A Day Fit for a King

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!

Tales from zero degrees longitude

Be forewarned -- this post may be very long. It'll be heavily made up of photos though, so hopefully it won't be too boring.

Yesterday my class took a field trip to Greenwich, led part of the way by the British Politics professor who insisted we get there by boat. I have never had this professor for any of my classes, but he is apparently very popular and has connections all over England. It sounded like a great opportunity.

As it turned out, our boat got stuck under a bridge and arrived over 40 minutes late to take us to Greenwich. Noneheless, everyone was very good natured about everything. I mean, really, how can you complain while you're waiting for a tour boat under the watchful London Eye on one bank and the regal Big Ben tower on the other, with a bagpipest is playing Scottish tunes somewhere in the distance?

Eventually we got off the dock and the tour boat began its slow progression own the Thames. It was freezing cold and windy, but I sat on top anyway to take in the views.

Shakespeare Globe Theatre

We crossed under many of the landmarks I've seen from the shore -- it's really interesting to see them from the water, as it gives you a new perspective on where things are in relation to one another.

Picture courtesy of Christy Wright

Tower Bridge was one of the main highlights of the boat ride. I've sort of come to feel that, like the London Eye, Tower Bridge is just a little overdone; that said, it's still a beautiful and recognizable icon of London.  

Tower of London is another major attraction -- again, an impeccable piece of architecture and feat of ancient engineering, but overpriced and a bit overdone. Definitely a cool feature of the skyline though.

Prof. Mortin talking about the Hall

We arrived in Greenwich about an hour after we'd left London. The professor took us up to the Old Royal Naval College and into one of the most remarkable buildings I have ever seen. Appropriately named "Painted Hall," every square inch of the interior was adorned with massive murals. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay very long at all, so I wasn't able to learn much about the building or its history.

Next we were swept off to the Chapel, which resembled some of the other churches I've been in recently. Again, it was gorgeous and very peaceful, but we didn't stay long.

We had lunch in Greenwich Street Market, which sold lots of antiques, silks, and vintage items. I took a picture of this booth for Ellie -- it had quite a few very old mounted animals! They didn't look nearly as good as hers, but I thought she'd get a kick out of it. :-)

For some reason, I thought of Dad when we found this place. Think of the movie Chocolat, only with every kind of candy you could imagine! Ironically called "Mr. Humbugs," the store was like stepping back in time to some Willy Wonka scene. The guy could tell you everything about every kind of candy he sold, the history of candy, and even what kinds of candy you would like.

All too quickly we were swept off again, up a tall hill, and to the Royal Observatory wherethe Prime Meridian can be found.

The famous line, above, indicating the Western (left) and Eastern (right) hemispheres!

Had to get the classic picture standing in both at once...

My whole class at the Prime Meridian (Photo by Christy Wright)

By the time we made it to the meridian, we had very little time left before we had to catch the ferry back to London. I went through the little museum at the observatory which had information about the first telescopes, clocks, and navigation systems. I didn't have time to check out the planetarium or the maritime museums though, so I think I'm going to take the Tube back sometime to check those out.

Greenwich was totally a worthwhile trip -- I just wish we could have had more time there. Great experience though!