Most of today was spent at Hampton Court Palace, where King Henry VIII lived. We took an 8 am bus to Baker Street, and then took a train to the Waterloo station. From the station, we took a train to Hampton Court. It was a beautiful day to venture outside the city to see something so immersed in nature. The area around Hampton Court is bustling now, of course, but once within the gates, there is no indication of a life outside of the Palace. The Palace, interestingly, is built in two styles. It was originally in the Tudor style, but after the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England, they began to demolish the old Palace to redo it in the Georgian style, with marble and stone instead of brick. But, fortunately for Tudor enthusiasts, they ran out of money and so half the Palace is in its original style while the other half is in the later style.

See how the left side is in the Tudor style? The right, then, is in the Georgian style of William and Mary.
We walked around Henry VIII's kitchens; there were about 5 in all, each room with a different purpose. The serving room was as large as a badminton court. We then went to Henry VIII's apartments. First was the Great Hall, where all his courtiers ate and any entertainment took place. The King himself did not eat with his courtiers on a regular basis, but there was a head table set up just in case. The walls of the Great Hall were covered with tapestry, now faded with age. They were originally a lot brighter, seeing that they had gold and silver thread woven into many areas of the tapestries. Tapestries were very expensive even then and a rich man could have hoped to collect 50-100 during his lifetime: Henry VIII had close to 2,500.

After touring the Great Hall and other areas of his apartments (closet, viewing quarters, etc.) we saw the exhibit concerning the women in Henry VIII's life- starting with his first wife Katherine of Aragon all the way to his last wife Kateryn Parr, and his two daughters Mary (the Bloody one) and Elizabeth (the Great). Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside the exhibit seeing that the paintings of the ladies were copies made during Henry VIII's time, therefore being close to 500 years old.

That's Henry VIII, in the same pose as all his paintings.
We strolled into the gardens to eat the lunch we had brought along with us, after which we took a tram ride around the gardens.

The back of the Palace.

Our tram was pulled by horses- Aragon and Royal.

The trees lining the main avenue of the gardens are over 300 years old. They are all Yew trees, the poisonous berries of which are used for breast cancer treatment.
After lunch, we walked through the maze that was part of the gardens...I cannot quite compare it to anything else, because I have never been in a maze. It was rather easy considering there were tourists everywhere who would give us hints and I never really got a sense of being lost. But we did find the centre of the maze, and rewarded ourselves with really cheap ice cream from the cafe.
After Hampton Court, we boarded the train back to London Waterloo, with an intention to go see Leavesden studios, where the Harry Potter movies are filmed. My friend Sarah knew the route and so we took a train from London Euston to Watford Junction. We intended to take a bus to the studios, but having no idea of where the place was, we decided to take a taxi. The taxi driver played some very loud, very thumping music the entire way and I was hoping to alight at the studios and walk around to clear my head. Unfortunately for us, we weren't allowed inside to just look around and so a drive-by was all we could afford. A very expensive drive-by, considering how much the taxi cost even if it was split between the two of us. We then got back to the station, having spent all of 30 minutes in Leavesden and came back to London.

The most expensive drive-by visit.
London was a mess this weekend with significant tube lines being shut down for maintanence. None of the tube lines that are close to campus were functional so we had to rely on roundabout ways and replacement bus services to get home. Although we got back to London from Leavesden by 5.15, we didn't get back to campus until 7pm, having endured very cramped, very slow buses all the way home.
A welcome shower and dinner later, I settled to do homework and managed to finally get a full night's rest. Most of today was taken up by class. It was the penultimate day of classes and we began to talk about the final class hours and the exams. Tonight will be dedicated to watching the movie versions of Emma (starring Gwyneth Paltrow) and Clueless, which is based on the book Emma. Tomorrow is the last field trip for the Jane Austen class- apparently we're going to Scion House; our professor hasn't really elaborated on what it is, except that it has been used for filming Gosford Park. It should be interesting.

Chapel Royal Court Garden at Hampton Court.


Front view of Hampton Court Palace.