Hampton Court Palace is my favorite place we have toured in London. I felt like I was living out every fairytale I’ve ever loved. It was crazy imagining it as a house, where people lived and carried out their everyday lives. It’s where people fell in love, ate breakfast, worked, played cards. It’s hard imaging a palace being a home but to King Henry the Eighth and his 6 wives, it was.
The architecture itself was wildly impressive. The design was beautiful and it must’ve taken some creative and ingenious minds to create the structure. I was in awe of every brick and brush stroke. Everything was so perfectly intentional and I just got this overwhelming feeling of envy that I couldn’t see it when it was in its prime.
I love how preserved everything was. One of the most impressive preservations was the playing cards and the tables where they played their games at. The cards were old and yellowed and felt as thin as paper, but here was this thing in my hands that someone else hundreds of years ago held in theirs. How amazing is that?
They also had an old bed, beautifully preserved and a lot of old China plates and vases. Something I found particularly interesting was the fact that most walls in the more common rooms were draped in fabric. I wondered if that was done intentionally when it became a tourist location in an effort to keep the walls preserved and safe from human touch? Or if that’s really how it’s been all these years?
My all time favorite part of this day was walking through the gardens. I was living out my big Bridgerton dream and I enjoyed just sitting silently in the grass and looking around, being grateful for my presence in such a beautiful and historically rich place.
Long time, no blog! I’m back everyone, and this time I’m so excited to talk about our visit to Hampton Court Palace.
After a nice morning train ride out to the Hampton Court area, we began our journey through the hallowed halls. Kaylee and I split off from the main group pretty quickly, and with the help of our trusty audio guide, we made our way through some beautiful rooms, stairwells, and courtyards. The architecture of Hampton Court Palace is magnificent to behold, and I was constantly in awe. Each room surprised me with gorgeous artwork, elaborate furniture, dazzling tapestries, and more. Not to mention the stunning gardens with their clear air, colorful flowers, and secret passageways. While the palace itself was stunning, I think the gardens were my favorite part of the tour. We saw baby ducks and orange trees, and we discovered gorgeous passageways covered in greenery.
When touring the halls of Hampton Court, I enjoyed listening to the audio provided by the guide. I will confess that at Bath I did not enjoy the audio guide. I found it boring and difficult to focus on with so much happening around me. However, the guide provided at Hampton Court was very engaging, and it walks you through each room, discussing the pieces found in each room, what the room was used for, and who would have seen the room or had access to it during the time of Henry VIII or William and Marry. The guide makes you feel like part of the story, and it engrosses you in the world of the palace such that one could imagine what life might have been like in that time. From what I gathered during my exploring, Hampton Court would have been a pretty sweet place to live, as long as you knew how to follow the rules and stay on the royalty’s good side. Provided you could do that, the palace offered spaces for parties, meetings, and wandering through the gardens. There was space to explore and play but also space to take care of the business of the day. However, if you did not understand the rules for greeting royalty or know how to stay in favor with the King, Hampton Court would likely be one of the last things you saw (provided you made it there to begin with). There was no shortage of guard’s rooms, and one could only imagine what it would have been like to face down the intense and large guard present at the palace.
Getting back to the architecture, it was incredible to see the blending of styles present at Hampton Court, particularly the blending of Baroque and Tudor style buildings and rooms. While other styles were present as well, those two stood out to me the most. The Tudor style, while absolutely beautiful, is much more subdued than the extravagant artwork and carvings seen in the baroque rooms. From the outside, the differences are less jarring (though still present), but when you see the incredible baroque murals on the the ceilings inside, the difference is undeniable. The murals were stunning and constantly took my breath away, but some of the artwork I found most compelling and incredible to see were the tapestries present in so many rooms. Many of them were the size of the wall they hung one, yet the detail work was flawless throughout. When I think about the hours it must have taken to weave the tapestry with such care, it boggles my mind. I took photos of almost every tapestry I saw because they drew my eye immediately.
Overall, I would say that Hampton Court Palace was my favorite of the historical places tours we’ve done on this trip. I would happily go back and spend hours just wandering the gardens, but alas, I will be saying goodbye to London soon. There is nothing quite like walking through an old palace, maintained to look as it would have hundreds of years ago. It made the history come alive, and I could understand and feel the presence of the people who used to live there better because I was seeing the space as they presumably would have. It was an incredible experience, and the gardens made my dream of running through a tunnel of greenery and relaxing in a secret garden come true. I hope I get to return to Hampton Court someday, but in meantime, I will look forward to visiting Kew Gardens soon!!
