Now that I've finished with my report on Ireland, I have to catch up on all the other stuff I've done since then. The biggest thing is probably the class field trip I took to Hampton Court Palace, one of 60 of Henry VIII's royal accomodations.
The palace was massive; in the 4 hours I was there I still didn't get to see all of it. There are over 40 apartments, the kitchens themselves cover some 36,000 square feet, there is a giant hedge maze, tennis courts, and multiple gardens all set on 1,000 acres of land. This place is the ultimate of excessiveness and extravagance.
We were each given a set of headphones to take an audio tour of the palace. There were also actors dressed up in Tudor-period costumes roaming the grounds and engaging visitors in the running storyline of Henry VIII's impending marriage to his 6th and final wife, Catherine Parr (they were set to be married that day around 4pm).
Nearly every room in the palace was set up as it would have been back in the day. This one was decorated with hundreds of hunting rifles and other weapons, all the way around.
There were also a lot of these ginormous tapestries hanging on the wall, all original artifacts. The scale of everything was just massive; it was certainly built to impress and make the subjects of the kingdom feel very small.
There were multiple throne rooms, each set up the exact same way. The second picture is of the crystal chandelier above one of the thrones.
As well as many small throne rooms, drawing rooms, and bedrooms, the palace also had its fair share of ridiculously long hallways and corridors, all looking out on the magnificent gardens that covered the grounds.
I found the actor who played Henry VIII to hold a rather strong likeness to pictures of the actual King.
This was just one of the many bedrooms. I was surprised by how tall they all were! It looks pretty luxurious, but on second thought, I might be a little creeped out to sleep in that thing...
The gardens were by far my favorite part. The biggest garden had these funny little trees that reminded me of something out of a Mario Bros. game or Alice in Wonderland. Others described them as Hershey's Kiss trees or Mushroom Trees. Whatever you want to call it, they were pretty adorable and made for an endless entertainment during our picnic lunch.
The Tudor Gardens were behind the palace, and were much more traditional. With springtime well on its way, flowers are beginning to bloom and little bits of color could be seen here or there.
The Royal Kitchens were a sight to behold as well. Re-enactors (is that a word?) were stationed around inside, with a live fire roaring in the hearth and a few tables with real food out on display, to give it an authentic feel and smell.
Finally, before we left we joined in a talk by "Catherine and Ann Parr," "Henry VIII," "Sir Thomas Seymour" and his "servant." It was pretty interesting how they acted out the events, while giving historical information, while still involving visitors in the storyline.
The men were all taken into the privy chamber with Sir Thomas, while the women stayed behind with Catherine as she talked about the actual historical character during the Protestant Reformation and the roles of women during the Tudor era. Eventually the servant came along to summon Catherine to the privy chamber ("The horrors! Women are never allowed in there!") and they did a whole exchange where Henry questioned his wife-to-be on how she would run the kingdom as queen.
Although we couldn't stay long enough to watch the "wedding," we attended a short talk on medieval fashion (very interesting!) before departing to catch a train back into London.
Apologies in advance for the pun, but... it was quite the enlightening day!
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