I was expecting to be woken early by the sounds of a toddler, but I awoke to a quiet house and made myself a cup of coffee after a refreshing morning shower. Sunday morning is a special time for families and it involved making crepes. I had been pretty much in full guest mode, so after breakfast I took the little one over to the playground for a bit. It was a cool playground.
My plan for the day was to visit Blenheim Palace, which costs a whopping 27 pounds. Strangely, if you donate the same amount to the Palace Preservation Society you can get an annual pass. Obviously, its set up to allow locals to visit as much as they want while making money off of tourists. My mate had one which he lent me and though it had his picture on it, all white people look rather similar so it was no big deal.
Blenheim Palace is the only secular, non-royal palace in England, built with an award to the Duke of Marlborough from Queen Anne for his decisive victory over the French in the battle of Blenheim (in Southern Germany). I need to rewatch “The Favourite.” It is a very impressive palace, but there were clear omens to me as I literally just crossed the street to the gate and cars were lined up all the way out to the highway. It was crowded. I grabbed an audio guide and did my best to work my way through the tour of the ground floor, but some of the rooms were so crowded, I could hardly breathe. How is some place I never heard of before drawing so many (international) tourists? I guess all the Chinese who visit Oxford also pop over on a day trip. Honestly, the palace was alright, but I wouldn’t agree with some assessments that it is “the best in the world.”
After finishing the self-guided palace tour, I spent some time exploring the grounds. There are a number of formal gardens surrounding the palace to the west and south, while the palace sits on a massive estate that is mostly pastures and forests. Because it is summer, there was an ongoing Shakespeare festival in a recreated Globe Theater. The scheduled matinee, the Scottish play, didn’t really appeal to me so I just walked and walked. I did make an effort to visit the “Pleasure Garden,” i.e. the family section, because I heard the hedge maze was really good.
Ultimately though, I just enjoyed an hour long walk going around the grounds, where I was almost completely isolated in the English country side, passing by some really gnarly old trees (one of the trees is even listed on the map for its use in a Harry Potter film) and imagining myself a character in a British novel.
Meanwhile, my hosts had gone out to visit fairy tale farm thingamajig. I had perfect timing, arriving back at the house just minutes after them. The little one was down for a nap, and O flipped on the telly to watch some rubbish. Unfortunately, we found Empire Strikes Back and watched the rest of the movie. I did nearly doze off and once looked over to find O snoring away. I made myself a cup of tea and flipped around after to movie. I’m surprised not just by how much American TV gets imported to the UK, but by how much bad, reality TV gets imported. Maybe it is a universal that bad television is everywhere.
Dinner was hotpot. Muahahaah. We started early. The girls ran to the shop to get some more stuff, while they guys washed and prepped what we (well, not me) pulled from the fridge and freezer. We may have also cracked open a couple Guinnesses to save us from that thirsty work. The collection of sauces was truly impressive, as if S bought everything available from the (nearest) Chinese supermarket. One protip: tortellini works perfectly in a hotpot.
After several episodes of Peppa Pig and otherwise entertaining the kid, O and I were able to slip away for a small “pub crawl.” They had only been living there a couple months and barely leave the house, so O didn’t have a local yet. We tried one social club, which is open to the public (at a surcharge), but it was pretty lifeless. Another pub in the town triangle was a bit more happening, but still spacious enough (and with a open courtyard in the back) to spread out. Having had a few pints at three bars so far in England, one thing I’ve noticed is the old fashioned pumping required to work the tap. We only had a pint at each of the two places and headed home afterwards. I was ready to go to sleep, but I agreed to have a nightcap and we sat on lawn chairs in the back garden looking at the stars for a long time (3 beers long to be precise).
| Beer @ Social club | 10.8 GBP |
| Total: | (107.8 RMB) (USD 15.67) |
Running Total: 16880.8 RMB (USD 2453.21)
Daily Average: 367 RMB (USD 53.33)