London is known for its West End theatre productions, but the fringe theatre scene in London is definitely worth checking out. Fringe theatre shows are smaller, lower budget, in out of the way theatres, and they cost less than the bigger shows. I decided to go see Marie Curie at the Charing Cross Theatre and was pleasantly surprised with the show.
I had a little difficulty finding the theatre, which was actually underground and located underneath the Charing Cross tube station. There were a few times throughout the show when you could hear the rumble of a tube passing overhead. I thought this was very interesting, fun, and added character to the theater but I doubt that’s something you’d experience in a West End theater.
The vibes in the theater reminded me of a small local theater back in Little Rock called the Weekend Theater. There were several sets that were used for the scene changes. There was an upper platform with doors on it and the factory workers would dance behind the door when someone sang about how the workers were becoming ill. I also liked how they played with shadows and silhouettes through the lighting. I think the point of using silhouettes was to show there is little known about radium; they don’t initially realize how dangerous it is and the darkness surrounding its use. Like silhouettes, you can see the top layer, but not the details, which turn out to be deadly. In one number, the workers danced behind the doors when Madame Curie was observing rats and the way the shadows danced matched what she was describing about the rats. I think the lighting was also used to accentuate Marie Curie’s intimate feelings like when she moved to a new country and placed her job before her family so she could learn as much as she could about science. Although there were multiple light sources, the spotlight on Madame Curie at these times created a perfect shadow which I believe was a more pure version of herself. Finally, throughout the show there were screens in the background with a bunch of different equations on them. At one point, Madame Curie is really confused and overwhelmed with emotion and uncertainty and the equations on the screens turned to frantic scribbles.
Something somewhat unique to my experience of this show was my response to all of the physics equations on the walls and blackboards. I’m an engineering major and after taking a few physics classes, I couldn’t help but see if I knew any of the equations or if I could solve them. Given I’ve only taken two basic physics classes I wasn’t surprised I didn’t know most of them but I did know a couple.
The show was pretty good. I wasn’t expecting it to be a musical because it was about Madame Curie but it was a pleasant surprise and I liked the songs. The sound was a little louder than I would have liked but I think I was sitting near the speakers so it was fine. The acting was really good. There was a small cast so a couple of the actors played two characters. The actress playing Madame Curie’s daughter mostly played an adult but at one point had to portray the daughter as a child. She also played an adult cancer patient. There was another actor that was one of the factory workers and played another significant role as well, although I can’t remember what that role was.
I really enjoyed this show and I am glad that I went to see it. I was already familiar with the storyline. My sister was cast in her high school production of Radium Girls and I was reminded of this while watching Marie Curie because it discussed many of the same issues surrounding the workers in radium factories. I found it interesting that each show told the story differently on how using radium in the watch factories caused the workers to become ill.
When reading that we were required to see a fringe show, I felt like a bad theatre lover. I did not know what in the world fringe was but a quick google search explained it. Fringe theatre is theatre that is not on the West End and is smaller in scale, not in one of the bigger/main theatre spaces. I wanted the majority of my experiences to be of theatre while I was here, so without realizing it, I had already watched a fringe show. Now, four weeks in, I have been to three. How exciting!
The first fringe show I experienced was Sophie’s Surprise 29th at Underbelly Boulevard, a little nook near Piccadilly Circus. I knew nothing going in, just that the show was going to be a cabaret of sorts. In hindsight, I am glad that I went in with little to no knowledge. It made the experience magical and so much fun! We entered the incredibly intimate space to birthday party decorations and a giant cake that had a 29 on it. Happy birthday, Sophie!
Sophie’s birthday party decor.
The performers came out a couple at a time, in costumes and in character. They interacted with us as audience members, painting a scene of being at a surprise birthday party for Sophie. Who is Sophie? Well, a woman in the audience was chosen by the cast and they sent her backstage. I do not think it was communicated with her that she was now going to be the main character and they sent her out to us where we were told to scream happy birthday to her. A surprise indeed!
