Travel Log: Hampton Court Palace
Apr. 8th, 2010 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gnineLast Saturday, during ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crashtestskater's brief, yet wonderfully fun visit (I haven't seen her seen I left Japan last May!), we accompanied cienna and takadainmate to Hampton Court Palace. The latter's adorable stuffed tentacle monster, Lee and crashtestskater's Volks Dolfie, Matthieu Canada, were also in attendance. Four giddy fangirls plus friends...why yes, we *did* garner some...'interesting'...looks from the other patrons, why do you ask? ^_-
Arising at the standard, earlier-than-I-like, time for these excursions,crashtestskater and I headed to a local place for a hearty, classic, full English Breakfast (tea, toast, eggs, sausage, tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms and hash browns...though they called them some other random name that I've now forgotten). Yum. From there we met cienna at Waterloo, and were later joined on the train by takadainmate at Clapham junction.
(cienna and crashtestskater on the train)
Arriving at the station, the palace was only a brief walk away, the approach over the nearby river offering a beautiful view of the place:
takadainmate and cienna, posed in front of the main entrance:
Lee and Matthieu were good enough to oblige as well:
...the livery-wearing guards stationed at the front gate were only *maaaaybe* giving us strange looks for this. I mean, there's no way to know for certain! ^_-
Entering the palace, we found a nice lady was willing to be roped into taking a group shot of us around the fountain in the first of several courtyards:
One of the things that struck me throughout the day was the range and variety of architectural styles present in the palace.
The myriad cosplayers/actors, like the jester entertaining the crowd in this pic, wandering about the place provided great amusement as well.
Especially when such performances included FIRE! ^___^
Inside, the various wings were dedicated to several of the different, famous residents of the palace, from Henry VIII to William III. The uniting factor was the magnificence of all the décor.
I especially like the decorating choices for the room in the above picture. Armory-as-artfully-arranged wall hangings just works for me! ^_^ Yes, those are all swords and muskets and spears and such:
And then there were the tentacles:
(apologies for the blurriness, the lighting in these rooms in particular was very low, and I abhor flash, flattens the images waaaay too much)
See, any one who's spent a little...well, okay, pretty much ANY time withtakadainmate becomes a bit...hmm...tentacle-sensitive? And thus, while we were all happily viewing the paintings and murals, and someone spotted a hint of one (I can't even remember who it was who first discovered it) there might have been a bit of a gleeful shriek. Followed by three other successive, "Tentacles?! Where?" Let us be thankful the palace was no where near as crowded as Versailles, but even so, we were so not alone. The poor other group near us looked a bit...um...startled? Which of course in no way dissuaded us from eagerly searching all the other paintings and tapestries for other evidence of tentacles throughout the day.
Or, y'know, happy slashy (guys and gals! ^_-) cherubs/fairies/angels, etc:
And then there was more mirror fun to be had. This is quickly becoming a trend for me:
And, judging from the background, I think that might have also been the room that elicitedcienna's woeful: "I found Jesus, but no tentacles!" Traveling in fangirl packs certainly ups the amusement factor (if also the "what? Oh dear god, I *really* don't think I want to know" look from strangers. ^_-)
At 2 pm, we made our way to the Great Hall, where the intro pamphlet announced there would be some kind of court dance. Which there was, along with a brief skit by "Henry VIII", his first and eventual second queen, and various courtiers (one of whomtakadainmate and I oh so quickly picked up on the ridiculously slashy vibe between him and Henry! No seriously, the guy "trips" and the king goes dashing down the Hall to assist. And then there were the later comments from some of the other lords about how this same guy had the king's ear and was welcome behind closed doors where none of the other ministers could go. Un-huh...Ah, slashing up history, never gets old!^_-) (Again, low picture quality due to low light....and constant movement and crowd shuffling :-p):
There were also two dances that the audience was invited to join in on.crashtestskater jumped in right away for the first one, bravely and boldly scooping up one of the few actors to be her partner:
All four of us joined in for the second one. Simple dances but still quite fun, and made me so very much miss the occasional SCA events I attended at Cornell and the bits of dancing I learned with them.
One of our last stops inside the palace was the royal kitchens. There were even some actual meals being made, though sadly we had just missed the meat roasting on the spit. Though the fire was still going....mmm...fire....err...*shifty eyes* Okay, so I might kinda have a thing...I blame my brother entirely!
