Day trip: Hampton Court Palace

Last Sunday, Lissa, Erin and I jump on the half-closed London public transportation system to do a day trip to Hampton Court Palace.

When doing trips around London during the weekend, its always best to consult the public transport website, as the weekends are when all maintenance work is done and there are usually tube lines closed all weekend, stations closed as well as some over-ground (train) transport route closed. The website is actually quite helpful at suggesting the best route given the current maintenance.

We made it out in less than an hour despite the maintenance, going to Kingston and jumping on a bus to the palace. We arrived at the palace and had lunch before setting off on the famous maze that was the third such maze we've done in our European travels, after one at Blenheim Palace outside of Oxford and one at the Real Alcazar in Seville. The maze was great and all three of us ran into several dead ends before finally making it to the center.

We then walked around the beautiful gardens of the palace before going into the palace. It was originally built for Cardinal Wolsey in 1514, who was a close friend of King Henry VIII. When the Cardinal couldn't get one of his early marriages annulled with the Pope, he fell from favour and Henry took over the palace and enlarged it in 1529. The following century William III undertook a massive expansion project and its remained this way since.

The palace itself was really nice, allowing most of the palace to be viewed by the public. I think our favorite part was the old Kitchen, which had huge fireplaces, stoves, and cellars. One of the fireplaces had a fire going which warmed us up and added a nice scent to the tour. The rest of the palace rooms aren't unlike those in Versailles, Blenheim, the Hapsburg Palace or Peterhof, all with fancy decor, nice antiques and beautiful paintings and tapestries.  The best room however is the trophy room..."I'm gonna get dat tirdy point buck!!!" Darrell would've definitely been impressed by the points on some of the deer!

I think we enjoyed the gardens best, but the palace itself is a great weekend getaway from the hustle-bustle of London and a productive and historical day trip from London!