Historical London

Day two in London and we had more sights to see. It was going to be another right royal day. Our plan was to go to the Tower of London in the morning and then head over to Hampton Court Palace in the afternoon. We arrived at the Tower just on opening and walked through the imposing front gate. I’d been to the tower once before (in 1999) and now, over ten years later, nothing had changed. It was still as impressive as before. With buildings that have been there for centuries, little change is good. It lets you picture the history throughout the Tower. We wandered around the Tower, through the exhibits that they had set up in many of the rooms, and pictured what it would have been like throughout history. The most impressive thing though, was the Crown Jewels. I guess that’s what everyone really goes there to see, the crowds were a testament to this. We waited in line, slowly winding our way into the vault. The Crown Jewels are kept in a massive vault with solid metal doors about a foot thick. You pass them while standing on a conveyor belt (flat escalator) and slowly glide past them peering in through the thick glass at the glittering jewels beyond. They certainly were impressive. Actually, impressive doesn’t really even come close. They were very impressive. Spectacular even, and this is coming from someone who sees jewels as expensive polished stones. There were many crowns in there, each more breathtaking than the last. Each crown was set with not just jewels, but pearls, lace, velvet and a lot of just as impressive stitching. After having a second look, and stopping to admire a solid gold plate (exquisitely cast and bigger than my car) we left the Tower and went to Waterloo Station to catch the Southern Line train to Hampton Court.

Hampton Court Palace is the large red brick building next to the river. You can see it from the train station. A quick walk over the bridge and you are there. From the ticket office you walk down a long road which leads to a roundabout and the front entrance to the palace. Surrounding the main court are long corridors, formal gardens, staterooms and lots of kitchens. They say that Henry VIII enjoyed his food and the palace certainly attests to that. The food preparation wing took up almost one side of the palace and were quite impressive. Our audio guide told us what went on in the kitchens and it was amazing to think of all the people working in there. It was kitted out with all of the modern facilities such as roasting spits and boiling pots and had massive fires which must have made it quite uncomfortable for the child who would have had to turn the meat on the spit. The rooms were impressive as one would imagine and the garden, formal in its creation, had secret areas surrounded by high hedges which would have been private to the whole court. These were filled with flat lawn, greet shrubs or colourful flowers. Water features were also common throughout these private little gardens and in front of the orangery. It was interesting to hear about the palaces and how they operated. Being there made the history even more interesting.