Women, Westminster, & Capability Brown

Yesterday I discovered a woman-owned and operated company, Women of London, that offers tours of monuments in London honoring women. I’m going to see how expensive a private tour is since it’s rain or shine and I honestly don’t know if I could or should manage a 2+ hour walking tour in the rain. The regular tour is £20 so it might be feasible.

I definitely want to book a tour of Westminster Abbey by a verger and the upstairs/downstairs Blenheim Palace tours. Westminster Abbey stopped online booking at the end of March. I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks.

Blenheim Palace is vast, and a tour will help orient me, plus if done well is just the sort of historical gossip I enjoy. My historical knowledge is limited to the movie The Favourite, a ‘punk Restoration romp’ that centers on the relationship of the Duchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne. My other connection is my Cavalier Blenheim Cavalier spaniel. A regal little goofball o’ fluff.

Interesting connection, the landscape of Blenheim was designed by Capability Brown, and there is a memorial fountain dedicated to him in Westminster, appropriately enough in the center of a green space inside the cloister. It’s inscribed with this delightful Walpole quote;
“With one lost paradise the name
Of our first ancestor is stained;
Brown shall enjoy unsullied fame
For so many a paradise regained”

making plans

After dithering since last summer, my daughter’s departure for Barcelona  kickstarted my travel planning brain.

Over the last two days decisions have been made, accommodations acquired, and flights booked. Obstacles melted away and everything just fell into place.

London: Thursday, March 26 – Friday, April 17. Staying in Covent Garden. #allmuseumsallartallthetime.
Vienna: Friday, April 17 – Monday, April 27. Staying near the museums. If I could, I’d sleep in the Kunsthistoriche.
Woodstock & Oxford: Monday, April 27 – Saturday, May 2.  A breath of country air. Visiting Blenheim Palace because cavaliers, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and The Kilns, because Narnia (C. S. Lewis’s home).
London: Saturday, May 2 – Wednesday, May 6. Staying in Spitalfields. The anti-museum, pro-gardens, pro-street markets and pro-cemeteries portion of my trip. Generally goofing-off.

Various family members may join me for different stretches of the trip. No dates/commitment, since it depends on their hectic and often unpredictable movie/series schedules. Beloved spouse may or may not join me for ten days, split between London and Vienna. He’s a hard man to pin down.

I’m starting to fill in my day-by-day calendar with fair and foul weather options. Plugging in timed ticket entries here and there, maybe a guided tour.

This is probably my favorite part of the trip, chasing down all the places I want to see.

2011 at Somerset House