Hampton Court Palace then London.

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We left our little hotel near Swindon to go to Hampton Court Palace, which is just southwest of London. This was the home of Henry VIII for a large part of his life. We had a little trouble finding it, so we got started later than we wanted.
The first thing we noticed is that is was made of brick instead of stone - a great indulgence back then. Several interesting exhibitions inside, including some on Henry VIII's younger days. (No photos allowed inside.) We concentrated on the Tudor portions of the palace. King William (of William & Mary) later appropriated the property and started demolishing and rebuilding it - in Baroque style. He never finished so the palace is part Tudor construction, part Baroque.
One of the areas we wanted to see the most was King Henry's chapel, which looked amazing in the brochures. But, in keeping with our luck as of late, a funeral service was being held and the chapel was closed to the public. Darn!
Then it was time to make our way back to Heathrow to return our rental van that had served us so well for the last two weeks. Jeff was a little nervous about this part, as the traffic in that area was very heavy, and the directions from the rental car company included a u-turn in a roundabout that was part of a five-roundabout circle! But our GPS navigation unit came to the rescue and provided alternate directions that didn't include such vehicular gymnastics. As we made the last turn before arriving at the rental car lot, Jeff was so excited that he drove on the wrong side of the road for a couple hundred feet! It was the first time that had happened (on a road, anyway) and it was literally in the last 10 seconds that we had the van...
We had a coach pick us up and take us to our hotel, the London Gosvenor Marriott. According to the coach driver, it is in a 'posh' neighborhood, right across the street from the American Embassy. We quickly got dressed to go to see a play in the theatre district. Our first tube ride (subway). It was very crowded everywhere we went - Friday night and all. The theatre was very nice, our seats were great, and Avenue Q was hilarious. Most of the performers have to work their muppet characters while acting and singing (in 'muppet' voices) themselves. We were very impressed.
Stopped for dinner on the way back to the hotel, then to our rooms for the end of a long day. Tomorrow we start exploring London.

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