Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Place was such a beautiful place and such a nice experience. It was a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of London. Even just walking into the grounds, where there was a beautiful field of flowers was so enjoyable. That flower garden was one of the most beautiful to me—I think the combination of colors was what did it for me. There were countless little tiny flowers in the most beautiful shades of blue, red, orange, pink, and white. There was a little path through it that we walked through when leaving and while it’s hard to go wrong with a little stroll through nature, I particularly loved this spread and all the bumble bees floating about pollinating the place.
The palace was also so stunning! It was pretty big, and we started by entering the kitchens which were huge with so many massive fire places. Shawn was like our tour guide taking us around and showing us things. He said that they would have all the fireplaces going back when Kings lived there, and it would get so unbearably hot, it sounded awful for the cooks! In the courtyard we got a little reenactment from a few of the actors there. That was super fun and funny. I like that sort of thing and it also helps me imagine people actually living and being there with their acting and outfits. They were very nice and taught us some stuff for about 10 min. Then we went back inside, this time to the more royal parts. There were statues and paintings everywhere. I love walking around old buildings like that with their creepy wood floors and marble and wallpaper. When walking around I was so curious as to what the people who used to live there touched or what has been added, changed, and/or replaced since. Was I walking on the same wood floors? Maybe! Was I touching the same wallpaper? Doubtful. While I don’t know exactly, it was still so cool to be in the rooms that they once lived in and walked through. They had a few mannequins with dress designs on them that were so beautiful I wanted to wear them so bad. There were many portraits throughout the palace that were so interesting. I try to picture the subjects as actual people standing in front of me, but it’s so hard in their painted style and the style difference in eras (dress, hair, makeup). Once of the portraits I noticed of a beautiful young woman in a gorgeous gown and holding a spear! I thought that was super cool for some reason—I imagined her instructing the painter to paint her with a spear, something unusual for a woman I think.
Once we had explored the inside of the palace, we went out to the palace grounds. They were so amazing. They were huge, with water features like a fountain and a huge pond as big as the one in front of the Washington Monument. There were ducks in the water and a ton of deer we could see but couldn’t get close to. There were massive, manicured hedges and flowers all over. The grass was so soft I could have laid out on it in the sun forever. I wish I could do a cartwheel, because that was definitely a perfect place for it.
I was sad to leave Hampton Court, it was such a beautiful and relaxing place that was just perfect for strolling around and taking in the beauty both inside and out. The art, the architecture, and the abundance of nature around us was so blissful!