Queen for a day??

Today was our Hampton Court Palace adventure! It started super early! We left the Centre at 8:30 and caught a couple tube trains and got on another train at the Waterloo station. I think I was out cold before that train even left the station! I think all my exhaustion finally caught up to me today and more stories about that will follow.

Hampton Court! What a cool place! It was started by Thomas Wolsey back in the 1500s and was finished and remodeled by other kings and queens since. Its really well known because of Henry VIII (That man is everywhere!) The palace is supposedly haunted by Catherine Howard, one of Henry VIII's six wives. Crazy!

We walked around the Palace for a while. We started in Henry VIII's kitchens where food for 600 people was made everyday! Can you imagine making 2 meals a day for 600 people?? I think that's insane! But wow do they have kitchens built for it! The best part of walking through the kitchens was either when I almost walked into a closed door or when Koryl asked why it smelled like fire as a giant fire was in one of the fireplaces. Classic! haha!

Then we went into the Palace Chapel. What a sight that was! Such a beautiful place!!! The ceilings were blue and gold and amazing! They were put up under Henry VIII, but the rest of the chapel was remodeled by Christopher Wren under William and Mary. Such a cool experience. We pretty much had the little church to ourselves because it was still early and not a lot of people were there. It was nice and quiet! 

Around 11:15 we met up with some interesting folks. There were a couple of actors dressed up and inviting people to join them for Henry's wedding to Kateryn Parr. We met Thomas Seymour and he is still a flirt! haha We got a great picture with him, but its on Kaitlin's camera. I'll get a copy later. 

After a little stop in one of the many Hampton Court shops where we almost bought Anne Boelyn "pants" (underwear), we somehow ended up following Kateryn Parr's sister around and getting a little bit of fun information as well as the opportunity to put on some costumes to make us more presentable. 

We were lead into Henry's apartments and then we saw the King himself. haha It sure was an adventure! 

Then we walked over to the infamous "maze" which turned out to be a little lame... but it was fun to say we went through it and found the center! 

Then we decided to "Eat our way through history" and had some crazy Beef Ale Pie things. I'm 100% positive that the alcohol was cooked out! haha It was pretty good, but the cookie was extremely disappointing. 

Afterwards we walked around a bit more and learned more about Henry's wives and saw the room where Henry married Kateryn Parr (true story) and really just enjoyed our peaceful, slow day in Hampton Court. 

We headed back and I slept on the train again. And then we all came home and crashed for a little over an hour! Wow I'm so tired its insane! Than it was tacos for dinner and I'm just about to head out for another intense game of soccer. FUN day

Tomorrow: Soccer Game! :) with Danny, Dillon, Diana, and the Elizabeths.