Sunday afternoon treat
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 18 October 2009 18:22:10
There really is something quite special about walking along a corridor or up a flight of stairs, seeing the stones worn from the feet of people through the centuries passing precisely the same spot as you are walking now, and realising that amongst those feet were people who were not just characters in the history books but real people, with feelings and thoughts, delights and fears, hopes and dreams, just like you. When we were on the Isle of Wight we walked in the footsteps of Queen Victoria and King Charles, here we get to walk in the footsteps of King Henry VIIIth and his court, not to mention William and Mary. An amazing feeling, an amazing place.
Our Historic Palaces Pass was a gift from some special friends when we moved here and is a real treat, allowing us to visit Hampton Court Palace (amongst others) whenever we want (as well as entitling us to 10% in the cafe - something we are keen to take full advantage of!) So after church and Ski Sunday, we caught the bus to Hampton Court to eat in their Tilting Yard cafe (delicious), to explore the palace kitchens and the great hall (amazing), and to sit in the grounds for an hour reading our books (freezing cold, but rather pleasant, and a good way of enjoying an afternoon of reasonable vision, apart from a rather odd moment when I realised that the two swans I was watching on the fountain pond were not really synchronised swimming but were actually just a single swan in the wrong part of my peripheral vision!)
Photos from our last visit to Hampton Court can be seen on Page 3 of my Flickr account:
