FEBRUARY 12, 2011
An early wake-up call at 7:30am so we could catch the tube to Notting Hill Station. The IFSA-Butler office is right by the station, so we hopped on the coach (bus, to us) there for the day trip!
First stop: Hampton Court Palace, the get-away mansion for such historic figures as King Henry VIII and King William III. It's noted for being a good representation of the period of English history in which most architecture was in transition between classic Tudor and Italian Renaissance styles. It's also one of two surviving palaces once owned by King Henry VIII.
The front gates. Unicorn statue..?
Hampton Court Palace!
The entrance
The (first) inner courtyard. Neat architecture.
A random little fountain
Another courtyard
Staircase to Mary II's apartments.
Ceiling of the staircase room
First of many huge paintings at the palace
First of many fireplaces as well. I swear there was one in every room.
Fountain Court
Another ridiculous fireplace. I need one of these bad boys at my place.
What an outfit.
Another painting. There were some pretty cool ones.
I think this was in the Queen's Gallery..?
Almost all the walls and ceiling were covered in paintings.
The amazing gardens. Just beautiful.
I need a bed like that.
Wait, maybe this was the Queen's Gallery..
Closer view of the Fountain Court. Pretty.
Another view of the Garden. It's almost eerily well-kept.
Looking back at the north end of the Palace from the Gardens
The wine cellar
Entrance to the Chapel Royal. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside..
Shhh... pretty ceiling though.
A banquet hall. I need one of these as well. So big!
Nice antlers.
Some tapestries. Imagine if those were real candles. Jesus, the whole place would go up in flames.
An old writing desk
Another crazy bedroom. Man, such money..
More paintings in a neat little room
.. or was this the gallery..? Geez who knows.
Some really famous/expensive painting worth like $1 million or something. Crazy. Terrible shot (another secret one, shhhh)
What a crazy clock. Months, signs, two of every number..? Oh man, trippy.
Hi there!
Some actors in costume. Awesome!
No idea.
Random Roman stuff in an English palace? Apparently King Charles admired Caesar so he bought a collection of works by the Italian artist Mantegna called 'The Triumphs of Caesar'. It's a nine-painting series depicting a parade in honor of Caesar's triumphs as he enters Rome. They were neat, but again, we weren't allowed to take pictures..
More gardens on another side of the palace. There was yet another side with a crazy hedge-maze, but we didn't make it to that side.. Sad face..
Woah. More whole-room paintings = crazy. OK, so painting a ceiling has got to be hard, but how do you paint a corner?!?
.. and WHAT are those things?!
Geez, what an entrance to a room.
Confused? THOSE ARE ALL GUNS AND SWORDS. Yup. Epic.
All guns. Unreal.
WE MUST HAVE MORE WEAPON ART!
Can't et enough of it.
Another side of the palace with more gardens! Maybe the maze was over there somewhere..?
Yet another sweet room.
Oh yeah, just throw in some drums with those knives, swords, and guns.
A happy dragon statue and a disgusted unicorn statue. What.
What a neat place! So much money and history.. you can imagine why the commoners were all so angry as they lived in squalor on the streets, starving, and royalty had entire palaces like this that they basically just visited on holiday. Crazy.
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We hopped back on the coach and headed down to the next stop: Windsor Castle, originally a medieval castle built to protect Norman dominance on the outskirts of London and hold a crucial part of the River Thames, it now is used as a weekend home for the Queen and a tourist attraction. With over 500 people living and working in Windsor, it's the largest inhabited castle in the world.
Windsor Castle on the horizon
Windsor Royal shopping complex.
More of the shopping complex. Ate lunch at a sandwich place there
Windsor Castle!
The streets of Windsor
More of the castle. Very imposing structure
More of the huge castle stretching off into the distance
Oh hello there!
Very pretty
Ah so British..
Windsor alleyways
More Windsor streets
An old church
More castle gates
The main entrance to the Castle
'The Long Walk', looking away from the Castle. Very cool
A closer view of the main entrance to the Castle
Another view of The Long Walk
An ancient well. Pretty self-explanatory..
A neat clock atop the entrance to the shopping center
More of Windsor. Cute little town
Walking towards Eton. What a beautiful day!
Crossing the Thames, like usual! Looking back towards Windsor
.. and away
Back at the Castle from the bridge.
An old, random sanitarium (insane asylum)
An old church near Eton. Too bad it was mostly under repair..
Eton! An old British independent school for boys founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It's apparently one of the most prestigious schools in the UK and requires its students to wear tailcoats!
Another cool building.
Some apartments
A building on Eton Campus. Too bad it was closed..
Another view of that church
A view of some gardens in Eton.
Walking back towards the castle
The busy (read: tourist-filled) streets of Windsor! I think this was on one of the shopping streets, looking up towards the Castle
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After that, we caught the coach back to London! Nap time after a long day of touring..
I would have loved to go into Windsor Castle, but there was a HUGE line, it was £15 to get in, and I'd already been inside before when I was in London a couple of years ago. So I was content with wandering the surrounding area and getting the good views from the outside. Oh well!
Came back and ate dinner before meeting up with some people for a 'pirate-themed' party in a nearby flat. It was pretty fun! Lots of rum, Jack Sparrow impressions (some actually very good!), Pirates of the Caribbean music, and pirate costumes! Arrrr! My 'costume' was limited to a pirate-esque outfit since I only have limited clothing options, but it was fun nonetheless! Eventually, I went back to my place and passed out after the long day! Goodnight!
Good music to tour Windsor to:
The Decemberists - "Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect", off their album "Castaways and Cutouts"
A great folk band and a great album. Love it.
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Well that's another big update down! Now to catch up on the last few days as well..
Cheers!
Hi, I'm planning a trip to London this spring and was wondering what coach company did you use to get to hampton court/windsor in one day! thank you!
ReplyDeleteRo-Mashka: Wish I could be of more help, but I was just along for the ride - my program handled all of the logistics as far as the coach travel was concerned.. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteA quick search for tours that do both came up with something like this though: http://www.city-discovery.com/london_tours/tour.php?id=2
But I think both can be reached by train or public bus from central London as well, which is always a cheaper option that also gives you the ability to set your own schedule.
Hope that helps, sorry again!