My year in Oxford: Blenheim Palace

A couple of Saturdays ago, I visited Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Churchill's birth at the palace was a fluke. His father was the younger son, not the Earl. The Churchill's were visiting and Winston was born early.

Visitors are not allowed to take photos of the interior of the palace. You can see some images a their website.

My impression of the place was that it is a museum. To think that someone actually lives there, as the 11th Earl of Marlborough does, is bewildering. I have worked hard to downsize my living situation, and here is someone who has responsibility for priceless works of art in his home.

In Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson wrote that he thought the Earl of Marlborough was tacky to open his home to tourists and even more tacky to have a small train running from the palace to the pleasure gardens. I found the train a welcomed convenience. The day was warm and the distance far enough that I really appreciated being able to ride a miniature train which was not nearly as tacky as it could have been. The driver wore a white shirt and tie, not overalls and bandana as would have been the case in the States. What I did find tacky was that the only way out of the palace was through the gift shop.

When I read Bryson's comments on the palace, I thought that the pleasure garden was well appointed rural setting made available to palace elite for romantic trysts. I really was surprised when I realized that it was an area of oversized games and a large maze.

I really wanted to do the maze. It included two towers from

which the maze goer could see the solution. I looked forward to solve the puzzle. So I entered the maze ready to conquer this puzzle as I did the many sudoku I've solve.