"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

Do you know who that quote is by? Winston Churchill, yeah, and do you know where I read it? The place of his birth, Blenheim Palace! Geoff and I decided to spend the afternoon there even though I still had to write my last paper.


Tickets were expensive, but once we got in they converted our day passes to YEAR ones. That's right, they took awkward pictures with a webcam and printed laminated cards for us on site. Maybe when the weather's nice, I will make it back there. I feel like I have to since I went through all that to get the card.


We were inside first, but you can't take pictures there. We saw the room where Winston Churchill was born, lots of family portraits and a hand-painted dining room with a vaulted ceiling where the Duke of Marlborough and family still hold Christmas dinner every year. AWESOME.

After that we went to explore the grounds!

We are adorable, aside from the fact that my smile lines make me look oddly old in this picture. Moving on...


Sheep! And pheasants! We didn't hear about the sheep, but the pheasants are still kept on the grounds for the duke and his bros to go hunting. Later we saw one up close:


This is where Winston Churchill proposed to his wife:


As we walked, I started to hear running water so we poked around until we found this cool garden. By this point, however, I really had to pee from listening to that water for so long, but I tried to enjoy it anyway and take a few pictures before running back to the palace.




I'm sure the garden is much prettier in summer. Late March wasn't exactly prime time, but since I have a yearlong pass, I can go back anytime! And at least there were snowdrops:



During World War II, this area of England was bombed but not Blenheim Palace. Word on the street is if Hitler ever took over England, he wanted to set up house in the birthplace of his enemy, Churchill. Pretty twisted.


Then we saw something really curious...

Dude, does that hedge look like a duck?

Yeah, it totally does. For more objects that look like ducks, check out this cool blog: http://www.thispeanutlookslikeaduck.com/quack/ I stumbled on it awhile ago and it reminded me why I love the internet so much...because someone felt the need to share their love of things that look like ducks with the world and the internet allowed them to reach out to others who might share their love. Do you?