Hampton Court

We spent our second day in London by visiting Hampton Court.  The massive palace is located only 12 miles from London and sits on the River Thames.  It was built in 1514 for Cardinal Wolsey, but when he fell out of favor with King Henry VIII, the King "acquired" it for the use of the monarchy.  Because of the distance and time involved in getting there, the two day layover is really an idea trip upon which to pay a visit to the palace.

We opted to take a boat ride up the Thames to get to Hampton Court.  We caught our boat at Westminster Pier just across the river from the London Eye, near the Houses of Parliament.

The boat ride was so much fun.  Because we sailed against the current, it took about three hours.  It wasn't crowded at all and we secured a spot on deck and made ourselves comfortable for the boat ride out of town.  We all brought food and drink to make the time go by a little faster!

I was drinking a little bit of everything.  Mark and I even decided to go all British and try some Pimm's in a can.

I kind of went a little overboard drinking everything under the sun and passed out for part of the ride, and became the subject of some "photos".

After my little nap, I was "revitalized" and ready for action at Hampton Court.  We arrived at the dock the same way Henry did hundreds of years ago.  The palace is actually built in two separate styles, Baroque and Tudor (you know what they say... if it ain't Baroque, don't fix it) since work was halted for several years under William III.  Along with St. James' Palace, it is the only other surviving palace of the many that were owned by Henry VIII.

The day before our visit, the palace had been the selected site for the Men's Cycling venue, so we took it upon ourselves to post in front of the Olympic Rings.

While the palace has over 1000 rooms, only about 90 are open to the public and part of the tour.  You are given a free audio guide that takes you thru the rooms and gives you an idea of what daily life was like in the palace during Henry's reign.  It took about 600 people to make the palace run smoothly.

One of the unique parts of the tour is the "actors" who interact with the visitors.  We were privy to a disagreement between Jane Seymour and King Henry that caused her to leave Court.  When Henry found out he was none too pleased.

The outside gardens are equally as impressive as the interior of the palace.  We also enjoyed some time sitting outside at a table where we continued our "picnic" from the boat.

I finished off the day with some of the best soft serve ice cream ever made!

Go Gabon!

The London 2012 games have come and gone.  I was real excited in the months leading up to the games, since London is of course my most favorite city in the whole wide world.  I was even more excited when my good fortune allowed me to actually attend two of the competitions.

At the end of July, my friend Sara dropped her four day London trip to me.  My friends Patrick and Donny were also on it and Patrick was able to score four tickets to a Men's Soccer match at Wembley Stadium to see Korea v. Gabon.  Donny brought along his partner Mark, who I have known for years from back in my domestic days, so the four of us went to cheer for Gabon.  This was exciting for that country since it was the first time the Men's Soccer team had qualified for the Olympic Games.

Each ticket included a one day travel card to allow for easy public transport to the venues, since they were spread out across the entire city.  We took a combination of tubes and trains to and from Wembley.

Upon arrival at Wembley, we encountered some rather colorful Korean fans.  They made up the majority of the spectators.  I think this guy was Korean Harry Potter, but everyone else seems to think he was Korean Austin Powers.

The lines were crazy long, but we moved along quite quickly into the arena.  You had to scan your ticket to open the turnstile, and poor Donny was having a little trouble with his ticket, but we finally got him inside.

No booze were allowed inside the actual seating area, so we had to enjoy a frosty beverage before going in.  I purchased a commemorative coin for everyone so we would always remember the day.

The arena was packed and the final number in attendance was 76,927 spectators.

We were fortunate to be seated next to some Gabonian fans.  They really went all out when it came to supporting their team!  We were honorary Gabonians that day since we were rooting for them as well.

In the true spirit of sportsmanship, this Gabonian man was making nice with the pretty Korean ladies.

We all felt Donny went a little overboard with his Team GB headgear.  He threatened to wear it  home on the plane, but thankfully pulled back on that!  This was probably why Mark chose to fly home on the earlier flight.

None of us were really big soccer experts, but we learned that in the event of a tie in a non final match, the game just ends and both teams receive a point in the win column as they advance to the next round.  That was just the case that day as the game ended 0-0.  It was still an exciting day and to just be a part of that was a unique experience.

We were a little discouraged as we left Wembley and saw the massive crowd trying to get to the tube station.  Imagine our surprise when we made our way to the train station and got right on a train headed for Marylebone in Central London.  In all, it only took about an hour to get back to the hotel.

We wrapped up the night with some delicious hamburgers from Byron Burger.  It was the first time that any of the guys had been there, so I was happy to help them experience the best hamburger joint in Londontown.

We were all a bit wiped out from the day and I know I slept like a rock that night.  This was a two day layover, so we needed our rest since we were joining up with the rest of the crew the next day to head to Hampton Court.