Okay, if you have ever tried to ride bikes in England before, you know you are in for two things: 1.) a total treat. This landscape is so frickin' beautiful. 2.) a total adventure. I think I was close to dying at least 5 times.
So we decided to spend our first Saturday in Oxford riding bikes up to Woodstock, the home of Blenheim Palace. This palace is famous for two main reasons (that I know of): 1.) it was the childhood home of Winston Churchill (his family must have been RICH), and 2.) it was the palace featured in Kenneth Branaugh's movie version of Hamlet.
We rented bikes from CycleAnalysis, who are our new best friends. They were so nice to us. After basically signing away our lives and all of our possessions if anything happened to the bikes, we hit the road in search of the easiest and most scenic route to Woodstock. We took the gorgeous and pedestrian-friendly Thames Path to get through most of Oxford on the way out, but then the path ended and we were suddenly on the streets of Oxford, full of lots of cars going in a million different directions and huge tour buses leaving inches on the road for us to use to bike. Needless to say, we survived and charged on to Woodstock via the bike path along the highway (actually pretty darn scenic) and somehow navigated our 6 bikes around all of the roundabouts. After close to two hours, we were in front of Blenheim Palace. Wow. I have seen a lot of palaces in my time, and while they kind of all start to look the same (all hugely impressive and beyond any scope of perspective), this one still inspired me to take lots of pictures :-). We enjoyed a yummy sandwich lunch on the lawn (ah, fresh food!) and kept saying to each other, "Um, this is our grad school experience...Um, we're in ENGLAND...How did we get here??"
We toured the gardens for a little while before the ominous dark cloud that had been threatening us for a couple of hours finally opened up and we had to pause for our regular afternoon shower. A couple of minutes in the gift shop and the sun was back out again and we were back on our bikes, determined to make it back to the CycleAnalysis by our due date of 5:30. Somehow our ride back only took an hour (??) and after several more harrowing intersections with other bikes, cars, and buses, we turned in our bikes and walked the short path back to Lincoln College. A beautiful first weekend activity!
Tomorrow I am going to be sure to watch the Wimbledon Finals--my friend and Nina's bro, Nick Barker, gets to GO. Awesome. Go Roger!
Finally, a HUGE GIANT SUPER BIG shout out to Mary, who shared her time and insight with me so I can be sure to place pics where I want in this blog. Ironwoman Mary, you are, as always, so thoughtful and generous. THANK YOU!!!! Love to you and Jamie!
3 comments:
Sara! i love your blog, so much fun to read. I am so excited about all of your Shakespeare work this summer. I am actually taking a Shakespeare class this summer too. It's a monologue class focusing on teh first folio technique. Have you guys talked about that? I am doing a piece from "All's Well that Ends Well" we will see how it goes.
Have a blast!
Blair
So glad you made it to Blenheim Palace. We walked there one day ... long walk. But, Sally Safety needs to ask -- where were your helmets?? Glad the weather has been great! Enjoy Midsummer. Papers sound fun -- a little more creative in nature than the normal BL stuff. Have you been to Boots pharmacy yet? Keep the postings coming. xoxo, m
ohhh so glad the weather held for you to see the gardens - they are amazing. I think you get a bit gypped on what you can see inside blenheim but that's bc/ they still live there I suppose....I am so envious you biked there that completely rocks!!!!!!
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