Life of the Royals

As promised, here's my report on my trip to one of my most anticipated tourist attractions: Hampton Court. For those of you who don't know, the reason I wanted to see Hampton Court so bad is I love the Tudor history, and not just because of the Showtime show The Tudors (though that may have helped a little). I've loved reading books about Henry VIII and his many wives, as well as his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Hampton Court is one of the main palaces where the Tudors spent most of their time so I was really excited to see it.

Thankfully I don't have class on Tuesday (to be honest I don't have class ever) so CJ and I decided to spend the day at Hampton. We got really lucky and it was easily the nicest day we've had in England since I've been here. I had almost forgotten what the sun was like.

*Side note for anyone thinking about coming here: Get a rail card!!! I know it may seem like a lot of money to spend in the beginning but I promise you that you will make your money back and more! It saves college students 1/3 of the price on any rail ticket every time. So buy it!

Anyways, back to Hampton. It was so much fun. One part of the castle takes you through the early life of Henry VIII and as you go through the rooms you see how his first wife, Queen Katherine of Aragon fell out of favor and how he chose to marry Anne Boleyn (my favorite of his queens) instead. There was also a huge banquet hall with thrones at the main table. Fun fact: the red chair is actually for the king while the blue is for the queen.

Because of the beautiful day we also spent a lot of time out in the gardens which were green and flowering. It felt like a perfect spring day. Hampton Court also has one of the most famous mazes in all the world and we made it to the center! Actually, I beat CJ to the center but he'll probably deny it.

After we had our fun at the palace we went into the town to have a late lunch. Because we were sick of sandwiches (we always seem to go to cafes) we went to a little Italian place. It was authentic Italian and the food was amazing! It was easily the best pizza I've had since I've been in England. Then again, that's not really saying much.

Other than the trip it was a pretty slow week and this week will probably be similar. It's our last week of classes so I have a lot of papers and projects to finish but then we're done with classes and we get to go on break for a month so it's definitely worth it! Also, next week my sister Stephanie comes to visit so expect that to spice things up. Until then, cheers!