Attached to the kitchens were the wine cellar:
Of which my three traveling companions very much wished the wine was real and free for the taking:
And then of course, what palace would be complete with out beautiful grounds and gardens? There was certainly a wide variety!
And, like Leeds Castle, there was also a hedge maze! (Though this one didn't have an high place from which to view it, I did stand on a bench in the center area and take what pics I could):
After deciding that a return sometime in the late Spring (when the weather was actually...y'know, marginally *nice*) for a picnic was definitely in order, we headed back to London, where we met up withburkesl17 and her boy at a pub. And where Lee and Matthieu had the chance to get to know each other:
Lee was happy to make his acquaintance.
Very HAPPY! ^_-
I really wish I could blame those last shots on drinks, but we honestly didn't have that much (or in my case, any at all). Though thankfully we *were* in a pub, where the other patrons (again giving us those oh-so-familiar WHAT-THE-HELL? looks) could (and hopefully DID) mistakenly attribute our attics to be alcohol-induced. ^_-
All in all, a fantastically fun, fangirly day! Well, also, cool palaces for the win! ^__^
As usual, click on any of the pics to go to my picasa album for even more photos. (I kinda took a lot. No where near Paris amounts, but still...by the end of the day, I was the only one of us who had a camera with working batteries, so...yeah...that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it...^_-)
crashtestskater's brief, yet wonderfully fun visit (I haven't seen her seen I left Japan last May!), we accompanied cienna and takadainmate to Hampton Court Palace. The latter's adorable stuffed tentacle monster, Lee and crashtestskater's Volks Dolfie, Matthieu Canada, were also in attendance. Four giddy fangirls plus friends...why yes, we *did* garner some...'interesting'...looks from the other patrons, why do you ask? ^_- Arising at the standard, earlier-than-I-like, time for these excursions,
crashtestskater and I headed to a local place for a hearty, classic, full English Breakfast (tea, toast, eggs, sausage, tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms and hash browns...though they called them some other random name that I've now forgotten). Yum. From there we met cienna at Waterloo, and were later joined on the train by takadainmate at Clapham junction. (
cienna and crashtestskater on the train)Arriving at the station, the palace was only a brief walk away, the approach over the nearby river offering a beautiful view of the place:
takadainmate and cienna, posed in front of the main entrance:Lee and Matthieu were good enough to oblige as well:
...the livery-wearing guards stationed at the front gate were only *maaaaybe* giving us strange looks for this. I mean, there's no way to know for certain! ^_-
Entering the palace, we found a nice lady was willing to be roped into taking a group shot of us around the fountain in the first of several courtyards:
One of the things that struck me throughout the day was the range and variety of architectural styles present in the palace.
The myriad cosplayers/actors, like the jester entertaining the crowd in this pic, wandering about the place provided great amusement as well.
Especially when such performances included FIRE! ^___^
Inside, the various wings were dedicated to several of the different, famous residents of the palace, from Henry VIII to William III. The uniting factor was the magnificence of all the décor.
I especially like the decorating choices for the room in the above picture. Armory-as-artfully-arranged wall hangings just works for me! ^_^ Yes, those are all swords and muskets and spears and such:
And then there were the tentacles:
(apologies for the blurriness, the lighting in these rooms in particular was very low, and I abhor flash, flattens the images waaaay too much)
See, any one who's spent a little...well, okay, pretty much ANY time with
takadainmate becomes a bit...hmm...tentacle-sensitive? And thus, while we were all happily viewing the paintings and murals, and someone spotted a hint of one (I can't even remember who it was who first discovered it) there might have been a bit of a gleeful shriek. Followed by three other successive, "Tentacles?! Where?" Let us be thankful the palace was no where near as crowded as Versailles, but even so, we were so not alone. The poor other group near us looked a bit...um...startled? Which of course in no way dissuaded us from eagerly searching all the other paintings and tapestries for other evidence of tentacles throughout the day. Or, y'know, happy slashy (guys and gals! ^_-) cherubs/fairies/angels, etc:
And then there was more mirror fun to be had. This is quickly becoming a trend for me:
And, judging from the background, I think that might have also been the room that elicited
cienna's woeful: "I found Jesus, but no tentacles!" Traveling in fangirl packs certainly ups the amusement factor (if also the "what? Oh dear god, I *really* don't think I want to know" look from strangers. ^_-)At 2 pm, we made our way to the Great Hall, where the intro pamphlet announced there would be some kind of court dance. Which there was, along with a brief skit by "Henry VIII", his first and eventual second queen, and various courtiers (one of whom
takadainmate and I oh so quickly picked up on the ridiculously slashy vibe between him and Henry! No seriously, the guy "trips" and the king goes dashing down the Hall to assist. And then there were the later comments from some of the other lords about how this same guy had the king's ear and was welcome behind closed doors where none of the other ministers could go. Un-huh...Ah, slashing up history, never gets old!^_-) (Again, low picture quality due to low light....and constant movement and crowd shuffling :-p):There were also two dances that the audience was invited to join in on.
