Day 6 - Hampton Court

On day 6 we decided to take a trip out of the city to go to Hampton Court Palace.

 
We took the Tube to Waterloo train station and boarded a train to Hampton.

 
I am so impressed with the public transportation in Europe.  It's so convenient and affordable.


 
Hampton Court was acquired by Thomas Wolsey in 1514, he was a Cardinal and King Henry VIII's administrator who gained a lot of power and wealth.

 
Hampton Court was presented to the King as a gift in 1525.  In 1529 Wolsey was unable to convince the Pope to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and he was removed from court.
 
Henry readied Hampton Court for his intended bride, Anne Boleyn, by spending the equivalent of millions of pounds to create a magnificent setting for Anne.  After her execution in 1536 Henry married Jane Seymour who gave birth to Prince Edward who was baptized in the Royal Chapel.  He divorced Anne of Cleves at the palace, Catherine Howard's infidelity supposedly took place at the palace, his marriage to Kateryn Parr took place at the palace.  Lots of history here.

 
This hallway has doors off to each side that were the cold rooms for storing food.

 
Look at the size of that fireplace in the kitchen.

 
This is an example of how the meats were roasted.

 
The palace really consists of two palaces--the medieval palace used by the Tudors and the Baroque palace used by Mary II and William III.

 
William and Mary designed it after the baroque palaces of France.

 
We were able to go through the king's and queen's private apartments.

 
Once again, a really fancy bed.

 
I was intrigued by the door knobs and locks.

 
The king's toilet (even with a velvet seat).

 
The grand hall built by Henry VIII.  This was the most impressive room in the castle in my opinion.  The tapestries, the stained glass windows.  Incredible!

 
The ceiling!



 
A portrait of the tyrant.

 
The gardens were amazing.


 
The flower beds were stunning.

 
 


 
I loved the wisteria.

 
We took a trip through the maze garden.

 
Irv, of course, had to find a geocache.
 
We spent a full day at Hampton Court, found a pub to have lunch then headed back to London.

 
 I tried the fish and chips (much better than Iceland) and Irv had some kind of meat pie.
 
 
 We went into the King's Cross train station to get our picture at Platform 9 3/4, but there was a long line of children.  We decided to come back at 10 p.m. to see if it wouldn't be so busy, but no luck.


Hampton Court was definitely my favorite palace.  We were able to wonder around at our leisure and lots of rooms were open for us to go into.  

Another fun and educational day!

Comments

polcat24 said…
The lunch at the pub "The mute Swan" was really good. I'm surprised I didn't gain more weight.
May 17, 2017 at 11:07 AM
Yogi♪♪♪ said…
I'm extremely jealous of Irv's geocaching in Europe!!! Love the castle, great post.
May 20, 2017 at 11:49 PM
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