November 2019

Blenheim Palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987

Throughout the palace was an art exhibition called Victory is Not an Option by Italian Maurizio Cattelan; this piece is We'll Never Die evoking an 1874 sculpture of Joan of Arc

This, largely inaccurate, model of Blenheim Palace is made from 100,000+ matchsticks!; the palace is just 8 miles north of Oxford

The ceiling of the Great Hall is 20 meters high and was painted by James Thornhill who also painted the dome at St. Paul's Cathedral

The Triumph of the Duke of Marlborough, 1720, is the ceiling painting in the saloon; the Peace Treaty of Utrecht was about to be signed, so all the elements in the painting represent the coming of peace

This self-portrait of Maurizio Cattelan is asking us to reflect on the ways we are used to seeing influential and powerful people represented; the current Duke of Marlborough and his family still live here

This drummer boy is based on Grass's 1959 novel The Tin Drum which tells the story of a boy who wills himself to stay a child through WW2; the motif of the drumming becomes like an act of resistance

This is where Cattelan's $6 million gold toilet entitled America was before thieves stole it last week; the work highlighted how we all share the same bodily needs regardless of economic or social differences; sadly, it has still not been recovered

This was Winston's baby saddle as he learned to ride his horse, Rob Roy; there was an exhibition within the palace dedicated to Churchill's life

The Great Court had a walkway of Union Jack flags by Cattelan alluding to Britain's history of colonialism and political conflict; if you take public transit, you get 30% of the palace admission price

This is the bed in which Winston Churchill was born (prematurely) in 1874; his mother was here attending a party when she suddenly went into labor

At the end of the 19th century, the palace was saved from ruin by funds gained from the 9th Duke of Marlborough's marriage to American railroad heiress, Consuelo Vanderbilt

The Temple of Diana is where Winston proposed to his girlfriend Clementine; they were married just a month later with the marriage lasting 56 years (when Winston died)

Cattelan has created a miniature replica Sistine Chapel; he suggests that the act of copying can in fact be an act of creation

Efforts are underway to restore the Great Lake which has silted up so the Great Cascade is not so great right now; considerable evidence suggested ongoing efforts to improve the property

Blenheim Palace, is the principal residence of the Dukes of Marlborough, and the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace

The Column of Victory, 1730, was built to commemorate the Duke of Marlborough's military successes; it was inspired by the pillar in the Piazza Navona in Rome

The Long Library has an English oak floor laid in 1722 and contains 10,000+ volumes; it was originally envisioned as a picture gallery

The 1891 Willis (any relation Evan?) Organ is believed to be the largest in a private home in the UK; it is still in use during the annual Churchill Memorial Concerts

The palace does not have much in the way of gardens but does have massive, centuries-old trees that are impressive; like practically every estate we've seen in the UK, Capability Brown worked on the landscape design

Colorful zebra finch in the butterfly house; in the 1800s the family was in severe financial trouble and sold off paintings and other artwork in an effort to keep the palace

This Giant Swallowtail butterfly was in the butterfly house in the Family Pleasure Garden; this garden is well away from the house with most people taking the miniature train to get there

Blenheim Palace was intended to be a reward to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough for his military triumphs against the French and Bavarians in the War of the Spanish Succession, culminating in the Battle of Blenheim

In the Family Pleasure Gardens is the world's largest symbolic maze; cars were backed up for miles trying to visit the palace on this gorgeous September day

The Third State Room is often called the Boulle Room because of all the Boulle-style furniture; Boulle, the greatest French cabinetmaker, is renowned for the inlay of tortoiseshell, brass and pewter into ebony

When approaching from behind this piece looks like a little boy before being revealed as Hitler; this piece is a reminder of a single man's power to create horror and pain that would change the course of history

First State Room; covering the walls are a couple of the Blenheim tapestries, each depicting a different campaign led by the Duke of Marlborough

Since the house is still inhabited, much of it was off-limits; the rooms we could see (all on the ground floor) were described well with the audioguide that was included with admission

Cattelan's 200+ taxidermy birds take over the chapel; the artist compares swarms of pigeons to tourists who can both be unwanted presences

Green Drawing Room; the internal layout of the rooms at Blenheim was defined by the court etiquette of the day; state apartments were designed as an axis of rooms of increasing importance and public use, leading to the chief room

Blenheim has been the setting for many film and TV episodes including The Amazing Race, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Avengers and Transformers: the Last Knight

