United Kingdom June 11, 2016

Our last full day in London.  Back in May we had bought tickets for Hampton Court Palace, Symphony Concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Fireworks. Our initial plan was to get to Hampton Court early and spend the entire day.  As Saturday drew nearer there were a few things we had not been able to see or do so we decided to just spend half a day at Hampton Court and squeeze in one more museum in the morning.  Dave and Shelly opted for The British Library which houses the Magna Carta, while Dick, Wade and I went to the Imperial War Museum.  We were worried that an hour and a half would be too much time but we could have stayed several more.  We spent most of our time in the WWI exhibit and ran through the WWII and Holocaust exhibits.  The museum was extremely detailed with artifacts and explanations.  It was fascinating to see and read about the events, weaponry, and politics pertaining to both wars. 

After the museum we headed to meet Dave and Shelly at a designated intersection.  As usual, our maps were insufficiently detailed and we were not able to get to the exact location.  Dave and Shelly had the same experience.  Luckily we crossed paths looking for the intersection and were able to get to the train station on time to catch a train to Hampton Court Palace without further delay.  The train's last stop was a station a mere five minute walk to Hampton Court.  No taxi necessary. 

Hampton Court Palace is located 15 miles up the Thames from downtown London.  The five hundred year old palace of Henry VIII was originally the palace of his minister, Cardinal Wolsey.  Being a clever man, the Cardinal, gave the mansion to the King so he wouldn't be jealous.  It worked for a while.  But when Cardinal Wolsey could not convince the Pope to allow Henry's divorce the King sentenced him to death.  The Cardinal died prior to the execution.  

It took us a few minutes to get our tickets and to get oriented.  The place was huge.  We decided to have lunch at the cafeteria and then started our tour.  The palace was surrounded by beautiful flower gardens.  It even had a vegetable garden that in it's day fed the 600+ daily residents and guests.  It even had a maze.  Our tickets allowed us to go in the maze but by the time we got to it, it was closed. 

 The palace itself is a series of several separate buildings.  Some were the actual living quarters of Henry VIII and others.  Other buildings had been renovated to include exhibits about Henry VIII and his wives.  We also toured the massive kitchens, chapel, and inner court yards. 

King would address visitors in this room

 This was a wine fountain for one of his parties to impress whatever royalty was coming.  Each lion's mouth would have wine coming out. 

Resting

 

 

At 6:00 pm everything inside the palace closed to tours for the day.  Outside on the grounds the "Festival" was just beginning.  People came with tables, chairs, umbrellas, food including wine glasses and wine, and anything else needed to have an elaborate picnic while they waited for the concert and fireworks.  There were a few trucks and wine vendors set up to accommodate the guests.  We ate Argentine Empanadas, water and cookies. 

The concert started at 8:30 pm and lasted until 10:30 pm.  It was an amazing concert!  We had two extra tickets to the concert since Travis and Carla were not traveling with us.  Shelly was visiting with an employee of the palace.  He mentioned how much he and his wife would love to go to the symphony that evening.  Wade suggested she offer him the tickets.  She was able to find him, present the tickets and he quickly called his wife to let her know they had tickets.  They were thrilled to be at the concert that evening.  We enjoyed learning more about them during the evening. 

Because the concert let out so late we did not return to the gardens to watch the fireworks.  Instead we headed back to the train station and watched the fireworks from the bridge over the Thames.  We caught the 10:54 pm train and made it back to London before midnight.