Eagle and Child and Blenheim Palace

On Tuesday we had lunch at the Eagle and Child, famous for being the meeting place of the Inklings, a writers' group which had as members C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein, along with some other people who were called by their first names. 

Wouldn't you love to have a book meeting here?

The best fish and chips in Oxford?

Mushy peas!

Then we went to Blenheim Palace, only a twenty minute bus ride from Oxford. I've been planning on going there for ages, but I never actually got around to it. Luckily, Rachel's visit is giving me a chance to do a lot of touristy things. My friend Alyssa came with us, although upon review of my photos I discovered that somehow I didn't take a single picture that includes her.
The Palace itself is architecturally stunning, and the gardens are awesome. Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim, so there was a whole exhibit on his life. I enjoyed reading his letters, especially the ones from his teenage years when he asked for money with each letter.

There was another cool story inside the palace. A small display contained three small organ pipes and an anonymous letter. The letter explained that the pipes were sent back by the widow of a man who was housed in Blenheim as a young boy during the war. He had taken the organ pipes as a prank, but it was one of his dying wishes that they be returned. The display stated that the estate wished to thank the woman for the return of the pipes. 

How romantic!

The rose garden; I wish I could see it in bloom

We were just walking down the path when suddenly we heard the sound of a waterfall. The man who designed the grounds intended it that way, to build the anticipation of seeing the waterfall. It was such a charming and romantic spot that we all wondered why Churchill didn't propose here.

Just how secret is this garden?

We had a little bit of an adventure getting out of the palace, as they close the front gates at 4:30, even though the grounds don't close until 6. We stood at the locked gate and watched our bus drive by, then we took a rather long trek to the alternate exit. The wind was blowing pretty fiercely by this point, and I felt like I was the heroine of an English novel, walking across the countryside with the wind in my hair. It would have been really cool, except the wind was going straight through my jacket and I was freezing, and I was pretty mad about missing the bus. On the whole, Blenheim was really cool!