Though I am now on the flight home from the UK, I want to go back a few days to Wednesday and tell about “secret adventures” I participated in. After a lecture Wednesday morning, we had a free afternoon. We had been told about Blenheim Palace, home to the Duke of Marlbourough and birthplace of Winston Churchill, located just outside of Oxford in a little town called Woodstock. Dr. Swicegood, Jessie, Becky, Will, Hayes, and I decided to go see it. Just before we headed out, a lady in the St. Clare’s office told us about a secret entrance that provides the town with free access to the grounds of the palace. Since we knew the inside palace was closed during January anyway, we jumped at the chance to get onto the grounds without paying.
We had a lovely bus ride to Woodstock, where we met a very helpful gentleman who told us that the “super duper secret entrance” could be found along the main road through a green gate just before the Black Prince pub. After a delicious lunch by the fire in a teahouse, we wandered a bit and found the gate. Trying to be nonchalant (very hard for me) we entered on a gorgeous path behind the palace and a lake. Following the path around the lake, we were in awe of the sprawling palace. As England has been experiencing some flooding, one part of the path was taken over by water. I figured that the grass looked a little dryer, and tried going around. Big mistake. I was instantly up to my shins in mud and lake water. My then cream-colored socks are now brown, but not even that could dampen my enthusiasm.
As we continued around the lake, we came to a beautiful bridge just behind the palace. It was very windy. We were able to get right up to the back gate and took several pictures. There was quite a bit of work being done and cars and trucks kept flying past us. It was a great experience, enhanced by the fact that we had taken the “locals” entrance. But, we couldn’t stay all day! Becky and I had a very important appointment waiting for us back in Oxford.
Our wonderful tour guide Paul, graduate of St. John’s College, Oxford, had arranged for a special viewing of documents in St. John’s library. Are you ready for this?? He had arranged for us to view original letters written by JANE AUSTEN. We were beyond excited, and we took a trip “just around the corner” from St. Clare’s (Note: to this British, this means at least 5 blocks) through the University Park and entered through another super duper secret entrance to St. John’s College.
After winding through beautiful gardens, we entered the library, officially signed in, and headed up stairs. The inside of the library was absolutely beautiful, and on display were very old, historic, and important documents that St. John’s owns, such as the Vulgate, one of the first printed Bibles. Though it remained locked up in the safe, Paul told us that the college also owns a VERY valuable complete original copy of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. To enter the old part of the library, Paul used a special magnetic key to open the door and we had to hurry across as lasers will get you if you take too long getting in. That hurried up even the slower members of our group!
Just looking at the shelves of the beautiful old books is overwhelming, and the library also had some very old globes, some of man’s first attempts to accurately map the world. One was so old and worn that you could not even read it. Deciphering Jane Austen’s letters was a little bit of an out-of-body experience. They were mostly letters to her niece Anna, who was a novel writer, though a terrible one. Full of criticism but very carefully crafted and always encouraging, we noticed that Austen advised Anna to do the same things that show up in her own novels. She advises her to craft credible, consistent characters and to focus on the living of only a few families in the country. Austen’s handwriting was very neat, and it was surprisingly easy to make out.
Another fascinating original manuscript we got to see was Samuel Johnson’s 18th century dictionary, one of the first influential and widely used dictionaries to be published at the time. Some of his definitions are quite amusing, such as the one for “oats: a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.” An interesting fact about this work is that it was the dictionary used by the writers of the Declaration of Independence, a document for which it was imperative to use clearly understandable words. Another neat old book we saw was an original Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, a very important book for early Christians.
All in all, Wednesday was a day of fun, secret, personal experiences. A big thanks to the lady from IES, the Woodstock man on the bus, and of course our excellent guide Paul for making that day unforgettable!
Written by: Alyse Line
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