Hampton Court

Hello! I'm back in London for another customer training event. I landed Tuesday night and had a very difficult start! The airline lost my luggage, the hotel lost my reservation and the taxi driver got lost. GREAT FUN! I knew there wasn't much that could change things so I weathered the fun. The hotel put me in a great old resort for the night and provided taxi service to work the next morning. Luggage didn't come until Friday morning. I had to do some serious shopping to fill in the gap! I guess the good news is that the luggage was found. I just hope I get the mileage for the bag's journey, as it went from Boston to California, back to Boston and then to London. Nice little holiday . . .

Since I have to do training over two weeks, I have a free weekend. I met my friend Elaine for the day and we went to Hampton Court Palace. Here she is!


The Palace was hosting a Royal Flower Show so we wandered the gardens, shopped the stalls, had lunch and toured the castle. We took the train in and then a boat on the Thames to get there. From our ride on the Thames - I love the stovepipe chimneys. The second is a longboat - people actually live in these - our version of a houseboat I guess!


Hampton Court was the castle for many famous royalty, especially noted were William and Mary and then that King Henry VII guy who had a thing for collecting (and disposing of) wives. Got to see Anne Boleyn's influence, as well as Jane Seymour and others! These were the actual costumes from the movie, "The Other Anne Boleyn" -


Oh, while we were wandering the gardens we drank something called Pims. This is a typical "garden strolling drink" in England. Fruit juice, Chopped Fruit, and some incredibly strong alcohol. Yum! Oh, we also had champagne. Those flowers were really bright and pretty by the time we finished with that! And if I don't sound enough like a lush already, I also sampled honey mead today. OMG, yum. I tell you, if this is the mead that Harry Potter and his pals were drinking at the Three Broomsticks Pub, I have a whole newfound respect for them. I don't think I would recommend it to children. I'm glad my shot was small, but it sure does go down easy!

Of course I have to talk about my lunch as I find the food so funny. I had a banger in a bap (leek and pork sausage in a roll) and my favorite cream tea (tea, scone, clotted cream and jam). I put a picture in here just so you could see.

I find it funny how many American Icons are everywhere. I went into a sports shop hoping to get some British things to take home, and all I could find was NY and LA baseball stuff. Even in the gardens a scarecrow had this hat!


Enjoy the rest of the photos!

Neat little courtyards, and the Wisteria was beautiful!


Flowers, flowers, flowers . . . and more:













Depending on the weather, I'm thinking I will enjoy a full English Breakfast at the hotel then hop the train into London proper. I want to see the Victoria & Alberts Museum I have heard so much about. We'll see how I feel in the morning . . .

~Cheers!