The entire show was incredible! I have never been to an interactive theatre experience before, so this was a fresh start for me. We were involved in a decent amount of the show. The plot of the story is, obviously, a surprise birthday party for Sophie, but all of the friends in the cast are performing for Sophie. I do not remember the character names, but their names are rather mundane because they were more so character archetypes or stereotypes. The nerdy girl was in love with the clown (who appeared naked on stage at one point, I am not joking!) but he thought she was a dork. She changes her whole look to make him like her and he does. The ditsy blonde did not really have a storyline whatsoever. The goth girl and goth boy are a thing but the jock likes the goth girl. The goth girl has to pick between the two and the Sophie of the night picks for the goth girl. Justice for goth boy our night…
Yes, the plot really is not that great, but the show is about the spectacle of the whole thing. It was all one big circus act: a duo doing acrobatics on roller blades, a woman doing HAIR SUSPENSION, a fire performance, aerial straps, trapeze work, and so much more disguised in a silly plot. It was fun, hilarious, and an experience to say the least. I have so much respect for each of the performers because they each brought such a unique story with their talents and (literal) strengths. I was in awe the whole time with a giant smile or was laughing so hard I thought I was going to pass out!
We got to meet the performers!Happy birthday, Sophie!
Moving on, the next show is No Love Songs at Southwark Playhouse. This unique musical follows the lives of Lana and Jessie, who meet at a bar and fall in love. They quickly have a baby and the story follows along their struggles in parenthood. Jessie is a musician and leaves to tour with his bandmates to make ends meet for Lana and their baby. This leaves Lana to care for the baby alone, her family not nearby enough for the support she desperately needs. Lana falls into a spiral of postnatal depression and eventually tries to commit suicide. Jessie happens to be coming home and discovers her and this puts a massive strain on their relationship.
I was interested to see how a musical with just two characters and a man with a keyboard would work and was pleasantly surprised. This idea stemmed from Kyle Falconer and Laura Wilde. This play is based on their real life experiences into parenthood and struggling with all that ensues. Anna, who played Lana, did an incredible job of fully immersing herself in her character. She felt real and palpable to me. I adored her from the beginning and felt so deeply moved by her performance. John, who played Jessie, did an incredible job as well. He felt real to me, like a dumb man who did not appreciate someone he loves enough, but I still loved him in his flaws. The songs and dialogue blended so well together, when we would go into a musical piece, I never was taken out of the moment.
My only complaint was not about the show but rather the grumpy old man next to me the whole time who was annoyed that my seat got upgraded next to him. He complained to his wife very openly that he did not like that I sat next to him “too aggressively”, despite the fact that I simply sat down. Ugh. Anyway!
The view from my original seat, but we got upgraded to seats on the floor!
The last fringe show I experienced was English at Kiln Theatre. The story follows several individuals who are trying to learn English. Their native tongue is farsi and they currently reside in Iran. The different characters have different reasons to learn English: Roya wants to talk to her granddaughter, Elham wants a specific internship for medical school but has to speak English, Omid wants a sense of identity, Goli wants the knowledge, and Marjan teaches for a sense of purpose. Each character was portrayed by the actor with so much light yet a sense of heaviness that felt genuine.
Nadia, who plays Marjan, and Serena, who plays Elham are major standouts for me. The delicate balance of strong characters clashing is definitely no easy feat, yet Nadia and Serena did such a wonderful job of that specific dynamic. Marjan had so much love for the love of language yet the displacement she felt being back in her native country could be a story by itself. Elham’s frustration of trying so hard to learn something yet struggling so much is something that I really resonated with.
The tech aspects of it were interesting. I thought the set was simple yet effective. The choice to make the time changes very quick and sharp with a score and sound effect were incredibly effective for me. It was also very impressive to see the actors snap so quickly to the next blocking segment. To have a whole play set in a fixed or single location can be boring visually, but it never felt that way for me. The lighting, blocking, and generally sense of movement made the space feel fresh the whole time.
Set of English.
These three shows have been up on my list of shows that I have got to see in London thus far. Yes, I still have some left, but all three of these shows were so memorable and inspiring. I have said this previously, but I am so incredibly thankful for this experience. I love theatre so much but have not got to experience as much theatre in the States as I would like. This trip alone outnumbers the amount of theatre I have seen in my 26 years of life, so I truly feel so fortunate to be here and experiencing these wonderful shows.
