‘We are, by the sufferance of God, King of England; and the Kings of England in times past never had any superior but God’ – Henry VIII

Today we did what we had meant to do last weekend, which was go to Hampton Court Palace (http://www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/). You want to do it on a nice day and last weekend it rained so we put it off for a few days. The day began overcast but gradually got nicer so it all worked out. We took the train for an hour into the countryside before arriving at the palace. Because of our Historic Royal Palaces membership we got right in. I cannot stress enough how awesome the membership is. It has already paid for itself and then some. Like Kensington Palace, several of the exhibits were closed because they are redoing them. Unlike Kensington Palace, there’s enough to see that two or three closed sections doesn’t make a whole lot of difference.

                We first visited the exhibit on young Henry VIII, which traces the beginning years of his reign, along with Katharine of Aragon and Thomas Wolseley. We then visited the King’s Apartments, which is in the Baroque part of the palace. These are set up as if King William III (I think it’s the third) still lived there. We had learned about him and his wife, Mary II at Kensington Palace. Then we went to an area dedicated to King Henry VIII and his six wives. I love the Tudors so I will visit any exhibit dealing with them. They are soon opening an exhibit on George I I believe, and are currently changing around the Queen’s Apartments.

                We then headed out into the gardens, which are beautiful. The best gardens are obviously at Versailles but these are pretty good. We first went left outside of the palace and walked along the side wall. We made a pit stop to visit the Royal Tennis Courts. We left the palace grounds and went into the section you don’t need a ticket to get into, where we had lunch outside (with a 10% discount courtesy of our membership card). We then attempted to visit the famous Maze but it cost £4.50 to go in, which is ridiculous. You already paid to go to the palace, why charge for the maze? So we headed back to the grounds and walked to the Privy Gardens, which are my favorite. They are well-sculpted and colorful and have a fountain filled with terrifying fish. I have an irrational fear of fish. They also have the Great Vine, which is the Guinness World Record holder for longest vine. I guess it’s pretty big.

                We took a few pictures and headed back to the train, where we ran into our first train drama since we arrived. There was something happening at the stop we were supposed to transfer at so we ended up having to go all the way into the city to get back to the flat. Three trains. Sigh. We were doing so well before that. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching movies (Lawless and Snow White and the Huntsman). Later, Sandra, Imogen, Sarah and I all ordered Chinese food. There was some sort of set menu meal deal that was meant for three people to share and we decided to stretch it to four. Firstly, there was definitely enough food for four people. We even had multiple helpings. Secondly, it was DELICIOUS. I don’t know where they ordered from but it was the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. Everything was so good! We watched British MasterChef and Great Expectations before heading to bed.