We decided earlier this week that we wanted to see Hampton Court Palace since it was recommended to us from more than one source (Mr. Brannon and Margaret Kelley). We added up admission prices to the palaces we wanted to see and figured out that it would be just a little bit cheaper to buy a yearly family pass (for 1 adult and several children) than to pay admission to each, so if we manage to come back within the next 12 months (unlikely), we could still go into the ones we miss. There are five properties in total and we plan to see three before we leave here on Saturday.
I didn't really pay attention to the signs telling me this while at the Tower of London yesterday, but noticed them at Hampton Court Palace today. Apparently none of these historic palaces are supposed at all by government funding or the Crown (which is a pity), so even if we didn't get to visit enough to make the admission a deal for us, I'm glad that we supported the renovation and conservation of them. We plan to go to Kensington Palace tomorrow though--it is in easy walking distance of our flat--and we will save on admission at that point. I told Eleanor I want to have "tea" in the orangery at Kensington Palace too. Her response is generally that she doesn't like tea. I informed her she could have a sprite, but I was having a proper British tea, complete with sandwiches, scones and little cakes (and tea). :-)
Hampton Court Palace was amazing. The hardest thing for us was NOT taking pictures in the state rooms of the palace. Eleanor was almost sick that she wasn't able to take pictures in the Great Hall or the Chapel Royal. I bought the book about the palace so we would have the pictures to refer to in the future. The Tower gave us a copy of their book when we paid for the membership yesterday so we have that one too. We weren't as wowed by the Tower of London comparatively. We were very impressed with Henry VIII's home at Hampton Court. I actually liked it a lot better than Buckingham Palace where we went last year. I'll have to see what I think of Kensington Palace.
We started our day out on the tube to Victoria Station. I mentioned to Eleanor as we were switching from Underground station to train station (Hampton Court is outside of London about 35 minutes by train) that I had read that there were cheaper "same day" tickets available for Billy Elliot at the theater box office each day at 10:30. It was 10:24. :-) We didn't end up buying the same day seats. They were in the first three rows and the lady in the box office said all of them had restricted views. Instead we bought the "nose bleed" seats for 17.50 for tonight. The lady at the box office said they were good seats. I'll let you know. This was actually on my list of things I wanted to do...I was going to forego it in the interest of cost since we saw both Spamalot and Swan Lake, but the tickets were really pretty inexpensive, relatively speaking, so I decided we should go. It will be our last splurge though. Tomorrow's plans don't include admission prices!
We then bought train tickets to Hampton Court (pretty cheap at 1 pound for Eleanor and 6 pounds for me--return). While I was waiting in line for the ticket agents, I sent Eleanor after bottled water in a shop in the station. She came back and asked if she could buy Krispy Kreme too--yes, an Alabama company in London. I said sure and she came back with two glazed doughnuts...a nice little taste from home. We then boarded a train within minutes and were on our way.
Eleanor took 130 pictures today. I'll just post a couple! There was a display of some of the more elaborate costumes from "The Other Boleyn Girl" movie. We were allowed to take pictures in there. Eleanor had some made with costumed guides too. The whole place was interesting and informative. We even went through the maze--I took one of the dead-ends and so Eleanor beat me to the center of it. She took a picture of herself in the center which I'm posting! We had a very late lunch (around 3PM) at a restaurant across from the palace on the main road, so we will probably grab a snack after the show tonight.
We came home for about an hour in between our trip and needing to hop on the tube to see tonight's show. Eleanor has gotten dressed up in her new lace dress from the market stall in Covent Garden. I might dress up to nicer capris than the blue jean ones I have on, but that is as much as I am going to do. It's not that hot today, but it is incredibly humid. I know that I will be drenched in sweat by the time I ride the tube to the theater anyway....it would be nice if the threatening rain would actually fall here!
I'll check in and post after the show. Gotta give highlights!......
Amazing show! I didn't realize how political it was though. I haven't seen the movie that it was based on. Apparently the live musical hasn't come to the states yet, but posters in the tube stations indicated that this was the last summer that it would be exclusively in London. The principal actors in the show were all children. There are four different young men who share the part of Billy Elliot. We aren't exactly sure which young man did it tonight, but we saw him after the show leaving the theater with friends. He was pretty cute. We made eye contact, but didn't have a pen handy and didn't truly identify that it was him until he had headed on. Shame--we would have asked for an autograph. The accents on some of the actors were so heavy that we didn't understand parts of it, except from context--and I had a better basis for context than Eleanor did. I told her we need to rent the movie when we come home and watch it with subtitles.
A man and his son were in the seats next to us and we struck up a conversation. He was a history teacher (and AP Govt too--go figure) from California. I think Eleanor is a little embarrassed by the "never met a stranger" aspect of my personality. I also ended up in conversation with some men on the tube earlier today. One was wearing a KU and NCAA Final Four ball cap. Turned out they were from Overland Park, KS (although one had a really strong Irish accent--said he had been offered a job in Birmingham, AL once but didn't take it). We had a very nice conversation about Kansas City and how it has grown up, the medical center there, the baggage mess at JFK and London.
Still hasn't really rained and so the humidity is still pretty thick, although being close to midnight helps. The temperature is a little better, even if the air is thick. I need to post this and head toward bed I guess. I believe Kensington Palace opens at 10AM and we want to be there early. One nice thing about this membership we bought is that we sail right up to the gate--no queing at all. I think we may go back to Covent Garden since we wanted to see some other stalls (but Camden Markets or Notting Hill markets are a possibility too). I want to see the Victoria and Albert Museum too--it is open until 10PM (although we won't be that late) which means that we won't have the 5PM closing deadline to contend with. Our time is up in less than 36 hours. Hard to believe....
Good night.
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