I really enjoyed my visit to Hampton Court Palace, a magnificent royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. This palace was home to many English kings and queens. I don’t know much at all about the kings and queens of England but I have seen Six so I knew a lot more before going than I usually would and it made me a lot more excited to explore the Abbey and learn about the people who had lived there, including Henry VIII and his wives. All of the songs from Six kept playing on repeat in my head and I got excited when I would find a portrait of one of the six wives with information on her.
There were a lot of really cool rooms and I loved how open and spacious a lot of them were. I’m not sure if I had a favorite room because there were so many that I liked but the chocolate kitchen is definitely up there. They had three rooms dedicated to making chocolate desserts. I found it funny that there was such a large space dedicated solely to chocolate. It wasn’t super big but considering it was only chocolate and nothing else I would have thought chocolates could have been made in the kitchen and that space could have been used for other more important things.
There were a lot of large empty rooms and I liked all of them but there was one in particular that I really liked. What drew me to this room was that it was decorated with weapons but they weren’t just decorative. The guards were able to remove the weapons from the walls and use them if there was a threat to the king. I also really liked the grand staircases and the decorative railings they all had.
decorative weapons
One king wanted to completely rebuild Westminster but didn’t have the funds so he only renovated one third of it which is why there are different styles. In addition, some other things point to saving money like painting using a marble pattern instead of using actual marble.
Finally, I loved the courtyard and gardens and actually sat and ate lunch in the privy gardens. I met and made friends with a duck that I named Markis:).
Traveling to Hampton court Palace ew got to experience the vast historical site full of museums, artifacts, and beautiful works of art. Hampton court palace was a beautiful area full of intricate gardens and what would feel like unlimited rooms for every purpose. Unfortunately there were several school groups also touring the grounds so many rooms were crowded and very loud, but the few that were not provided a grand view of how English monarchs had once lived and the splendor they indulge themselves in. The chocolate room for example was an entire room dedicated to making a chocolate drink and was a separate entity from the large sprawling kitchens where the keep was fed from. There were many instances of blended architecture mixing the Tudors styles with the Baroque architecture. Within the house there were also many rooms with more improvised art pieces such as the room with wall decor made from the archaic weapons that used to fill the armories. They used these weapons to form intricate designs through the room and provided quite the visual splendor. My favorite part of the ground however were the sprawling gardens that were full of intricate patterned gardens of flowers, trees and vines. I liked the Fern trees in particular as they looked as though they were giant mushrooms. There were also herds of deer just behind the gardens that were very beautiful and came in several colors. I wish I had time to go through the maze as I love a good maze, but unfortunately sprawling in the gardens left me with little time if I wanted to catch the train back to the hotel. It must have been quite the catch to live in the court of Henry Vlll at the very least it would have been full of interesting stories, rumors, and plots. I cant imagen how people could have watched him consummate six different marriages though especially after he got gout.The practice is already absurd enough but to have to witness it again and again each time getting forseeably worse, Sounds Like torture for everyone involved.
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!
When it comes to Hampton Court Palace, I was not expecting much. I had heard of Westminster Abbey before and while that was neat, it was not at all what I thought it was. I had never even heard of Hampton Court Palace, so I had no idea what to expect. Little did I know, I would be stepping into the world of Bridgerton with fancy old rooms and a gorgeous courtyard that I imagine Beatrice and Benedick overheard their conversations of love in.
Upon arrival, I was immediately blown away by the little field of flowers spanning all of the bright colors of the rainbow. The building itself looked like an old castle with all kinds of different chimneys and varying architecture. Inside, there were rooms filled with historically accurate replicas of food and drinks as well as restored artifacts like Queen Anne Boleyn’s bed and King Henry VIII’s crown. I wanted to take the crown home, but unfortunately it wouldn’t fit in my checked bag.
The coolest part of the whole palace was its yard. Behind the house there is a massive courtyard with a lot of neatly trimmed trees and a large garden vineyard. There is also a massive pond that resembles a slightly smaller version of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington D.C. They must have been constructed by the same architect. As we wandered through the yard, we noticed a whole gated off field even further behind the palace containing a huge herd of deer with various color patterns. It felt like I had been transported back in time when tophats were in fashion and rich people had velvet drapes over their beds.
I did not expect to love Hampton Court Palace as much as I did, but it was definitely a welcome surprise. I feel like there is a chance that one day I too will be dressed in period accurate clothing and in character as I pretend to be Anne Boleyn, just like the actors at Hampton Court Palace. I just hope I will make enough shillings to purchase McNuggets!
