London... Day 3....

We were up bright and early on day three to catch the bus, just around the corner, to Hampton Court. It only cost £2 each for a 45 minute journey - what a bargain!

I had already booked our entrance tickets online here for Hampton Court, as it worked out cheaper than even using the voucher for 2nd adult half price. We just had to produce the confirmation email to get our tickets, which included all the tours round the Palace, tapes/headset for the audio tour, entrance to the Maze and the gardens.

We walked up the drive to the entrance to the Palace and both had a real sense of déjà vu. The Palace is magnificent, you enter the gate into Base Court which is surrounded by apartments which were intended for the guests of Cardinal Wolsey, who owned the Palace before Henry VIII. The welcome tour starts here with one of the guides dressed in traditional Tudor costume imparting information about how the Palace evolved from Wolsey's time to its present appearance. The entrance to Clock Court was closed off whilst we were there because the clock and its tower is being renovated. The magnificent Astronomical Clock face was propped up on the ground in Clock Court. The clock interestingly shows the sun revolving around the earth. The clock was installed in 1540 - before the discoveries of Galileo and Copernicus changed the way we view the universe. The clock shows the hour,month, day, number of days since the beginning of the year and phases of the moon as well as time of high tide at London Bridge .

We joined the tour through Henry VIII's state apartments but unfortunately photography wasn't allowed inside the Palace apart from the kitchens, though we were naughty and did manage to get one of the crest outside the Chapel Royal, where Henry's son Prince Edward was Christened and the boy's mother Jane Seymour was buried.

We also got this one of the King's Staircase.

We walked through the Haunted Gallery where Catherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife, is supposed to have run after escaping from her rooms begging the King for mercy after she was arrested for adultery and sentenced to death. MWM swears someone touched him whilst we were standing in the gallery though there was no-one near him at the time!

All the rooms, as you might expect, are fabulous. Though a lot of the original chambers have disappeared over the years as the Palace has been altered, some of the original tapestries and the ornate ceilings and panneling have survived and it is awesome to think one could be standing possibly on the same spot as Kings, Queens and famous courtiers once stood.

The original kitchens are still there and are reconstructed to look as they would have been during Henry VIII's time and are accessed through various courtyards. Fish Court was the centre of operation as each of the doors led to a different office of kitchens i.e. the pastry house, the flesh larder and fish larder (see slides).

The gardens at Hampton Court are huge, over 60 acres, so obviously we couldn't see them all but we did take a few photographs as we walked to the Maze (see slides). MWM took the lead through the Maze but got us to two dead ends, so I took over and found the centre of the Maze with no wrong turns. I'm sure I've been there before in a previous life!

We had to decide whether to leave at 2 p.m. and go back by bus and maybe manage an hour in Kew Gardens, or travel by ferry up the Thames to Kew which took 1 1/2 hours leaving at 3 p.m. Well I always say a holiday isn't a holiday without a boat trip so that's what we did. There are some beautiful houses along the Thames, all with their own boats, and where there are no houses the riverbank is beautiful and lush almost like a jungle. We saw lots of herons, wild geese, swans and ducks on the river and really enjoyed watching all the activity on the riverbank. It was really interesting going through Teddington Lock which took about ten minutes. We took some photos as we sailed along (see slides).

We got off the ferry at Kew and had to walk through Kew Gardens to get back to our accommodation, so we called in at the Rose and Crown for a quick drink and watched some cricket on Kew Green. We then decided to go a different way back to explore and found The Railway pub on the other side of the station, which we hadn't noticed previously. Naturally we had to sample some of their beer but whilst we were there the heavens opened and the rain was lashing down! We had been really lucky with the weather since we arrived in London, because whenever we were outside the sun was shining and when we were inside it rained! We decided to stay in the Railway and have something to eat and a couple more drinks then go home. Guess what? By the time we were going home some 3 hours later the rain had stopped, so once again we were lucky!

Our train home the next day was at 11.35 a.m. from Euston so there wasn't any time to do any more sightseeing, unfortunately. We had a lovely relaxing journey home to Manchester where our youngest son picked us up.
We had a wonderful time and are both exhausted with all the sightseeing. We will go back to London, perhaps next summer, to see Kew Gardens and the Museums which we didn't have time to see


See London Day 1 and 2

London - Day 2 ......

We were up bright and early and waiting at the National Archives when they opened the doors at 10.00 a.m. We checked the records we had reserved were booked out to us then ordered the others we needed (they take about 30 minutes to arrive). We had to check 10 years of records but one year was missing and guess what, 'Sod's Law' that must be the year we need because we couldn't find what we wanted in the other nine years! Doesn't it make you want to spit!!!! Still we enjoyed the research and at least we have eliminated those nine years.

We left the NA and scurried to Kew Station to catch the tube to Tower Hill. We were really impressed with London Transport as far as efficiency and pricing goes - it leaves Greater Manchester Transport sadly lacking! We got to Tower Hill at lunchtime so decided to have something to eat before tackling the Tower itself.

