May 1 was a Bank Holiday in England & we spent the day at Hampton Court Palace.

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This is the palace where Henry VIII spent a significant portion of his reign with Anne Boleyn & Jane Seymour.

The palace is quite a distance from the city center & it took us about an hour on the subway & connecting train to get there – but it was well worth the effort.

Today the palace offers a unique experience to visitors through a group of actors who portray the King, Ann Boleyn, Cromwell & Jane Seymour and several others in a series of scenes in the very rooms in the palace where the actual people could have had the same interactions & conversations.

It really enhanced our experience & our appreciation of the significant history of this palace & the people who lived there.

Following the vignettes we toured many rooms in the palace.

There were several throne rooms on display

Some were used more often than others……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talk about having a soft seat……

Next we took a guided tour of the palace gardens.

The tour focused more on the history of the gardens rather than on the plantings. Our guide was excellent & the gardens were spectacular.

Our guide told us that the gardening staff are focused on maintaining the gardens with the same types of plants that were used when the monarchs were in residence.

We even got a “behind the scenes” tour of some of the greenhouses where plants for the gardens are grown from seed.

Cheers!

Today we travelled into part of the city to see several iconic buildings & to meet up with my friend Darren Montgomery.

Our first stop was at Florin Court, the residence of Hercule Poroit in the BBC TV series. This Art Deco style building is just a few steps away from the subway station.

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An interesting side note, when we came to street level from the subway stop near Florin Court we looked at the street map posted outside the subway station & were very surprised to see some of the other local street names! The photo below is not altered – other than the red marking I put around the street names.

You can draw your own conclusions about what this means 🙂 …..

Next, we did a mini (self-guided) walking tour of London’s financial district & saw several iconic buildings including “the Gherkin”

The Gherkin

We also walked past The Cheese Grater & the Lloyds Of London building. It was really neat to see such unique architecture in the midst of many of England & Europe’s most recognizable classic buildings.

We ended up at St Paul’s Cathedral & we went to a morning service there. It was very special to attend the service. We even sat in the front row of the congregation! My Dad would have really liked that – even if it wasn’t a Presbyterian Church!

After the service we met up with my friend Darren Montgomery. We worked together in Kuwait in 2011-2012 & have stayed in touch ever since. Darren is originally from England & is currently working for a utility company in the Southampton area.

We went for lunch in a nearby pub & then walked around the city – ending up at the British Museum. It was great to catch up with Darren. Our “reunion ” is certainly a highlight of our trip for me.

Cheers!

Today we went Greenwich to tour the palaces, the Prime Meridian Observatory & the Cutty Sark clipper ship.

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It was really exciting to be at the place where such significant principles of geography were established. And, as a bonus, I was able to get a close up look and tour of the famous clipper ship, Cutty Sark which has been wonderfully preserved.

Cutty Sark rigging

Cutty Sark helm

Captain’s lounge

Captain’s head

Cheers!

Today our adventure started at the museum of Winston Churchill’s underground war rooms.

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These rooms were located in the deep basement of a government office building not far from the House of Parliament. It was interesting to learn that these rooms were actually prepared prior to Britain entering into war with Germany. The government felt that war was inevitable so they began preparing for the worst. The floors in the building above the war rooms were reinforced with steel & several feet of concrete to help create a “bomb-proof” shelter for Churchill & key staff.

The museum is exceptionally well done.

After our tour of the war rooms we walked up to Trafalgar Square & then went in search of a pub to have some lunch. We also stopped briefly at Canada House which was very close to the Square.

Surprisingly there was no Tim’s at this location so we continued our search for a nice pub.

Once we had recharged we walked through St James’s Park to Buckingham Palace. Lots of people around the palace gates but no sign of the Queen. I was going to ask one of the Palace Guards if Her Majesty would consider having us in for afternoon tea but thought better of it. 🙂

Next we walked again through St James’s Park to Westminster Abbey to attend the Evensong Service. The park is beautiful.

Prior going to the church service we walked around the outside of the House of Parliament.

This was a very full day. We were ready for a good rest & a hot soak in the tub after we got back to our hotel room.

Cheers!