There are two parts, the grounds, with a nice arboretum and lots of other fun things, and then the Palace itself. Interestingly, this was the place where Winston Churchill was born. We went inside, and looked around. The woman at the door who took our tickets was an older woman, and scarily, she had several really long hairs growing out of her chin! You would think she would see that in the mirror and be tempted to clip them!

First, there was a museum area with things related to Winston Churchill and we saw the room he was born in. Sadly, they didn't allow photography inside the Palace at all, which is kinda stupid, but they take it really seriosuly! I saw an asian man take a photo with no flash, and a woman came RUNNING over and looked like she was about to tackle him! Yikes!

We looked around a little, and then joined a tour! The tour guide was nice, and he gave a little description of each room. At the end of the tour, we were let out into the library, which has a GIANT pipe organ at the other end.

The pipe organ was definitely the coolest part of the entire place! There was a man there who gave us a brief overview of how organs work, and all of the different knobs, called "stops." He played some notes, and then at the end he said he was going to "Pull out all the stops" and play a song! AH! So THAT'S where that phrase comes from! I don't think I'll be able to hear someone say that now without thinking of an organ! Pretty cool fact.

When he played the song, it was AMAZING! I can't imagine how they built those things so many years ago! How they connected all the keys and stops to all the things that needed to change inside, and how the air was blown through the pipes! It's incredible!

After that, we headed outside and checked out the arboretum area. It was nice, and we walked around by a waterfallish thing.

Then we took the mini-train down to another section, which had a giant hedge maze! Apparently, according to the size, the maze is the second largest in the world! It was actually much better than our corn mazes at home because it had a ton of dead ends, and you COULDN'T see through the hedges, unlike the corn ones!

When we finished, we headed back to the car, and back to our B&B in Witney.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out doing random stuff, walked to a nearby park, etc. We also played a board game called "The Really Nasty Horse Race Game" which was REALLY fun! Apparently, it was made in 1989, but I want it! I'm sure its not sold anymore, or in the US for that matter, but maybe eBay will have it!!

I just took a shower, and got ready for bed, and now it's almost time for bed!! Tomorrow, we are going in to Oxford for the day! Woo Hoo! Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)