Do you ever wonder what a water closet smells like? Or Hampton Court

     Our next adventure saw us running for the train as usual, this time in what would be one of the creepiest stations at night, because pigeons could fly in  from the ceiling. Victoria station was surrounded by construction detours and left us with minutes to spare. All I remember was yelling “run Forrest, run.” We didn't have to find an alternative this time.
      And so, we were on our way to the lovely little vacation palace of Hampton Court.  After being built, it was gifted to the wealthy landowner Sir Thomas Wolsey, who then got in a fight with  Henry VIII, who, of course, was mad that the church would not give him a divorce, and anyone who disagreed with him fell from favor, including Wolsey himself, later. I can't remember how much of the history went after that, but I do remember  that you could see several different eras of architecture within the palace walls. One really cool thing I remember is that the Hampton Court kitchen was among the first to develop some kind of refrigeration system for the meat, thus enabling it to be kept longer and could serve larger and more elaborate banquets in the dining hall. I remember something like an advertisement for a 100 course meal that had once been served there.
      Hampton Court  itself was known for the architecture of the Tudor period, which included a lot of wood paneling as well as gold leaf and gold plating on the walls and ceilings. This was also the era of frescoes to be painted on the ceiling, some of which usually involved a lot of breasts as was aptly noted by our instructor.  One cool thing about the palace was that I had to take elevators which allowed  us to access certain back corners of the palace that our classmates didn't get to see. I remember one of them had many spears on the wall and a weapon that looked like some kind of club spikes coming out of it. Another interesting thing is that spikes were installed out of the corners of the stone archways and in certain areas to prevent vagrants or homeless people from sitting or sleeping there.   Apparently you did not want to mess with the Queen.  But seriously, the King's quarters and the Queen's quarters  had some of the most ornate rooms I have ever seen. I remember that the room  they had an audience with you in was based on your importance, so the more important you were, the more sitting rooms you got to see.  My favorite room  was a room with sculptures made entirely out of cloth napkins. You probably think I'm weird, but it was awesome!
      We also were able to go outside  for  a tour of Queen Mary's Gardens.  I remember she liked to sculpt the hedges in interesting ways, some to look like mushrooms or Hershey's kisses.  At this point  we were outside, and all anyone could think about was ice cream and I remember everyone just laying on the lawn or under a tree, talking about life.  It was a great end to an  extremely runaround day.
      Oh, and in case you're wondering about the title of this post, you don't want  to know, it was horrible according to the scratch-and-sniff map they gave us at the end of the tour. I learned that's probably why people covered themselves in lavender and rose water!

Until tomorrow!

(Image: a stained-glass window  displaying various coats of arms  with primary colors in 10  different stained-glass panes)

 (Image: a gold plated  ceiling design from the Tudor era made in a geometric design  that appears to resemble rhombuses or flower petals.)

 (Image: a photo looking down the hall of one of the main portrait galleries, all showing women, presumably other royals. It is rumored that some of these halls are  haunted by the ghosts of the women in the paintings.)