Hampton Court Palace

Palace to Palace, that’s how we roll. I dutifully watched all of Wolf Hall before coming over so I’d be ready for King Henry VIII.

We had a quick breakfast and made the pilgrimage by Tube to Waterloo then by National Rail to Hampton Court. You can get anywhere by public transportation in London.

The Palace and grounds were amazing, but the interpretation was not. We should have hired a great guide.

Three distinct eras are interpreted in this palace and none of them are done well. There were a couple of talks that were interesting, but nothing flowed and very few docents. It was still a good visit and nice to be in the country for the day.

The arms displays always fascinate me. And they did a display of Georgian table settings with napkin folds that were so artistic.

The Kings ate in front of large groups of people to show they were healthy (the Queens also gave birth in front of an audience), and the left over food was then distributed to the townspeople (after the servants had their fill). At least no food waste.

We took a draft horse ride, which gave us a feel for travel in the 1500’s. There was no way to capture the expanse of the grounds in photos, but it was magical out there. How they keep it up, I do not know.