Life on the Flipped Side: The Parental Visit

My parents made it to England last month for a short, yet action packed visit. We made the most of the days and did a ton of walking so I think I may have wore them out but they were troopers and post knee surgery Dad made it through.

The first full day, we took a quick loop on the open air bus sightseeing Oxford tour because my parents had some free tickets from their hotel. For lunch, I brought them to one of the most famous and oldest pubs in Oxford, the 13th century Turf Tavern. For Americans, this pub is etched in infamy as the place where Bill Clinton supposedly/maybe/possibly "Did not inhale". That's right, the Turf Tavern, down a discrete alleyway, nestled in between centuries old university buildings and the original city wall is where Clinton may have done a little experimenting in his Rhodes Scholar days.

After that city and pub orientation, we decided to hop on a bus to London for a bite to eat and a show. Rock of Ages won out over the others, and we had fantastic seats. It was a really fun, energetic show and I was glad we picked it (even though Mom and Dad had already seen it.) ;-)

After getting home very late from London, we were up early again to drive to Stonehenge and Bath for the day. Stonehenge really is right off the road in the middle of nowhere. I have to say from the pictures I've seen, I thought it would be much bigger, but it was impressive nonetheless.

In Bath, I had purchased a package with the Roman Bath tour, Pump Room lunch and Thermae Bath Spa 2 hour admission. A perfect way to spend the afternoon. After lunch, we toured the Roman Baths where the 2,000 year old ruins have been preserved fantastically, and you really get a sense of walking in their footsteps.

After the tour, we soaked in the Thermae Bath Spa for a few hours. The roof top view was amazing and there were several pools to chose from, scented steam rooms and waterfall type jets to sit under. I think I need to go back sometime soon...

I had decided Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, just outside of Oxford should be on our itinerary long before my parents came. I was happy to find out however, that the weekend they were here was the Blenheim International Horse Trials.

A decidedly English event, we headed to the palace to see the cross-country horse trials and take in a new sport. The spectator uniform was clear: we weren't wearing tweed coats and wellies, and we forgot to bring our dogs along, but we did have a good time checking out the competition. For some countries, this was a London 2012 Olympic qualifying event and it was interesting to watch the jockeys in action.

Blenheim Palace's grounds are massive and after a few hours of watching the trials, we headed over to the palace to see the Winston Churchill rooms and take in the grandeur. They have a deal with the ticket purchase that you can enter the grounds for 12 months after buying a day pass and people will bring bikes and picnics and go for runs and walks around the lake on the palace grounds when the weather is nice. I'm hoping to get back there sometime soon and take advantage.

That night, we were back in Oxford for Bill Spectre's Ghost Trails tour. This guy was entertaining and quite the story teller with a few tricks up his sleeve (literally). Highly recommend his ghost tour, you won't be let down!

The last day we took in Oxford Castle, and took advantage of Oxford Open Doors. Once a year, Oxford opens up its doors to the public with a weekend of activities and free tours and access to the historic buildings. With some colleges and activities only available at certain times, we were only able to see a few things on Sunday but it was a nice leisurely end to our long weekend. We also were able to see some gymnastics and fencing demos (Dad loved this one) at Oxford Town hall. Most colleges are open where you would normally pay to visit, and others are open that are otherwise always closed to the public. It was nice to see beyond the street front of some of these colleges, as most have hidden gardens and courtyards that you can't see from the front of the building. I learned that not only does Oxford have an open doors weekend, but there is also English Heritage Open Days country wide, which I'll have to keep in mind for next year.