I had secured a coupon which, on showing our train tickets, entitled one adult to pay half price which was quite a saving as it cost £16.00 each to get into the Tower. You can see by MWM's smile he enjoyed the saving!

I've put together a slide show of some of the things we saw such as:

Traitor's Gate - it was eerie to see where Anne Boleyn would have entered the Tower and the actual steps she would have climbed from the boat to her imprisonment and eventual execution.

The Scaffold Site - where Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (Henry VIII's wives), and others were executed. (click on photo to enlarge for details)

We saw the Tower Ravens. Legend has it that Charles II was told that if the ravens left the Tower, the kingdom and the fortress would fall, so apparently the ravens wings are clipped now to prevent them leaving. (Click on photo to enlarge)

The White Tower houses displays from the Royal Armouries' collection and of course we went into the Jewel House to see the Crown Jewels but you are not allowed to take photographs but you can see official photographs here. They truly are magnificent, but I was amazed at how tiny Queen Victoria's crown is!

The Bloody Tower is where the 'Little Princes' were suppopsesd to have been murdered, (read about the mystery of The Princes in the Tower), we also took photographs of a 'prison cell', which is quite luxurious, and instruments of torture (Scavengers Daughter, The Rack and The Manacles) in the Wakefield Tower.

As we left the Tower MWM took this shot of Tower Bridge - isn't it magnificent?

We jumped on the tube to Tottenham Court Road to pick our tickets up at the Dominion Theatre, so we wouldn't have to queue when we arrived there for the show and, as we had a little time to spare, we went to the British Museum. Unfortunately by this time I was feeling exhausted and a bit faint, it was really warm, so we didn't get a chance to look round I had to sit outside in the air until I recovered enough to get a taxi over to Covent Garden where we had booked at meal at Porter's Restaurant. I did manage to get a photograph of the outside of the Museum and one inside of the roof - you can see two (work) men walking across the roof! (see the next slide show).

Before we went for our meal we sat in the Punch & Judy pub in Covent Garden Market watching the street entertainers (see slides). Apparently the first Punch & Judy puppet show was performed here in 1662 witnessed by Samuel Pepys.

Our meal at Porters was excellent - they specialise in traditional English dishes at reasonable prices, we had booked the meal and the show as a special deal for £37.50, the meal consisting of two courses either starter and main course, or main course and a sweet, you can order extra dishes of course which you pay for along with any drinks you have.

After our meal we jumped in a cab back to the theatre and were really suprised to seen how many people there were going into the theatre for a Tuesday! We had really good seats in the stalls with a great view. Guess who was sitting just two rows behind me - Cheryl Baker who used to be with the group Buck's Fizz who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 - you can see them in action here.

The show (We Will Rock You) was absolutely FANTASTIC, but then we are both big QUEEN fans, everyone was on their feet singing and clapping, the atmosphere was ELECTRIC!! You can listen here to some of the music from the show and see details of the story. We have already decided if the show comes to Manchester we will definitely be booking to see it!

We were tired when we came out of the theatre but absolutely BUZZING, we couldn't help but sing the songs we'd just heard on the tube home, I'm sure the other passengers must have thought we were totally MAD but we didn't care! Then to bed to rest - another busy day tomorrow!

Read Day 1 and Tune in for Day 3 - Hampton Court.

Our Trip to London Day 1.......

As a Christmas present to each other our trip to London was fabulous.

We travelled by train, first class, from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, a journey of two hours and ten minutes in complete comfort, with complimentery food and drinks - all for £61.00 each return which we thought was very reasonable. We booked with Virgin Trains on a value advance ticket which can only be used on the day and time it is booked for, but these are really good value as First Class tickets can cost up to £337, though these are fully flexible - see here.

Then we hopped on the tube changing at Victoria to Kew Gardens. Our accommodation was only a ten minute walk from Kew Gardens station.

Our agenda for the visit was The National Archives, Tower of London, Hampton Court, Kew Gardens and see a show and the only thing we didn't manage to see was Kew Gardens which, considering we were actually staying in Kew, was disappointing but we just didn't have time.

We arrived at our accommodation at 2.45 p.m. on Monday and just dumped our belongings so we could go straight to the National Archives to do some research before they closed at 5 p.m. You have to register and have a photo identity card made before you can go and start your research but it was quiet so it didn't take very long. It is absolutely free and the cards last three years, so we can go back if ever we need to do more research without having to re-register. The staff are very helpful and explained what records we needed to look at and how to order them for viewing. We stayed until closing time searching through the records that were available but had to reserve some records for the following day. Luckily the NA was just around the corner from where we were staying, which is why we chose it.

We headed back to our accommodation to unpack and freshen up before we went looking for somewhere to eat. Kew Green was only a 10-15 minute walk from where we were staying and there were some lovely restauarants and pubs encircling the green, we settled on the Greyhound Hotel. After a meal and a few drinks we set off back for a good night's sleep in readiness for our next attempt at research the following morning and a full afternoon of sightseeing (Tower of London), and the show (We Will Rock You) the following evening.

Tune in for Day 2 - The Tower of London