Hampton Court Palace

My alarm clock wakes me up. It's 9:15 in the morning on Saturday. The sun is peering through my curtains (I find that very odd). It looks like it's going to be a nice day but I have to get to Waterloo station to join some friends for an outing to Hampton Court Palace. I take a shower, have breakfast, watch a bit of euronews and then I'm off to the station only to realize at the entrance of the tube that I forgot my free ticket to Hampton Court Palace which was the base for why we going to see the palace. I quickly walk back to my apartment and walk back to the tube stop but by this time, I have lost 15 minutes and will undoubtedly be late for our train.

When I arrive at the train station, I have a voicemail and text from Sarah but unfortunately, we missed the train. The next train is in 30 minutes so I go and buy my ticket. As I buy my ticket, I see a 2 for 1 advertisement for those who take the train to attend tourist attractions. Given the price of a ticket is 12 pounds, I let Steph and Sarah know. We make it to the electronic board at London Waterloo to find our platform. They usually only post it 10-15 minutes prior to departure. Unfortunately, the 11:36 is cancelled due to the driver not showing up (he probably had a wicked Saturday night). We need to wait till 12:06 to take the next one. We go grab a coffee and watch the sights unfold as busy locals and bewildered tourists try to catch their train.

We make it to our platform for 12:06 only to find there are mechanical difficulties with our train. We begin to think we'll never make it out to Hampton Court but the doors close at 12:15 and the train begins its slow movements outside of the station. We pick up speed and we are off. We arrive close to 1:00 PM near the grounds of Hampton Court Palace.

Hampton Court Palace looks like a very large estate, a mix of brick and chimneys. For the casual observer, we could wrongly assume this is a victorian factory given its austere and commanding presence but upon closer inspection, the articulate and imaginative carvings can only signify a person of great wealth and importance resided here. And we would be right. King George the VIII as well as James the first from the Netherlands made Hampton Court Palace their primary residence.

We get our tickets and follow the audioguided tours of King James Apartments, the Tudor Kitchens and King George VIII relishing in the history of the place and the fact we are walking in the same place those monarks set foot several centuries prior. Following our internal visit, we visit the magnificient gardens and the world famous maze of Hampton Court Palace. Although the sun has since disappeared and the weather has cooled off, we enjoy our walk in the park. We stay till closing time, approximately 4:30 PM and make our way back to London having enjoyed a wonderful afternoon.

For pictures, please click on:
Hampton Court Palace Part 1
Hampton Court Palace Part 2