Hampton Court Palace

Today I went to Hampton Court Palace for my British Culture Class. We took a boat down the Thames right up to Palace courtyard!! All I can say is WOW!! They broke us up into 2 groups and the first group went on a tour of the inside of the palace. My group however was free to wander the gardens for 2 hours! Sounds like a long time right? Well, we used the ENTIRE 2 hours! There are gardens upon gardens all around the palace each with a different look to them. The first garden we came to was this magnificant rose garden! I can't even begin to describe how amazing the smell was! Just imagine a thousand roses in bloom....it was like someone sprayed the air with popurri, but definately a million times better!

After that we made are way around to the next garden called the Tiltyard. There was a little cafe there but the interesting thing to me was there were so many people there with picnics just spralled out on the grass laying down, reading or playing with their kids. In fact, there is a sign saying that they welcome and encourage people with picnics! How fun is that!! Then we rounded into the next garden which included a maze! Actually, the whole garden used to be filled with mazes but this is the only one left in the garden and is actually the oldest maze in all of the UK!! The next garden we came too was the Great Fountain Garden. Evidently, this is the main garden and you can tell so because the Kings Quarters lines up directly with this garden from the castle. It was a very beautiful and well manicured garden with trees in the shape of Hershey Kisses!! They actually reminded me of the Kebbler Elf Trees that are perfectly pointed at the top. The grass was so perfect and all of the flower beds were in perfect blume. I guess we picked a great time to go and see this place because it was amazing!!

The next garden we walked into was the Knot Garden which was my second favorite to the Fountain Garden. It was so interesting to see a garden that was so geometrically and perfectly laid out and groomed. I really wanted to ask someone how they mowed the grass because the pathways were so ornated and winding that a mower of anysize would never fit. Oh well, its magic!

Around the next corner we walked into the Pond Gardens that had the Great Vine in it. How cool is this, the great vine was planted in 1768 and still produces great crop year after year of grapes. That plant is older than America!! It was interesting to think about at least.

Finally, it was my groups turn for a tour. It was interesting and I took notes for the paper I have to write about it. We just did a main tour of the kitchens, main rooms, great hall (BEAUTIFUL!!), bedrooms, and eating rooms. Unfortunatly we couldnt take pictures inside, but I will say this: the great room was breath taking, and the Bedroom ceiling was painted in a baroque style and has an optical illusion painted in it. It's very difficult to describe but definately worth seeing! I also enjoyed learing the random trivial facts about things in the palace, which led me to the point of my paper that I will be writing. I was very intrigued by how the architecture was used as a form of expression of not only status and wealth, but as a way to communicate to the illiterate via sculptures and paintings, and also as a tool of propaganda. I think it will be an interesting topic to research and write about.

Well folks, thats all for now. I was sad Germany lost the Euro cup to friggin Spain but other than that my evening has been relaxing and boring. Real class starts tommarrow and I will be meeting my professor at Waterloo Station in London! I love these kinds of classes!!

Talk to you soon xoxo
Jackie