Hampton Court Palace

This begins day one of our three days of palaces. That's right. In three days we will see three different royal palaces. The first one on the agenda is Hampton Court Palace. This palace is not in central London so we had to use several methods of transportation to arrive there. We rode the tube to Richmond Station then got on a boat and rode for over an hour down the River Thames. Our boat ride was quite quaint. It was cool to see such a different part of London. It was much more residential and very similar to riding down the water at home. People had docks and boats and I loved it. I sure am missing the water. Once we got there we had lunch at the palace’s café. I had soup with bread and a massive chocolate chip cookie. We then began our tour of the palace. It was quite windy, as it typically is in this city.

Hampton Court was the home of King William and Queen Mary as well as Henry VIII. We began the tour with a bit of history of Henry VIII and his many wives that we know all about. I think one of the main focal points of this palace is the architecture. Each monarch that lived here added wings with their own architectural style. We toured the majority of the palace, the notable items. We saw the kitchens and pantry and learned about the tons of food it takes to entertain the King and guests at the banquets. In one year, they drank 600,000 gallons of beer. That’s a lot of beer. We also saw Henry VIII’s toilet. It was old! And gross! I don’t know why that was saved, or on display. We then saw an exhibit called “The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned.” Basically, this exhibit exposed some scandals of the Stuart Line. If TMZ was around back then, they would have had a field day. We learned about royal mistresses and saw portraits of scantily clad women that kings would hang in their rooms. Scandalous. I think the best part of the palace is the ceilings. They put a lot of effort into those. Each wall also had huge tapestries on them, which were very detailed. That should come back in style that would be so cool. I would have a tapestry on my wall. It could happen. Although we could not take pictures in the chapel, it was easily the most beautiful room in the palace.

Ceiling

And another.

Wall Tapestry

Henry VIII

Another ceiling.

The best part of Hampton Court Palace was the gardens. They were absolutely spectacular with tons of beautiful flowers. We also saw The Great Vine which is one of the oldest vines in existence. The maze was a highlight. It was quite large, with beautiful tall hedges.  We managed to make it through quite quickly! That was a lot of fun.

The Great Vine

The Rose Garden.

We came back to London by train, which is always different and fun. We were exhausted at the end of the day, but I always enjoy day trips. We went for a bit of shopping at Oxford Street. Let me tell you. These Londoners love to shop and Oxford Street is absolute madness.

Tomorrow: Palace #2. I wonder which one it will be?

Week Four: Day Five: BLC 16