Troika, Rose Garden; the house and family were saved by the 9th Duke of Marlborough when he married Consuelo Vanderbilt (her mother wanted to see her a duchess)

The oldest known piece of taxidermy is a crocodile that has hung from the ceiling of a little church in Ponte Nossa, Italy since the 16th century; I would have preferred a Chihully glass exhibition

Cattelan has created this double self-portrait in dark funerary clothes as if visitors are attending his wake; I wonder if the stolen toilet has increased interest and attendance at the palace

The rose garden was nice but late in the season; there were only a few varieties planted, each with its own wedge of the circular plot

This taxidermy horse is one of Cattelan's most iconic works; the horse here is worn and tired which seems to symbolize how the populace feels about Brexit

Cattelan brazenly drops a meteor on a likeness of Pope John Paul II (piece is from 1999); some see this as established seats of power being vulnerable (and this was done prior to sex abuse scandal awareness)

World Peace Gate; USA finished third in medal count behind Soviet Union and East Germany mainly due to extensive state-sponsored doping programs that were developed in these communist countries to fulfill their political agendas on an international stage

Bowling was held as a demonstration sport, with Kwon Jong Yul of South Korea and Arianne Cerdeña from the Philippines winning the men's and women's gold medals, respectively

The 123 story Lotte World Tower seen from the Olympic Park; the building is the tallest in South Korea and currently the 5th tallest in the world

Walk on the Horse, Croatia; Aruba, American Samoa, Brunei, Cook Islands, Maldives, Vanuatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Yemen made their first Olympic appearance at these Games

Ring-necked pheasant; live doves were released during the opening ceremony as a symbol of world peace, but a number of the doves were burned alive or suffered major trauma by the lighting of the Olympic cauldron

Knife sculpture, Germany; Riddick Bowe of the US lost a controversial match in the finals to future world heavyweight champion, Canadian Lennox Lewis

Carl Lewis won the 100 meters in a new world record time and added a silver in the 200 meters and a gold in the long jump; Janet Evans won 3 gold medals in swimming

These were the last Olympic Games for the Soviet Union and East Germany; the Soviets dominated, winning 55 gold and 132 total medals

160 nations competed in the Games of the XXIV Olympiad celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988; the motto was Harmony and Progress

Mobile fountain, Belgium; Flach and Seguso won gold in men's doubles while Zina Garrison and Pam Shriver won gold in ladies' doubles

Encounters in Time and Space, Puerto Rico; Steffi Graf completed the Golden Slam, the only player to ever do so, by winning the gold medal and all 4 Grand Slam events in 1988

Canadian Ben Johnson won the 100 m final with a new world record, but was disqualified after he tested positive for stanozolol

Dialogue, Algeria; Florence Griffith Joyner won the 100 and 200 meters while Jackie Joyner Kersee won the heptathlon and long jump

The park rabbits were very used to visitors; these were the first Olympic games held in mainland Asia and escaped the mass boycotts of the prior Olympiads with only North Korea and Cuba boycotting

Full moon over Olympic Park; these were the first Olympic games for tennis after a 64 year absence

Sky for Nirvana, Korea; Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany became the first (and only) athlete to win Olympic medals at the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics in the same year (cycling silver and speed skating gold)

Tai chi Gate, Taipei; U.S. diver Greg Louganis won back-to-back titles in both diving events despite hitting his head on the springboard in the third round and suffering a concussion

Anthony Nesty of Suriname won his country's first Olympic medal in the 100 m butterfly, scoring an upset victory over Matt Biondi by .01 of a second; he was also the first black person to win an individual swimming gold

Extraterrestrial, Algeria; almost 8400 athletes competed in 237 events in 23 sports

Brad Gilbert won the bronze medal in tennis while Tim Mayotte took home the silver; Zina Garrison brought the bronze medal in singles back to Houston

This was the last time the U.S. was represented by a basketball team that did not feature NBA players; they won the bronze after being defeated by the Soviet Union (represented by veteran professionals) which went on to win the gold

Sacrifice of Isaac II, Israel; the sculpture park features 200+ works from artists from around the world and made for an enjoyable walk

Seoul Baekje Museum; Chris Evert was upset in the round of 16 by unheralded Raffaella Reggi of Italy

Caernarfon Castle was a motte-and-bailey design from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began replacing it with the current stone structure

Caernarfon lies on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey, in NW Wales and has a population of 9600; its population includes the largest percentage of Welsh-speaking citizens anywhere in Wales

In 1911, Caernarfon Castle was used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales, and again in 1969 when Prince Charles assumed his title; today, it's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site

This yew tree is the oldest known living tree in Wales and one of the oldest living things in the world with its age estimated to be 5000+ years!

