day tripping

The journalism kids were asked to join the USC communication and public relations students on a day trip to Oxford and Blenheim Palace. This invitation was quite the coincidence because Lydia, Alex and I had planned on taking the train out to Oxford this weekend anyway. Joining the other Annenberg kids was really nice because it saved us having to buy train tickets and tour admissions.

Christ Church

Once we arrived in Oxford we toured Christ Church, which is one of the many colleges that is part of the university. The different colleges have nothing to do with academics, they are a collection of buildings where a certain number of students eat, sleep and study. The Great Hall in the Harry Potter movies was filmed in Christ Church’s dining room and we got to go inside. Obviously it looked a little different than it does in the films (there are portraits of famous graduates along the walls), but it was really cool to see. They did a lot of Harry Potter filming in Oxford—we saw the library and infirmary—probably because of how beautiful the architecture and all the limestone buildings are. After a somewhat questionable lunch we walked through the Covered Market, but we weren’t that impressed because all of the amazing London markets have spoiled us.

The Great Hall

Our next stop was Blenheim Palace, which is where the Duke of Marlborough lives and Winston Churchill was born. Churchill spent a lot of time with his grandparents there, but never inherited the Duke title because his father was the second born son so the estate went to Churchill’s uncle. We saw the room where he was born, drawing rooms and staterooms, and we also walked through the endless fields where Alex chased sheep. The huge estate also has gardens—one actually named the Secret Garden—with perfectly manicured grass and hedges. The Palace is massive, made out of yellow-orange limestone and intricately designed inside with beautiful furnishings filling each room. I won’t go into detail about the history behind the estate, but it was really interesting to learn about it and hear stories about all the family members. It was a great day trip and I hope we get invited to go on more!

Blenheim Palace Gardens