Wednesday I set off for Blenheim, made all the wrong turns, ended up on a major restricted-access highway, and got there in record time. Impossible. But true. I laughed. The 1st Duke of Marlborough was a National Hero. Louis 14 had been running over Europe willy-nilly, until he was defeated...wait for it...at Blenheim. The home was a gift from Queen Anne, along with the title. One of the most beautiful rooms in the whole estate is the Long Gallery, At one end ...

Everything worked like clockwork. Because I am a lucky girl. I planned to be there on a Tuesday-lots of things I wanted to see are unavailable on Monday. I got the last space on a walking tour of Oxford University, given by the official Tourist Information. We went pretty thoroughly through Exeter College--a popular location for Inspector Morse and alma mater to Richard Burton (the actor), JRR Tolkien, and William Morris, and a few other thousand brilliant pe...