Why tarry, let us off to the castle . . .

Tuesday we were back at it-- another long lecture from Dr. Bell, (Eric, you can relate . . . ), and another train ride, this time not very far out of London, up the River to Hampton Court, which is a huge and very grand palace. (Though not really a castle.) It was started by Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII's time, but when he couldn't get Henry a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, (you all know the story), he fell out of favor, and Henry seized his grand house for himself. He built more of it, including the huge complex of kitchens, which we toured first.

These were amazing. Huge rooms, huge fireplaces, over 200 kitchen staff, and you can bet that a lot of food went through there in a day. They ate mostly meat, bread and sweets, from what they told us, and not only the normal things like beef and pork, and the animals they hunted like deer and birds, but also peacocks, swans, whales, and even puffin. It was really cool to go through those.

Then we went into Henry's great hall-- it was amazing. It's a huge room, with a gilded hammer-beam roof (hard to explain, but really beautiful), and all around the walls were huge tapestries. They said that each one (I think there were six in that room) cost Henry as much as it would have to build and outfit an entire battleship. They said that next to the crown jewels, these are England's greatest treasure. And they were pretty cool-- at least 50% gold and silver thread.

Then we toured part of the Hanoverian part of the palace (built by the king Georges). Unfortunately, the group I was with didn't get to see all of it. But the parts we did see were cool. The rooms were huge and very richly decorated with murals and tapestries. The queen's closet, believe it or not, was at least twice as big as my bedroom at home.

Then we went out in the gardens-- wow. I could've spent all day just walking around out there. There were colorful flowerbeds, and fountains, and trees, all perfectly manicured, with not a leaf out of place. I can only imagine how much work it takes to keep up. But I really can't do it credit with just a few words, so you'll have to see the pictures.

The ride home was uneventful this time, and it was followed by some studying at a Pub (the Jeremy Bentham-- that'll come up later) for a quiz the next morning, and a phone call home, which was nice.