Cheers!
P.S. We also had some fantastic charcuterie at a place across the street!
I think to live there at the time would be awesome, because who wouldn’t love to live in a palace, but it felt cold and lonely to me. I just wonder how much liberty even the monarchs had at the time to decorate and make these spaces their own. If I had my own apartment to live there, mine would be covered in art, plants, books, and curiosities from travel. I feel like I wouldn’t let mine be as empty as the place felt. My room would have to one with windows and a fireplace. Hopefully it would look out over the Privy Gardens.
Belinda and I really embraced this prompt in the Privy Gardens of Hampton Court. We jokingly pretended to belong to the time period of Bridgeton as we asked questions about prospects and suitors. The beautiful lawns dotted with spots of white stone carved into Grecian figures. The gravel gave satisfying crunches with every trod of our journey. There was a long tunnel covered in ivy and the stretching limbs of trees. Giant hedges obscured smaller gardens that were hidden away with ponds speckled with lily pads. Wild flowers grew around small white paths with the brightest hues of vermillion, chartreuse, cobalt, and amber I have ever seen. We lay in the soft lawns of these hidden gardens under trees as the wind coaxed wandering minds away. As much as I believe and know these outdoor spaces were created as mere displays of power, wealth, and decor, I couldn’t help but imagine what a necessity it would be to escape. Being a wife or a lover of Henry VIII or any kind of tyrant would require some seriously beautiful and intimate places to exist.
The kitchens were massive and extremely impressive. So many stoves and ovens and fireplaces, I can’t even imagine how hot it would be as I’m slaving away over an eight course meal, Henry the VIII’s snack. I loved the white stone and raw wooden beams of the kitchen. Natural light flooded the space from windows up above, hopefully they opened for ventilation.
I could see differences of architecture between the apartments of Henry VIII and William III. I felt as though William’s was more severe and brooding. It faced the giant lawns of the front of palace that could be seen through huge windows. Everything seemed to be furnished with dark red velvet. Even merely entering his apartments, encircling a massive white marble staircase there was a mural that stretched around the circumference of the room and bled onto the ceiling showing Greek and Roman gods. Exiting, there marble statues. Henry VIII had much more suspicious quarters. His were far more boastful with the entrance being the Great Hall. He had more purposeful rooms that were very interesting to look at, for example he had a room for his council meetings. There were a few displays for each of his wives, that were fun to read and look at. Honestly, I pity this man in his infamy. Imagine being a well known monarch in history, for your troublesome marriages. When he finally was happy and settled in his third with Jane Seymour, she died and he didn’t send an order of execution this time.
The chapel ceiling was the most beautiful I have seen yet. Its signature dark phthalo turquoise made the intricate mandalas of gold and stars pop off the ceiling. It was magnificent.
The chocolate rooms were fun to see. I can’t believe they had designated rooms for a royal chocolatier to craft this delicacy of the time. What a job to have.
I loved just how massive the wine cellar was too. Barrels lining the walls that I could easily fit in. There’s no way the monarchs weren’t alcoholics. If I lived or worked there, I would have to have some serious discipline with a collection like that.
Today we went to see Long Day’s Journey into Night. It was a beautiful play that shows the horror of addiction and strife it can bring to a family, along with other societal issues. This play was hard to watch. The Mother portrayed addiction and the mental state of self hatred and deflection amazingly well. The set was nice but I wish we had gotten a better view of the fog as its such an important characteristic of the play demonstrating the progression and hold of addiction over the mother. As it was we got a very small amount of fog in the center of the house which wasn’t the best place as it would have made much more sense and would have been more effective to prevent the fog at the front door. They could have used so much more fog and maybe even had a fog wall but oh well. The rest of the set was very nice and worked far better for their performance than I had originally thought it was going to when I sat down. The costumes were nice and the lighting was very efficient and well used. Though for the most part I thought the acting was very compelling especially after intermission. The older brother had seemed very stiff in the beginning but after intermission he really upped his game towards the end of the play. The Father was my favorite though I really enjoyed and empathized with his performance. With the acting put aside I can say that this is a hard play to like and I probably won’t see it again. It’s a very long play that drags on and on. If you’re a big theater watcher then I recommend it for the experience, but if you just want to enjoy your time then go see Boys of the Blackstuff and have a much more entertaining night.
Theatre in London U of A 