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I decided to go to Hampton Court Palace since it was a nice sunny day and rain was forecast for the rest of my stay. I planned to take the Tube then a bus to get there but electrical problems cancelled the Green line heading out to that area. I was told to get off at Earl's Court Station and take the C1 to Victoria Station. I was one of the lucky passengers to get on the bus. The bus driver passed several stops since we were so full. People at those bus stops were very upset. When I got to Victoria Station an hour later, I found out through an Underground Information person that they reopened all the lines to Richmond! Ugh! So back on the Tube. This time I made it to Richmond and took the R68. This was another 45 minute bus ride. I left the hotel about 9 and made it to the Palace at 12:30!!
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace that was built in 1515 for Cardinal
Thomas Wolsey, a
favorite of
King Henry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favor, the King seized the palace for himself and later enlarged it. Along with
St James's Palace,
it is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many owned by King Henry VIII. In the following century,
King William III's massive rebuilding and expansion project destroyed much of the Tudor palace. Work ceased in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor and Baroque.
King George II was the last monarch to reside in the palace.
I was able to get into the palace for free as part of the London Pass that I bought before leaving America. They had some areas off limits due to construction. There was a weekend festival in the main court and they were still taking down the stage scaffolding. The William III apartments were very impressive with lots of detailed woodwork and art work. The various gardens were nice, but I didn’t spend a lot of time in them. I visited the Georgian era rooms where they had elaborate recreations of food, furniture, and clothing all made out of stiff paper. It was a nice contrast against the dark grain of the woodwork. I really wanted to see sections concerning King Henry VIII. The King’s Kitchen was enormous as it had to feed over a hundred people
a day. They had one museum docent in period clothing turning real meat on a iron spit. Down the corridor was a extremely large room just for the King’s wine. There were large casks of wine (I’m sure empty now) sitting through out the room. The King’s privy church was not allowing photographs unfortunately. It had a lot of nice wood work and stain glass. The main attraction was the great hall where King Henry VIII would see people waiting to speak to him. The stain glass in there was very nice but it wasn’t from his time period. The depictions in some of the panels told about his various marriages. As I left Hampton Court, I asked one of the docents about how to get back to London. He stated that I could just cross the river and take the Hampton Station train back to London. It would take me 30 minutes! WHAT!!! I could have taken a train from Waterloo Station to Hampton Station in 30 minutes!!! Wow!! Needles to say, don’t always follow the tour book. Check it out first. So once I got back in London, I was off to Tower Bridge.
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