secret pleasures

It seems to be the norm now days that we get up super early to go ride a train to some other city outside of London and spend the whole day there. Today was such a day in which we got on the train to head to Oxford. Naturally the train put me to sleep, the lull and hum just does something to me. I'm sure I look fabulous with my head back, arms at my side, and mouth wide open. Blackmail pictures may be coming. Naturally we made it to Oxford and rode a bus, not just a bus, but a Double Decker bus! It was a very different experience to not be able to see the driver and have the people on the sidewalk be 5 feet below you. We took this bus to Blenheim Palace which is the home of the Dukes of Marlborough. The family that owns this happens to be the Spencer Churchills', yeah that Churchill. The history behind this building is that during the battle of Blenheim, John Churchill won the battle and the king gave him the land as a victory prize. The style is English Baroque, heavy, strong, and beautiful. The style was super traditionally modern. We walked through the state rooms and saw Winston Churchill's birth room and all his memorabilia. I love things like this. Knowing he lived there and this building inspiring him to be the man he became. Upstairs they had Disneyland historic room style, similar to Vaux, only full on mannequins moving and talking and exploding things. It was intense and I only learned that John Churchill was a slut and slept with the kings wife and got a promotion to be the general of the army. I don't know. Besides the creep play upstairs we went down into the gardens which were GORGEOUS! The small group of us probably spent 4 hours in the gardens taking pictures and enjoying every minute of being outside. Totally ANTM amateur hour. (America's Next Top Model for all those out there who don't share this guilty pleasure) The secret garden was incredible and exactly how I'd imagine my dream garden looking. Fountains, grasses, trees, benches, paths, and flowers everywhere. I could have spent all day there but unfortunately we had to get a move on with our lives. It was nice to relax and enjoy things on our own times. The scenery was amazingly beautiful and picturesque.

Due to the fact that I am a fan of Churchill and WWII in general, we naturally headed to the gift shop. They were selling these beautiful books about him for only 3 pounds! But they weighed 50 lbs. and I couldn't pack that.

For my daddy

After about 6 hours here we wanted more! They have an adorable little train that takes you to these other 'pleasure' gardens. Pleasure meaning games and fun times. They had a butterfly house, lavender gardens, mazes, giant chess and checkers, and miniature golf. Needless to say we spent quite a lot of time here. SO much time in fact we missed the gates being closed and had to walk around the entire lawn to the other side of the palace to get out. We then missed our bus and almost missed the last train into London. Thank goodness we made that because all of us are tight on money and had no real idea of where we were or how else to get back to our shelter.

After the train ride, Megan and I decided we had attempted to many times and finally went to the London Eye. It's a huge Wheel that overlooks London on the river. The sights were gorgeous, everything was lit up so beautifully! I honestly felt like I was in Peter Pan flying over the city, landing on Big Ben and going to never never land. Because that's honestly how I feel. The experiences that I'm having are incredible and definitely nothing I'll ever forget.