Alas! The end draws near (Friday)

Today was more of a leisurely day. We still woke up early (what can we say—McKenna has us well-trained. Speaking of McKenna—I haven’t written much about her, but Paul and I talk about her all the time. We see a lot of babies and try to guess if they are older or younger than her and so on. We trust, however, that she is having the time of her life with both sets of grandparent).

Paul went to Starbucks for a jolt of caffeine and I cracked the last of my 3 20-ounce bottles of Dew. Yesterday, a guy at a small shop told Paul that shops in India had Mt. Dew so it would probably be coming to London soon. Heehee. I won’t hold my breath. You can get Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and from time to time, Dr. Pepper. There is not NEARLY the variety of sodas here. Other little tidbits I’ve observed: the dollar is nearly ½ the value of a pound, so we are spending twice as much, in theory. However, on top of the crappy exchange rate, we also are vacationing in a very expensive city; everything costs twice as much anyway! For example, a whopper here is nearly 3 pounds (6 dollars—and no, that is NOT a full-meal deal. That is JUST a sandwich. No drink. No fries. Very little spare change). Paul also had to pay 20p (pence) to use the loo at Waterloo station.

At Waterloo station (major train and subway station), we bought tickets to Hampton Court, which lies outside London proper. The tickets were called “Cheap Day Return” tickets which cost only 5 pounds per traveler. Apparently Friday is a good day to travel! The journey planner at the official british transportation website quoted me at 11 pounds per person! So we caught the 11:36 train to Hampton Court. The ride was roughly ½ of an hour and it was nice to see houses (in London, all residences are flats).

The website for this palace indicated 3 hours was needed to see the major sites. We were there for 4. We admired the King’s State Apartments, the Tudor Kitchens, The Georgian rooms, and the Queen’s suites. Hampton Court is most famous as King Henry VIII’s residence. We also took in the maze (lots of fun) and just a bit of the gardens (not really my thing). Wolsey’s rooms, in particular, were interesting—they were small, but intimate. The wood paneling had an intricate design—somewhat scroll-like—that I admired. I would love to have wood paneling and moldings all over my next home. The tapestries, too, in the great hall of Henry’s staterooms were awesome. Paul and I laughed over the King’s state bedroom and the “small bedchamber” where he preferred to sleep—it was still big—20 feet wide and 30 feet long Paul estimates. There were also two throne rooms—one for state occasions and intimidating the ambassadors and the next for more intimate meetings with friends and courtiers.

As we exited the main tour, we saw a cordoned off staircase. I hate that (this reminds me of finding out about the cave systems in South Dakota; only a tiny portion of the caves have been fully explored and miles may yet be undiscovered. In the Grand Canyon Caverns, we were told that smoke filling one cave entrance escaped miles and miles away, but no-one has the funding to explore the cave. They know it's there, but they don't bother to explore it. I guess I must admit that this must be a manifestation of the American attitude and Manifest Destiny (the urge to expand territory). I get frustrated when I see closed doors or entrances! I want to know where they go. What are they hiding from me? What treasures lurk in those halls? I was nearly driven mad by all the unopened doorways and blocked passages in the Palace. I made the observation to Paul that I was nosy and wanted to ask a warder what was up the stairs, but we went on our way. As we toured another display, however, we made our way up stairs in another section of the palace. We found out that the top floors, previously servants quarters possibly, had been “let” or rented out to people free of charge! This was called “Grace and Favor” apartments. Without reading a lot of the display, I got the gist of it: the apartments were created by Wren (of St. Paul’s fame—see above) and tenants could live there free of charge. Of course, they did all sorts of things up there over the years in terms of decorating and modifying, so the exhibit said the rooms were not conserved by any design, era, or other common interest, but were largely left as they were when the last tenant moved out in the mid-90s. If I had known I could live at Hampton Court, I think I would have dropped out of high school, stole an airline ticket and camped out until a room became available. The display showed layers of paint and wallpaper from various rooms and apparently there is some effort being made to restore some of the rooms (restore to what state/era, I am unsure).

I was disappointed not to encounter the famous ghost of Catherine Howard who is said to haunt a particular gallery (now called….the haunted gallery, of course). I tried to see her. I really did but alas, ‘twas not meant to be.

Instead of taking the first train out of Hampton Court area, we walked a couple streets. It definitely felt more “village” like, which was a nice change from the busy city center. We spotted a pub called “The Prince of Wales.” A sign above each of the two doors into the pub read “Where a warm welcome is always waiting.” It sounded like an invitation to me, so we went in. It was traditional in décor—hunter green walls, low and dark-timbered ceilings, wood wainscoting, and locals watching a major Cricket match on the all-too modern plasma TVs. I had an Angus burger and Paul had his Bangers and Mash.

Took the tube back to the hotel, and now here we are again, blogging, resting, soaking our blistered feet, and trying to retain all the memories of yet another busy day (so much for leisure). No major plans for tomorrow…our tube passes expire tonight, though we can buy day passes yet. I think we'll cover some exhibitions at the two Tate museums (a Tate boat will connect us from one to the other for a little less than 2 pounds).