Hampton Court Palace

Despite the fact that I am now posting from home instead of London, let's talk about how awesome Hampton Court was. I'm torn between this and the Tower as my two favorite historic places we've visited. Hampton Court Palace is a curious piece of architecture and much of the history of the place can be read in the symbols and decorations. It began as Henry VIII's friend Wolsey's private home but was eventually purchased by Henry VIII. He transformed it into a palace worthy of being the seat of English power. The Great Room was the biggest anyone could have seen outside of churches at the time. More on that later.

Henry VIII and eventually his children used Hampton Court as their official residences. Through their influences, the place has the distinct Tudor architecture- sort of Gothic, but with its own proportions and details. Part of the state and private rooms are in the totally different Neo-classical/kind of Baroque style of the Georgian period. I can't remember the details of when or why and exactly which George, but luckily that is all in the guidebook we bought. So, I can talk about how strange the contrast was to see. In the central courtyard, on the left and front and back you see textural Tudor brickwork, arched windows, and the darker colors of wood and red brick. On the right, a large colonnade with smooth white columns and elaborate capitals juts out into the courtyard. Inside that part of the palace, there are miles of carved moldings in various styles as well as Grinling Gibbons woodcarvings. The walls are otherwise smooth but covered in frescoes with a distinct humanistic and classical slant. Cherubs, court-goers, and classical figures are all depicted in a bizarre twist on bringing the "now" and old Rome together. Contrast that to rich tapestries and plainer walls and elaborately ribbed ceilings.

The reworking of the palace was never finished. And thank goodness! Otherwise the people acting as Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Cromwell, and various others would never have known where they were supposed to be! Actually, their acting was really excellent. They are all historians in their own right, ad-libbing their lines based on what they think might have gone on in a day at the palace. The day we went, the whole court was in an uproar because Anne was hollering out windows, clearly upset about something. Later she went nuts when she discovered Henry had received a gift from his banished wife, Katheryn of Aragon.  Even better, another courtier got the better of her with a snarky comment and they both broke out laughing, mid-act. Something about what on earth could be in it for him/why does he do something. The lady's answer was "God." I'm really quite sad I don't remember the whole thing. Maybe Marilin knows. Hmm.

Anyway, what else? Oh the Great Hall. That was a really interesting part. There appears to be soo much history oozing out of this one room. It was still under construction when Anne Boleyn worked her way into Henry's affections. Her personal/family crest was built into many areas around the palace. Once she fell from favor however, her heraldry was torn from every surface except for the very highest point in the Hall's ceiling where no one could easily reach. So at meal times, one could look up and remember the second queen while watching the third, etc. Rather morbid, eh? Don't let Henry catch you looking. To put my earlier comment about the room's incredible size for a non-church building at the time: most public school lunch rooms around my house are three times this thing's size. Possibly 4 or 5. But lunch rooms are ugly and the Great Hall is very much not. The above photo is of us sitting in the King and Queen chairs at the top of the hall. The lovely arch behind leads into the beginnings of Henry's state rooms.

On a random note, also at Hampton Court is the oldest grape vine in the world. It still produces sweet black grapes. I wish we could try them! I wonder if they make wine for the Queen's table. The gardens here were incredible. The privy gardens were the model for Kensington's Sunken Gardens. It was a very good imitation, but the real thing is still more breath-taking. On either side of these were big fields with topiary spaced out really far apart-- something not really done anymore and easier to understand with a picture. Also there were the Yew trees. All of them were clipped in sort of mushroom shapes. The Smurfs would have been very excited. Also, I just Googled yew trees and learned that everything but the red part of its berries is poisonous. (Moreso to animals than people. You'd need to eat a number of branches to really hurt yourself. Meanwhile, it's used in some medicines.) I'm not sure of the history of the Yew-lined pathway leading away from the back of Hampton Court, but it sure was pretty. Also sort of fitting to see a lot of yews living happily where, previously, the English had devastated forests across Europe in search of yews for longbows. Apparently, they made very good bow wood but very very little of it per tree due to the twisty-knotty-splitty tendencies of its trunk. More later if I think of anything, but this about covers Hampton. Other than the fact that I could have happily followed the actors around all day. Two days would have been perfect: one for each era/set of actors.

Oh rose garden!! We found the rose garden by accident!