After a long 10 hour direct flight, we touched down hard in Heathrow, so hard I thought we were going to die. If I was in the cockpit, I would have personally hit the pilot upside the head for going too fast on landing; anyway, we made it.

Michael's work picked us up at the airport and drove us to Oxford which was about one hour outside of London. The Old Parsonage Hotel we stayed at was built in 1606 and still maintained the charm of Wisteria clad exterior, Hobbit wood slat door with iron hinges and handle and reception area with original wood burning fireplace although the rooms were from a more recent era. Right next door to the hotel was a quaint little cemetery and old church.

Once settled we took a walk downtown. I have to admit I was quite confused on what side of the walk I should be on. I started on the right side then realized I perhaps should be on the left. I was dogging people left and right and just had to ask what is proper etiquette, well apparently there is no such thing, I was so surprise being in England and all.

The next day Gail and I meandered downtown again killing time before our afternoon tour of Cotswold.We visited St. Mary Church climbing up the spiral stairs to get a birds eye view of Oxford.We then headed to ChristChurch which is where parts of Harry Potter were filmed. Christ Church also provided inspiration to Lewis Carol in the writing of Alice in Wonderland; he met the dean's daughter Alice, rabbit and other characters were taken from the stain glass window in the dinning hall; the brass firedog's long neck transpired into Alice's long neck and the white rabbit from Alice's father.

In the afternoon we boarded a mini-coach and headed to Cotswold which translates to "Sheep enclosures in rolling hills" or something like that.Cotswold use to be the commercial center of England, with over 4 million sheep to 2 million people at its height.The sheep produced the best wool in the world until the industrial revolution wiped out the entire market for Cotswold wool as it would break in the machines.

That night we ate at the Eagle & Child, a favorite hang out for CS Lewis and Tolkien; rumor has it the first reading of Lord of the Rings took place here, nothing too exciting the night we were there.

Took our first double decker bus ride to BlenheimPalace in Woodstock which was a 26 min, 5£ ride. Being our first ride, Gail and I proceeded to the front seat of the upper deck to get great views. As the bus maneuvered through the narrow tree lined streets of Oxford, we wondered if this was in fact prime seating. The bus brushed nearly ever tree lining the street taking precautions to avoid oncoming traffic when passing bicycles. Turning corners and roundabouts were another treat, are we going to tip over? Nope, we are safe. It was also raining and with no wipers up top, so much for our grand plan.

We arrived safe and sound. Fox productions was filming Gulliver's Travels at the Palace which on one hand is pretty nifty but on the other hand limited our access somewhat and interfered with my "perfect" photo policy. I tried desperately for a bit part in the movie but to no avail, they always had us wait out of shot; I guess on the plus side we did get to see Jack Black and Emily Blunt, but would have never noticed had Gail not pointed this out.

Highlights of our visit were Gail sheepishly sneaking pictures inside the palace which was a no no.Later we found out the security is light and that is one reason for the no picture taking policy.The other highlight was our "little" stroll to see the victory column, so close yet so far.Miss reading a gate that was mere meters from the column, we proceeded down a paved path that took us around the column for almost one hour but always in view.The column was in a field surrounded by this tiny little knee high wire fence; I figured it was hot wired to keep the sheep at bay Gail thought otherwise because there was no signage we notice.I was right.Anyways, an older couple caught up to us then passed us.We watched as they crossed through the field to the column.If they can do it so can we, lets be rebels.So off we go through basically a pasture full of momma sheep and lots of baby sheep and lots and lots of sheep poop, good way to break in the new white shoes Gail.So part way in, a momma sheep started having a conniption and came a running towards another sheep and two babies.Gail started to panic, okay don't make eye contact and walk faster was my suggestion, good one eh?Anyways, she figured the babies were safe and proceeded to follow us until we hopped a fence onto another field.Almost there, darn sheep poop, every where, wet grass from the rain, who's idea was it anyway?Yeah! Made it to the column, not sure who's statue was up there, hard to see with the cloud cover, snap a few pics and off we go out the gate to where this story began.

A little about this beautiful palace. Built in 1705 by Sir John Vanbrugh in Baroque style, the palace was a gift from Queen Anne to the 1st Duke of Marlbourgh after the battle of Blenheim in 1704 and still in the Marlbough family. It is also the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and was deemed a World Heritage site in 1987.