crashtestskater jumped in right away for the first one, bravely and boldly scooping up one of the few actors to be her partner:All four of us joined in for the second one. Simple dances but still quite fun, and made me so very much miss the occasional SCA events I attended at Cornell and the bits of dancing I learned with them.
One of our last stops inside the palace was the royal kitchens. There were even some actual meals being made, though sadly we had just missed the meat roasting on the spit. Though the fire was still going....mmm...fire....err...*shifty eyes* Okay, so I might kinda have a thing...I blame my brother entirely!
Attached to the kitchens were the wine cellar:
Of which my three traveling companions very much wished the wine was real and free for the taking:
And then of course, what palace would be complete with out beautiful grounds and gardens? There was certainly a wide variety!
And, like Leeds Castle, there was also a hedge maze! (Though this one didn't have an high place from which to view it, I did stand on a bench in the center area and take what pics I could):
After deciding that a return sometime in the late Spring (when the weather was actually...y'know, marginally *nice*) for a picnic was definitely in order, we headed back to London, where we met up with
burkesl17 and her boy at a pub. And where Lee and Matthieu had the chance to get to know each other:Lee was happy to make his acquaintance.
Very HAPPY! ^_-
I really wish I could blame those last shots on drinks, but we honestly didn't have that much (or in my case, any at all). Though thankfully we *were* in a pub, where the other patrons (again giving us those oh-so-familiar WHAT-THE-HELL? looks) could (and hopefully DID) mistakenly attribute our attics to be alcohol-induced. ^_-
All in all, a fantastically fun, fangirly day! Well, also, cool palaces for the win! ^__^
As usual, click on any of the pics to go to my picasa album for even more photos. (I kinda took a lot. No where near Paris amounts, but still...by the end of the day, I was the only one of us who had a camera with working batteries, so...yeah...that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it...^_-)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 01:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 01:24 am (UTC)Alas, no ghost spottings...course, with all the giggles and fangirl squeeing, we probably scared 'em off...^_-
no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 11:04 pm (UTC)Given the carved, sleeping guard on the fountain with you--not to mention the head on which Lee is sitting in that picture--I should think your fangirl antics during your visit were entirely appropriate to the humor of the place.
The gardens look amazing, definitely competitive with Versailles, if not quite as expansive. And I love the armory decor. A couple of the pics in your album that aren't in this travelogue are interesting, too. I can see why the Great Hall reminded you of Risley. Wasn't Risley's dining hall modeled on one of the English castles? And I particularly like the picture of the sculpted trees in silhouette. At first look, I wondered what those sculptures were...models of mountains flanking the garden path? And then I realized what there were! Cool pic!
Can't wait to see this place with you! Thanks for sharing.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 01:26 am (UTC)The mood of the place really was very light and lively, and the actors all seemed to be having quite the time of it! Is a beautiful place, and I look forward to taking you guys there next time you visit.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-08 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 01:27 am (UTC)Lee was a verrrry happy tentacle monster by the end of that rapeage-filled day! ^_-
no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 05:23 am (UTC)Didn't you take a pict of me with Matthieu in my shirt? I thought you had but it wasn't in with the ones you gave me.
SInce I'm so lazy and don't feel like sending an e-mail since I"m already chatting with you this way... I have mostly unpacked and still haven't found earphones. I still have at least one more pocket to look in.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-09 05:35 pm (UTC)I believe I did, must have been one of the pics that didn't fit. I'll look for it and email it, kay?
...also, *dang* about not finding the headphones. Was really hoping they'd got mixed up with your stuff cause now I reaaaally have no clue where they are. I even went through my trash to make sure they hadn't gotten thrown away...:-p
*huggles* It was sooo fantastic to see you!!