Day 7: Dining with the Tudors

This morning at Russell Square we flung ourselves onto the third train that came along, the first two being full to overflowing with commuters and European tourists with very large suitcases (full of Gauloise probably).  Geoff  said stern words to a latecomer who tried to push in front of us, but resisted the urge to go the biff when the other bloke backed off.

At Waterloo station we rendezvoused with London resident, Ms Rhia Winchester, daughter of my late and sorely missed friend of 45 years, Karen and her husband Bruce. We were off to Hampton Court palace!

Random stranger and Ms Rhia Winchester

Hampton Court was originally the folly of Cardinal Wolsey but that fat bastard Henry VIII took a liking to it and commandeered it as his own, completing the building of it himself. (Not personally of course). 










                                                                                 

Fountain Court

It's usually associated with Henry, but   
subsequent monarchs were also rather keen on it and did their own renos and extensions (again not personally) particularly William and Mary of Orange.

Queen Elizabeth 1 was a frequent resident.  In fact we dined in the café that was once her "Privy Kitchen".  (Lentil and cauliflower pie and a refreshing cup of tea - delicious!)         







We also tramped through Henry's enormous kitchens  where there were large slabs of meat and pies (not real ones but good fakes) on every bench top to symbolise his very hearty appetite.  I expect Henry must have been horribly constipated as fruit and veg seemed to have played little or no part in his diet.  And speaking of matters digestive, we also saw the personal dunny of William of Orange. It had a comfy-looking but not very sanitary or practical velvet seat.

This is Henry's clock tower. It fell into disrepair after he died but Queen Anne had it restored.   (Not Anne Boleyn. She had been executed 200 years earlier!)

We also saw Henry's chapel and a replica of his rather lairy crown, the original having later been destroyed, possibly by Oliver Cromwell.  (Not sure of that, I was momentarily not paying attention.  Nor was Geoff.)


After we were done with the palace, we went out into the many acres of magnificent gardens.

Backyard. (Hills hoist obscured)

William of Orange (I think) commissioned "Capability" Brown to redesign the gardens.  I recall Capability Brown from primary school and I found out today that Capability was just his nick name, not his real name. I can't recall what his real name was (again, not paying attention) but we can be sure it wasn't Jayden or Jaxxon.

This pic is a backview of Hampton Court, with the far end of the path leading to some of William and Mary's extensions.                               



        

That random stranger again with Rhia

Apart from all the ornamental plantings and topiary, there were masses of beautiful tulips in flower.  But sadly we have no pics of them, do we Geoffrey?  Instead we have......

......five shots of various Hampton Court Bambis but I think one will be sufficient for this blog post.








At this point I would normally hand over to Geoff  - my own Incredible Hulk and the scourge of all public transport miscreants - but it's 2.35 am here and he is sound asleep. We had actually completed and posted a blog update on our Hampton Court adventures last night about 8pm.  And then somehow, when using another device, I deleted it.  My best efforts to retrieve it through googling "How do I restore a deleted blog post" came to nought, despite 500 useless suggestions. Thus Geoff's wonderfully witty and wise contribution on our HC adventure is lost forever in the ether.  He has forgiven me and I hope our readers will too.