The construction of Caernarfon Castle began in 1283 and went on for nearly half a century but was never fully completed; it's managed by a trust today but is technically owned by the Queen

The medieval town walls, including eight towers and two twin-towered gateways, form a complete circuit of 800 yards around the old town and were built between 1283 and 1285

In 1884, Queen Victoria presented the Royal Welch Fusiliers with a Kashmir goat from her herd, and a tradition was started; Billy's (all have been called a variation of William) primary duty is to march at the head of the battalion at all ceremonial events

The towers house museums such as one dedicated to the Royal Welch Fusiliers, a military branch made up entirely of Welshmen; there's also an interesting video of Prince Charles and his investiture

Edward I built this impressive castle 700 years ago to establish English rule over North Wales; the castle, though imposing, was never finished and never really used

A local member of Parliament from 1890 to 1945, David Lloyd George was the most important politician Wales ever sent to London; he became Prime Minister in the last years of WW1

The Tower Bridge was completed in 1894; this drawbridge, adjacent to the Tower of London (where Anne Boleyn was executed) is an iconic symbol of the city

We walked across the upper walkways of the Tower Bridge and watched as the drawbridge opened below; the bridge is part of the Inner London Ring Road and is crossed by more than 40,000 people (motorists, cyclists and pedestrians) every day

The first part of the Tower of London was built in 1078 by William the Conqueror; later, the facility was used as a royal palace and today houses the crown jewels of England

As one of the largest keeps in the Christian world, the White Tower has been described as the most complete eleventh-century palace in Europe; the White Tower measures 36 by 32 m at the base, and is 27 m high at the southern battlements

We took a tour led by one of the Beefeaters; the crown jewels were stunning and and housed in the building on the left (no photos were allowed)

The iconic Tower Bridge, built in 1894, is a drawbridge across the River Thames; in the lower right corner is an egg-shaped building which is London City Hall

The White Tower was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite; the Tower of London is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

This is Henry VIII's suit of armor; the Tower of London is a 1000 year old complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat; there were several phases of expansion, mainly under kings Richard I, Henry III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries

Charles II ordered six ravens be placed in the Tower of London to protect it; six ravens are still kept in the tower today and they must remain there at all times due to superstitious reasons

View of Tower Bridge from an old Norman window in the Tower of London; the Tower has served variously as an armory, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public record office and the home of the crown jewels of England

All Hallows-by-the-Tower Church, built in 1658 (current building); William Penn was baptized here and John Quincy Adams married a local girl here in 1797

The Pontcysllte Aqueduct is the tallest navigable aqueduct in the world and stands 39m high; the 11 mile long aqueduct is the longest in the UK

The aqueduct is only 12 feet wide including the walkway and 5 feet 3 inches deep; situated in NE Wales, we could have taken a tourist boat ride but the view was better walking

When the aqueduct was completed it was used to move bricks, tiles, iron products and coal as the Industrial Revolution transformed the surrounding area

This girl was afraid her boat would run over the ducks but they all safely got out of the way; for the non-Welsh speaker, Pontcysyllte is pronounced pont-kur-suck-tay

There are some small road bridges that cross the canal and crew on the boats have to get out to hand crank the bridges up to let the boat pass and then put the bridge back down

The Pontcysllte Aqueduct took 10 years to construct and was completed in 1805; now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the canal was to be a link between Shrewsbury and Liverpool but the rest of the route was never finished

The aqueduct is only wide enough for one boat so captains have to look the length of the canal to see if another boat is coming; I think a stop light would make for more efficient travel but why change a system that works fine

To achieve its great height, the upper part of the aqueduct had to be as light as possible; the solid masonry piers become hollow as they rise, and are topped with slender ribs of cast iron

The novelist Sir Walter Scott called the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct the most impressive work of art I've ever seen; 500 men were used to construct the aqueduct using simple wooden scaffolding

Some of the original structures lining the canal still exist; the aqueduct was built by Thomas Telford who also constructed the suspension bridge in Conwy

This google image shows the 18 arches of the aqueduct and the terrain it crosses; Pontcysyllte means the bridge that connects in Welsh

The aqueduct is crossed by 15,000 boats and 200,000 pedestrians each year; once every 5 years the canal is completely drained so it can be inspected and repaired