London Day 4 - Hampton Court

Hampton Court

10/30/2012

We planned to go to Hampton Court today and researched how to get there. Angel found out that we needed to go by train, and the Oyster Card is valid for trains in London as well. We would have to travel at off-peak hours (after 9:30am, then 4-7pm) to get the cheaper travel rate (5.5 pounds vs 3.4 pounds per person). We double-checked the train schedule last night and all the info…

And then something interesting came up. If you buy the train tickets through the National Rail system (ie. Can’t use Oyster card), not only do you save money on the train fare, they have 2-for-1 offers on lots of London attractions! And Hampton Court was one of them! www.daysoutguide.co.uk

That's a wine fountain in back of them... yep. A WINE fountain.

I stayed up till 2am last night looking up the terms and conditions (why can’t they ever be clear on these things? There were so many fine print details and you need to make sure you can check off all the checkmarks). Not only that, but the online booking system was down last night, which meant we would have to rush this morning to book online and print out the email confirmation (thank God Doubletree allows us to print for free!).

Angel’s watch alarm did not go off at 6:45am as we planned. Instead, she woke up at 7:25 and then we had to scramble like mad to book the train tickets online, print the tickets as well as the 2-for-1 vouchers (I registered for them last night). So after printing the tickets, we hopped on the tube to Waterloo to catch the South West train. It departs every hour on the 06 and 36. It’s a short ½ hour ride there.

When we got to Waterloo station, Angel recognized it immediately from the Bourne movie. I was confused by her excitement, as I haven't seen Bourne. Or I did and forgot. But there's the clock in the background (something that was filmed in Bourne, apparently?) and I guess somebody's head gets blown off in the scene.  Oh Angel *sigh* What am I going to do with you?

Waterloo

Last night (11/15/2012) we were watching Once Upon a Time and there's a scene where a doctor is hobbling along with a cooler. Angel predicted it was his arm in the cooler, and she turned out to be right. You should've seen how evilly delighted Angel looked that she turned out to be right... and her wicked laugh. What a little rat.

Although she looks so angelic here... NOT

Muggle getting on train

Look baby... now you can say you've been to Wimbledon! Check! Muahaha

Once you get to Hampton Court train station, it’s very informal. No ticket system to validate or exit through for paper tickets, but I guess they’ll catch you at the other station. It’s a straight walk across the bridge—less than two minute walk.

There were a lot of people here, as it is a school holiday (the whole week, it’s their half-term… Mom said it was super-crowded at Tower of London yesterday as well. There were too many kids and she was getting a headache from them running around).

Love the gold flowers!

The palace was built in the Tudor style. Cardinal Wolsey had it built with all the money he’d amassed in his rise to power in England, but as he fell out of favor with King Henry VIII, he was somewhat forced to give the palace to Henry. That didn’t save him however; he was arrested for high treason and died en route to his trial.

King Henry VIII, left

They do a really good job of making you feel like you've been transported to the era, and there are even actors about, playing the roles of King Henry VIII, his six wives, his chancellors, ministers, etc. There's even servants running about and a minstrel playing the lute!

The architecture and detailing involved is absolutely stunning. Check out the ceilings!

We started the tour in the Tudor kitchen, where massive amounts of research went into producing the right atmosphere, as if the Tudor chefs were still cooking there now. There are actually researchers who work in these kitchens, recreating the Tudor recipes, and analyzing how they must have cooked back then.

The pots were all copper, but it becomes poisonous when acid hits copper, so they were actually pretty anal back then about cleanliness, making sure the acid was completely washed out before the next cooking.

We learned here that in Tudorian times, they would open the top of the pies, eat the middle and THROW AWAY the pie crusts! Sacrebleu!

Meat pies! Yum! 

There are huge fire pits to roast meat. Roast meats are more expensive to produce, as someone has to be there the entire day, manning the roast, turning the meat on the skewer. However, Henry wanted to create the most opulent court in Europe so he wasted no expense and no opportunity to show off his wealth. In one year, they went through 600k barrels of wine, tons of meat (meat could only be afforded by the rich in those days)… Henry’s diet was 75% meat.

Check out how much Henry's court at... in one year!

Water was a nono to drink in those days, so even children drank beer.

