Hampton Court Palace

Roxanne and I adventured to Hampton Court Palace today. This was one of the last things on my bucket list that I didn't think I would get to. Hampton Court was the home of King Henry VIII. Of course getting our train tickets was a hassle once again. The lady sold us different tickets. My ticket was wrong so I had to get it switched. Nothing can ever just be simple. We had about a 30 minute train ride to Hampton Court. There are many different apartments inside Hampton Court belonging to different British rulers. We walked through King Henry's apartments and King William's  apartments.

King William's apartments were set up in a line. You just walked straight down a line from one room to the next beginning with throne rooms and going through his bed rooms and sitting rooms and ending in the dinning room. King Henry's were a little different. We walked through seating rooms and corridors rather than living space. I love that all these places give you complimentary audio guides. They really help you learn the history behind each room and give you cool little stories. We got to see King Henry's crown to which was beautiful. We also learned about the ghost of Catherine Howard that haunts one of the halls. Catherine Howard was one of King Henry's wives. She lived in Howard Castle which I tour on the API York weekend and is my favorite castle that I have toured.

After that we walked through the gardens. It was so cold out though that we didn't spend much time outside. It was the coldest it has been the entire time I have been in England. I felt like I was back in New Hampshire. It was about dusk and such a beautiful time of day to be walking through the gardens. Roxanne and I laughed saying how romantic it would be if we were there with a boyfriend. It was another one of those gardens that you can picture Victorian ere people walking around in their gowns. We walked down to where the hedge maze is. It is famous because it is the oldest one in England but it was smaller than we thought it would be. It was closed so we couldn't go through but it was to cold anyway.

We then headed back into central London. I had about an hour before I had to meet Colleen for Matilda so I got dinner and then walked to Covent Garden. I walked around for a bit looking at the beautiful Christmas lights before meeting up with Colleen.  Matilda The Musical was my final West End show. I have seen a total of 14 shows since being in London. I totaled all the ticket together and converted the amount. It rang to about $475. I guess I found my trip to Germany but I figure Germany will be here on my next trip. I am not sorry I saw so many shows. Almost all of them were fabulous and it was so much fun. I definitely emersed myself in London culture!

Cheers,
Allie