life in the district. : London: I'm Henry the VIII, the VIII I am...

Sunday 5 June 11: Happy Birthday Ellen!

Today was our "Day Trip" day. We walked over to Waterloo Station and got on a train out to Hampton Court Palace.

The view of London from the waterloo Bridge

Now ... let me digress for a quick minute. Two nights ago I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 ... in which they start out in London. Scenes of St. Pauls Cathedral popped up on screen. I looked over at my Dad (yes I went with my parents -- free movie, woot woot!) and smiled and said "Been there, seen that".

THEN (and no, I am not ruining any of the movie if you haven't seen it yet) they take Depp to the Tower of London. HOWEVER, when they get out of the carriage -- they are NOT in the Tower.

How do I know?!

I'm looking at this building, trying to place it with the Tower ... then they walk inside and are going up a staircase. I notice the painting on the wall and the SPQR (Roman army motto) shield ... and the railings ... and the staircase ... WAIT A MINUTE... THAT'S NOT THE TOWER! THATS HAMPTON COURT! I WAS LITERALLY THERE 3 DAYS AGO!

Yes, Pirates indeed filmed a lot of the beginning portion of the movie at Henry VIII's other home, Hampton Court Palace. This is also the site of where the majority of the Showtime series "The Tudors", about the life of Henry VIII was filmed as well.

Back to the trip details.

We took the train out to Hampton Court and walked over to the Palace.

quick history lesson (thanks to Google... I wanted to check facts and spelling and decided to cut and paste instead. so much easier)

Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century. It was originally built for Cardinal Wolsey, a favourite of King Henry VIII, circa 1514; in 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the palace was passed to the King, who enlarged it.

The following century, William III's massive rebuilding and expansion project intended to rival Versailles was begun.Work halted in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor and Baroque.

While the palace's styles are an accident of fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks and a symmetrical, albeit vague, balancing of successive low wings.

Today, the palace is open to the public, and is a major tourist attraction. It is cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces which receives no funding from the Government or the Crown.

The palace's Home Park is the site of the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival and Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Along with St. James's Palace, it is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many owned by Henry VIII.

The Palace has employees that dress in character and cook and live and show how life really was back when the Palace was still a home....calling it a "Living Tudor Experience"

In the kitchen

This dude has to sit here and spin this beef for 3 hours. I'd ask for a transfer.

We somehow missed the audio tour at first -- and after a little while decided to go back and get them. I put on my sweet headphones and hit play ... and stood there looking quite confused. I looked up at Dad and he too had the same look on his face. What were were listening to?!

It was basically a childrens story and a servant of King Henry VIII was sneaking us into the Palace on his wedding day ... and we weren't supposed to talk to anyone because outsiders weren't allowed in. I wasn't quite following. I just wanted some background on the building and the pieces that were inside.

While touring through part of the way -- a woman starts yelling to "move out of the way, coming through, get out of the way" ... I stood there appalled that some pushy tourist is being so rude and so loud while people are trying to take in the place and listen to the horrible audio track that is playing in my ears ... but still ... c'mon people...

I suppose the look was all over my face -- because she looked at me and said

"I mean, I am the Queen of England"

She and her maid were in character and were walking through the palace just to give the little people a taste of how it might have been when she walked through the halls. I laughed, went back to listening to my audio tour --- decided I couldn't handle it anymore and turned it off and headed to a nother wing of the Palace.

in the court yard ... I am trying to explain to Dad the concept of Zoom and how to work a camera.

he got the hang of it :)

The East Entrance to Hampton Court --looking back through the gardens.

recognize this staircase?! YUP. Where Johnny Depp and crew walked up!

Also known as the "Kings Staircase" - this lead up to the King's apartments.

at the Wine Fountain in the Clock Courtyard.

In the Pirates video above...circa the 40second mark ... you see this fountain

and the soldiers around it.

Towards the end of the trip - it was starting to rain. The first rainy day we had yet! So we stopped and ate at a sweet little restaurant across the way ... then hopped on the train back to Londontown.

We walked around a little that afternoon ... walking through Trafalgar Square and just taking in more of London.

A very busy Trafalgar Square -- complete with 2012 Olympics countdown clock.

American Fried Chicken anyone?!?

Big Ben from Trafalgar Square

(and another lion)

That night - out of all things - I met up with a fellow Wingate Alum who happens to be studying in London at the moment. Once upon a time he was one of my athletes when I was working with the tennis team at Wingate. Originally from Germany .. we spent many tennis matches learning German phrases and trying to entertain ourselves with whatever game Joey and him came up with. He quizzed me on what I remembered ... I think I did pretty well. ha!

Upon seeing my facebook status that I was heading across the pond, I received a message that said

Christoph: Are you really in London?! I'm still here after my masters
Me: I am. I am literally about to board the plane! I dont know my phone situation once I land, but Ill message you when Im there and we will work something out!

ITS A SMALL WORLD AFTERALL!

Luckily, we did get WiFi in the hotel room and we messaged back and forth and made plans to meet up one night! It was too much of a coincidence to pass up! Plus, I hadn't seen him in about 5 years! Thank goodness for technology and Facebook that still keeps us up to date with eachother AND allows us to meet up in places such as London ... who would have thought!

Christoph and two of his friends met me at the hotel and we walked around London and Covet Gardens and I tried a "very British" summertime drink called Pimms and it was delicious :)