Hampton Court Palace

The day started out by going to class and for only two hours today which was super sweet. class was really boring today, but we got out early because we were going to Hampton Court Palace as a group. So we got done at about noonish and kinda just hung around the church until we were finally ready to leave. right after class m'kynzi realized that she didnt have her underground pass, since we all assumed that we were going to leave right away m'kynzi decided to sprint back to the flat so she can find it. she gets back like 20 mins later and realizes that we are still waiting on people to also come back to the church. so poor m'kynzi sprinted for no reason, but at least she got in some exercise! then we made our way to the underground and then to the waterloo train station so we could get on the train. the station reminded me of when we traveled in europe before. i dont know if we have ever been to the waterloo station, but i remember going to other ones that were similar as we traveled from country to country.

we arrived to Hampton Court at about 2ish. I wasnt even sure of what it was, but discovered that different kings and queens have lived there--including Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, William III, Caroline, and some others that i cant quite remember. the palace was really beautiful, i kept telling m'kynzi that i want to be royalty. i think my favorite part of the palace was a set of stools and a chair that was used by Queen Anne. There was a display explaining about the chairs and how they are really delicate because of how old they are. it said that they are so old and have collected so much dust on them that even if a small child sat on them they would completely fall apart. they are in the process of being restored--this showed me again that i want to do that! i want to help restore and preserve old stuff! haha. (doing this would give me a reason to live in boston!!)i wanted to talk to the conservation group that is there, but never found them. We walked in the Queen's apartments and the Kings apartments, walked by the kitchens and the chambers of Henry VIII. It was crazy to imagine Henry VIII walking through the hallways off to kill his wives. The one thing that was annoying was there wasnt enough things to read (im so turning into dad...wow.) but in this freakin day and age everything is about technology and so every place just has audio guides nows, which i dont really like--i cant ever concentrate when im listening to the audio. i would rather just read things then listen to it all. so i feel like i didnt get that much out of the palace cause there was no information available. i also would have liked to walk around more, but unfortunately not everyone is in love with history as i am, so i dont get around to stay as much as i would like (wow, another dad moment) after looking around the museum some of the girls wanted to grab something to eat so we walked over to the cafe. ewww. it was so gross. i dont know if it was cause we were more out in the country, but there were so many bugs! and huge bugs at that! it was so gross. especially when i discovered a bug BITE on my neck. hopefully it doesnt get any bigger, and that i dont die. so we did not like the walk over to the cafe. but i was so proud of myself and didnt buy anything, i opted for eating my apple that i brought as my snack (which is also like such a mom thing to do) then we walked over to the gardens. so beautiful! i cant imagine living there and being able to have those gardens!! another reason why i want to be royalty. the best part of the gardens was the Hersey kisses shaped bushes. those were crazy. so we walked around the grounds for awhile and then decided to head back to london via the train and subway. again i hate traveling on the subway when everyone and their mom are on their way home from work. so annoying to be pushed up against strange europeans in a smelly small space.

Cathy and I headed up together as the rest of our group opted to go to another store first. after we ate dinner cathy lillie and i were on a mission to finally get sticky toffee pudding from a pub! we went to the queen's arms again (the one across from metro gate). i swear i have been there like 10 times, with all unsuccessful attempts to actually hang out there. so we finally got there before the kitchen closed and we got the toffee pudding! it was amazing. we all sat in silence at eat it all. then we continued to hang out there and chat for another hour or so. so fun! it was really fun to talk about boys and gossip. haha. but it really was enjoyable to sit and talk and get to know each other better--something that i have wanted to do for so long, and we finally did it. now we are just hanging out in the family room--all on our computers yet still chatting and laughing.