When we originally planned this holiday, Philip had wanted to go up to London for a couple of days and feast on all its history. But he has realised that he’s just too tired to do that. So instead of that, we spent today at Hampton Court Palace which is only about 20 minutes drive away. Neither of us have ever seen it.

 

Faithful GPS got us there again. How did tourists driving hire-cars ever manage before they were invented?

Hampton Court Palace is on the Thames River which is about as wide as the Yarra River. And the palace is huge. More than anything else, its whole purpose from the beginning of its history is to impress. Really impress. Overwhelm and overawe whoever goes there. Back in its heyday. And still today in its tourist days.

Did I mention it’s huge? Masses of tourists wandering around, but it’s so big it never seems crowded. Many of them with audio guide phones clamped to their ears. Philip and I started off with the audio phones but we found there was an avalanche of information on them, and didn’t use them much.

Wandered around. Looking and gawping. Reading the notes attached to the rooms and the items.

Much of the Palace was used by Henry 8th for his machinations in the 1500s.

 

Philip bought a book in the shop there called “How Fat was Henry th and 101 Other Questions on Royal History?” This book called Henry a “psychotic, paranoid bully”.  I couldn’t have put it better myself.

There’s another huge section of the Palace that was used by the Hanoverians in the 1700s – the Georges and their squabbling and power plays. Pathetic manouvereings to prove a point and pursue power and wealth.  

Politics never changes. The pursuit of power, whether personal national or global always corrupts the pursuer.

It’s so sad the way the Church was at the heart and seat of the power plays too.  Especially when you know what Jesus really said about power!

I spent about half of our time there out in the gardens, while Philip continued taking in the rest of the Palace. Lots of interesting things there. The gardens have changed over the centuries, so there’s lots of different styles.

A huge grapevine planted in 1789 and still producing great crops of grapes. I got lost in the famous Maze and took the easy exit. Or I’d probably still be in there! Terraces and the Royal Tennis Court (which is different to Lawn Tennis) where there was a match being played.

They had actors dressed in period costume from both the Tudor and Hanoverian periods interacting with each other and the crowd.

My feet gave out before I could see it all. But it was an interesting day!