London: day 3

I think we are starting to settle into a routine. We both still woke from 2am-4am but managed to go back to sleep!  We are heading out to Hampton Court Palace today.  The train leaves twice each hour so no real rush to get up early, but if you have ever traveled with me you are laughing about that comment.  We arrived at Waterloo Station at 8:45 and waited for the posting of what track the 10:06 train would be departing.  It always amazes me that they don't put up on the board the departing track until 5-10 minutes before the trains are departing.  Of course as soon as it pops up it is a mass rush of people.  It wasn't that bad with this train.  It was packed with people arriving into London for work but in our train car there were maybe 5 other people!  It was a short 40 minutes ride that passed by so quickly too.  I always get a little nervous when I am out of my zone of familiarity!  I have not taken a train in London before so wasn't too sure; thankfully they speak English so wasn't that worried.  We exit and head two blocks across the river to Hampton Court Palace.  Of course we also saw a glimpse of several school groups too! Nice.  It looks sort of small when you walk up . . .

. . . but once inside it is HUGE!  After you enter the center doors you enter a courtyard with the most beautiful fountain!  It isn't this massive stone fountain but one with color!  I just thought it was so nice.

 I saw what looked like someone laying at the base and as we got closer realized it was a statue.

 Since Colin had a 'friend' then I needed one too!

There were a few of these guys in various places . . . we laughed and posed with them all.  One of our favorite places was in King Henry VIII's kitchens . . .

. . . over 600 people were served twice a day so they were massive!  I thought this graphic was interesting.  I think it was the number of each animal that was eaten each year and it was washed down with 600,000 gallons of beer.

The fire areas were huge and much taller then we were.  They had one flaming but I was afraid of catching on fire or one of the school kids pushing someone else into the flames.  By the way were there only 550 school kids there on study trips!  I swear other than those kids there might have been 50 people visiting!  I also really liked the decorations in one of the apartments . . .

. . . of course this was all at least 20 feet over our heads but super cool too!  Colin thought all the weapons were awesome.  It was a dark room so hard to get a good photo.  The other room I liked was the ceiling off The Great Hall . . .

. . . the colors were so much more vivid that the photo shows.  I really was amazed at the artwork and beauty of all the ceilings.  If you ever go I would recommend marking off the rooms and apartments you look at as you explore.  It is massive and like a maze going from the start to finish of each area.  You enter one part and exit in a totally different part of the palace.  The map they gave us was great; I just didn't realize how large this place was.  One thing that was very strict was entering a chapel area . . . before we even opened the door we were almost scolded about Colin's hat.  With a sharp tongue we were reminded you are entering a chapel so remove all hats.  I just sort of apologized and went about our business after rolling my eyes of course.  We were getting hungry so decided to grab a quick bite before heading outside to explore.  I had Leek Soup and Colin had sausage and bread . . .

 

The food was yummy!  We were warm and ready to explore outside.  Colin enjoyed the small maze they had on the grounds, and we quickly found the center . . .

. . . and moved along to explore the gardens.  Even though it was winter the grounds were amazingly beautiful.  I can only imagine how gorgeous they are in the spring and summer!

 

The above are views from the back of the palace.  It was so nice to just roam around.  The weather was nice; not sunny but no rain!  Colin loved all the fowl roaming around.  He literally stalked this swan for a very long time to get the perfect picture!

 

I must admit it was funny to watch it swimming around and all of the sudden its tale feathers were perpendicular to the water.  I think it thought we had food but no such luck!  It was getting cold outside so we headed back to the inside one last time before heading back to the train station.  Colin asked for his gloves . . . I pulled everything out of the backpack, and they were not there.  I remembered seeing them when he put on his hat when we first arrived.  I was upset because I had just ordered them!  We walked towards the exit, and I was complaining about the lost gloves when we passed the bench we took a break for a map check on when we arrived.  I could not believe what I thought I saw!  After at least 4 hours, the gloves were still sitting there . . . after 550 school kids had come and gone the gloves remained untouched!  How shocked and happy we both were.  It sure would make for a better train ride back to London too!  Of course we still had some time in London after we arrived so I got out the book to find one last stop for the day . . .

. . . always have a book and map near by!  By the way we were the only 2 people in the entire train car!  So I did not care if Colin ran around and was loud.  When we arrived back at Waterloo Station we hopped on the Bakerloo line to the Imperial War Museum.  When we visited London back in 2010 this was Colin's by far favorite place we visited! 

Colin immediately noticed the large tank when you enter was gone.  Sadly, the museum is closing down very soon for a huge six month renovation.  All our favorite places had already been closed or were not as we remembered them.  We still enjoyed the visit but it was very short!  One of my favorite pictures I took of him in 2010 (left photo) was here . . . I would say we have grown in the last 2 years!

  



It was a fun filled day!  It was time to head back to Regents Park to see what our friends had been doing while we were out exploring!