July 22, 2007
Rowan's Excellent Adventure - Closing Chapter
Well, I have finally arrived home. From Thursday to today has largely been a wash between the closing schedule of the Round Table and travel home. My body doesn't know what day or time it is.
Thursday was the final presentations of the Round Table, a group trip to Blenheim Castle, and a banquet. Friday I traveled all day. Got stuck in Newark, NJ., and spent a brief period in a hotel to catch an early flight back to Portland on Saturday. But first, Blenheim Castle.
I must say that the castle where Winston Churchill was born (apparently one of the most important things in its history) is stunning. Pictures inside the castle are not allowed so most of these are of the grounds.
Welcome to Blenheim Castle - this is the from gate.
The first courtyard
The front entrance to the castle proper.
Statuary
The main courtyard.
This is a dragon on the crypt in the castle chapel. We weren't supposed to take pictures inside, but I couldn't pass this one up.
Part of the top garden.
I loved this gryphon - a female which I think is quite rare.
Lower fountains - horse in the fountain.
Just about my favorite picture. This is a magical lion.
The whole fountain.
One of the "ponds" - more like a lake.
An ancient English Oak.
A tree growing in a living tree. A whole new interpretation of "nurse log."
Lilly pads.
I'm sure you are ready for this.
Yes, all of the exit signs show the person running.
For my week's efforts, I received a certificate from the Oxford Round Table Trustees.
Well the trip home was no less eventful than the week had been. As you may have heard, it rained in the UK. My flight was delayed, but we took off before the massive rain hit. However, that put us a bit late into Newark. Not terribly late, but because of a tremendously inefficient security and transfer system, I ended up spending the night - or part of it - in Newark.
Continental sent me to a hotel, but I was back at the airport at 3:45am. Yes, it was a very short night. The plane to Portland was packed to the rim, and I had a middle seat. Needless to say, it was not a comfortable trip. I was so very happy to be back home.
Thank you all for sharing this adventure with me.
Posted by rowan at July 22, 2007 6:02 PM | [eMail this article!] |That was fun ! I cannot travel due to immune suppression, very easy to catch nasty bugs on airplane rides, so this was a real treat, thanks for sharing.
I would be interested in knowing more about your writings etc at Oxford, can you post excerpts ?
Posted by: bill at July 24, 2007 10:41 AMGlad you enjoyed it. I believe that if you double click on any of the pictures it will take you to the entire album on google. then you can see all of the pictures (for better or worse).
Regarding publishing the paper here... I will likely be doing that - or some version of it - in the near future.
Posted by: rowan at July 26, 2007 8:21 AMYes, Rowan, thank you for sharing your trip to Europe with us. My daughter even enjoyed looking at the pictures.
Posted by: Shawna at July 28, 2007 1:59 PM