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!