a little bit of this, a little bit of that

Wednesday was packed. Early in the morning we left for Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the current home of the 11th Duke of Marlborough. The most historic parts of the Palace are open to the public, including the birthplace and childhood home of Winston Churchill. The palace itself is huge, with expansive grounds and lots of room for some privileged sheep to graze. Inside, we took a tour of some of the more elaborate state rooms. All of the historic palaces in England forbid photography, so I don't have any cool pictures of the inside. Just imagine the hugest, stuffiest and ornate rooms and you will be spot on.
From Blenheim it was a short coach ride to the city of Oxford and its famous university. Like Cambridge, Oxford is made up of small colleges where students live, study and eat together, kind of like Hogwarts (the first of many Harry Potter references in this post). You can study a variety of subjects in each college, and some are more prestigious than others. We chose to go into Christchurch College, which is arguably the most famous. The first two Harry Potter movies were filmed in the college's great hall. If you don't believe me, watch the first one again when the first years arrive and Prof. McGonagall is giving them instructions. Thats the same staircase where I'm sitting at. Pretty dang cool, huh? After lots of pictures, we continued our walk across Oxford, including ascending a 13th century church tower for some great shots of the university.
Thursday was spent in class and some more wandering around London. I also spent some time preparing a trip to Italy and Greece when my parents fly into the UK next week. Should be a blast!
Today myself and some friends spent the afternoon in Greenwich, where the prime Meridian line lies. I have to say the line was pretty anti-climatic, it really is just a line. The best part of Greenwich was the view from the hill next to the observatory. The buildings in the background form Canary Wharf, a sort of modern financial center built on former docklands. To get there we take an elevated light rail train that gives you a great view of the glass and steel canyons of modern London as zips through them. I think London has got it figured out; you keep the historical, atmospheric part of the city preserved, while developing underused areas for the modern skyscraper area that I love so much. I'm a total modernist, who enjoys human progress in action. I guess its ironic I chose a major where I study the philosophies and musings of authors that have been dead for centuries. Somehow I'll find a happy median between the two.