Hampton Court Palace

When I learned that were going to Hampton Court Palace I was interested but as a person that isn’t a fan of monarchies I wasn’t incredibly excited and while that definitely did lower my opinion just because I don’t find seeing the way royalty lived very interesting that doesn’t mean I wasn’t able to admire the beauty of the palace.  After the very fun trip to Bath I was excited for another day trip to Hampton.  The first place I walked through was the kitchen which was bigger than most restaurant kitchens.  It was interesting to see what they ate because spices and new world crops had not reached Europe.  After that I saw a fountain that used to be a fountain of wine, sadly it was not functional anymore.  Walking through the palace I saw tons of art and I also noticed the difference in architecture within the building.  The palace had been expanded upon over time.  The palace was built in the Tudor style but later expanded in the Baroque style.  Eventually I went into a room with a set of games that would have been played at the time the palace was used and I must say those games sucked.  There was a board game and I played both sides to see how it would play. The first roll landed on an empty square, the second roll landed on a space that made you move the same number of spaces again.  I kept landing on that until I reached the end so that game only lasted two turns.  The other games I didn’t play but I read the rules and one was essentially just war and the other was incredibly boring.  The last place I went to was the gardens and they were massive. The first part was mostly open with incredibly well kept up grass, but then I went to the more garden-like area.  The gardens were absolutely amazing and just kept on going on.  I was amazed at how the gardens were kept up.  It was filled with beautiful flowers and statues all arranged very well.  I sadly wasn’t able to see all of the gardens but I got to see a large portion.  While I still am not a Royalist and seeing places like Hampton Court Palace does kind of anger me seeing how royalty lived in contrast to how peasants lived; however, the beauty of Hampton Court Palace is undeniable and the history of it was very interesting to learn.