The Wine Cellar

The Great Hall:

Massive tapestries were really expensive in those days. Yet another way for Henry to show off his wealth.

All Hail the King and Queen! ^.^

Angel wanted to see the royal tennis court, where Henry played. But it was closed! As with our luck, as usual... :T

The Throne:

The palace is like 2 halves. The Tudor half, and then subsequent royal families (William and Mary, King George and Caroline) tore down several portions and remodeled it to suit their tastes. Angel liked the Henry half better, as did I. The price of the ticket was well worth it, as the palace is huge and the free audio guide takes you through many years of history.

Very different architecture from the Tudorian times

The Georgian part was boring ßAngel
This is about the time where Angel starts to feel antsy and doesn't want to do the "museum thing" anymore:

King George II and Caroline hated their first son, Frederick. They loved their second son, William (The Butcher of Culloden) and doted on him ever since he was young. King George II hated his father—it was a mutual hatred—which makes it weird that he would hate his son… you’d think he’d want to NOT be like his father. He hated his father because while his father, King George I, had many mistresses, he became enraged when he found out his wife took one lover. ONE. His father exiled his mother to another castle and forbade her access to her son. Young George was so desperate to see his mom, he tried to swim across the moat to see her. He never got to see her again; when his mother died, his father threw a party and danced with delight.

I think he hated Frederick because Frederick, under some obscure law, had to grow up with his grandfather (George’s father). King George had a lot of mistresses as well, but loved his wife dearly (weird) and Frederick once commented that his father had no morals. Caroline said her first born was a liar. Who knows. When Frederick’s wife, Augusta, was pregnant, George and Caroline forced them to live at Hampton Court so they could oversee the birth. They were afraid the heir to the throne would be sickly and they did not want Frederick to swap the babies. But one night, Augusta went into premature labor and Frederick secretly took her to St. James’ Palace to give birth. When G & C found out, they were enraged and rushed to St. James. But they were too late; the child was already born. I found it sad that they would think their son would swap his child to ensure a healthy baby.

The Gun Room:

Another part of the palace went through William III’s apartments. He loved warfare, but hated the pomp and circumstance of court. Mary, his wife, took up those duties, and together they were a popular pair (mostly because of Mary). However, she died from smallpox and William never recovered from that blow. His popularity began to wane because he didn’t attend many court ceremonies but courtiers liked the pomp and circumstance. This began the first of coffeehouse culture, of nobles holding balls in their own homes… before, everything revolved around being at the palace. He was the first king to decentralize this practice, albeit unconsciously.

The Gardens:

The Rose Garden... in winter. I know, quite barren, but looks quintessentially English, no?

The first maze ever to be erected in England is at Hampton Court. We went in, as it was included in the ticket price.

We found the centre! Yay!

We went to Oxford Circus for a last turnabout before leaving London. Sainsbury’s, Marks and Spencer, Primark… Primark changes inventory every day. Yesterday, when we went in, the floor had changed entirely. Shoes were all placed in different areas, new clothes, it feels like an entirely new store from day to day. Sainsbury’s has really good shortbread, for really cheap—it tastes exactly like Walker’s! And only 89 pence! We got the Chicken Tikka Masala at Sainsbury’s as well, it tastes soooo good. Loved the curry!

McDonald’s has a different flavor of burger every week. But we missed out on the Indian week L

I had planned to stop by a restaurant, West Cornwall Pasty, for their pasties and pies. But they had a fast food version at Waterloo station, so we bought a Beef and Stilton in the morning, and Beef and Stout Ale, Chicken and chorizo, Bacon and Cheese for dinner. They stuff the beef ones with a lot of beef, but for the bacon and cheese, they used potatoes to fill it out. It was super cold today and it tasted oh so heavenly because it was piping hot.

Dad broke a hotel glass cup when he came into our room tonight to boil the glass for sanity. He didn’t tell us; we found out when there was only 1 glass instead of 2 as is customary. I had to call downstairs to apologize and ask if they would charge us money for it. Thank God they don’t! The lady was quite concerned about me getting hurt by the shards of glass and offered to send a maid up to clean it up. I declined, but told them I wanted to make sure the maid knew about it so she doesn’t hurt herself tomorrow when she comes by to clean. >.<

The Doubletree Hotel allows you to get one free cookie each day you stay there.