London Eye and Hampton Court Palace

Monday, June 17

 

The London Eye was very busy over the weekend, so I was hoping that it would be easier to get on early on a weekday.  This turned out to be the case and it only took us ten minutes to walk there and then another ten minutes for us to collect our prepaid tickets and board one of the capsules.  It really benefits from its location just across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament.  It's now a London experience not to be missed, but given the expense I probably wouldn't be very inclined to do it again.  The included "4D Experience" was fun too.  It's a short 3D movie about the London Eye where a little simulated rain and snow falls on you while you watch, thus making it 4D.

Afterwards we popped over to the nearby Waterloo Station to catch the 12:06 train to Hampton Court.  The trip took 30 minutes and it was great to get out of the hustle and bustle of central London.  The Palace sits next to the Thames about a five minute walk from the train station and was mostly built in the Tudor era (1500s).  We had a quick bite at the Orangery Café before going into the Palace (Marnie is displaying her ginger beer below).

 

This was at least my third time there but it was probably the most enjoyable because of the audio guide that is now included with the admission.  The Palace is sometimes referred to as the British Versailles, although on a more modest scale, and it has many connections to Henry VIII who was the first of many monarchs to live there, ending with George II in the early 1800s.  William and Mary added a newer section and developed the gardens with the help of Capability Brown, Britain's most famous landscape architect.  We watched two guys playing tennis on the indoor Tudor tennis court (more like racket ball with a net) and Marnie tackled the maze by herself as I had done it before and wanted to take some photos of the gardens.

 

 

We caught the 6:24 back to Waterloo Station and grabbed a few dinner provisions from the grocery store in the station.  We also stopped at the local convenience store to replenish our supply of Bailey's Irish Cream which we've indulged in before every dinner.  We are innocents abroad, when we arrived the flat had some Baileys already in it and we started drinking it without any idea how addictive it would be.  It's like opium addiction, which I believe the Brits also bear some responsibility for.

 

Tonight's "telly" consisted of "Airport", a behind the scenes look at Heathrow, and a travel show on India with the focus on food hosted by a British chef.  I suppose we should be getting out seeing plays in the evening but each day we're out touring so much that we have nothing left in the tank by evening.