Hampton Court, Henry VIII, and Nigel

Today we travelled from Bath to London via coach, with a long stop at Hampton Court Palace outside of London.  Hampton Court allowed us to see one of Henry VIII's favorite residences, which was originally owned by the Knights of St. John, and was later developed by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.  Cardinal Wolsey fell from power when he could not secure a divorce (or annulment) for Henry from Catherine of Aragon.  Wolsey then "gave" the palace to Henry as a way to appease him.

The former royal residence is grand and very "Tudor", comprised of low brick buildings with lavish accommodations for up to 500 guests to reside.  There is nothing here of the opulence of Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace; Hampton Court is very understated, like many 16th century buildings.  However, the lawns and gardens are extensive, and the surrounding area is also very beautiful, set along the Thames River, about a four-hour row from London during Tudor times.

We saw a gate in the palace associated with Anne Boleyn, extensive kitchens from Tudor times, a great banqueting hall, the location of privy council meetings, and a Tudor chapel where Edward VI was baptized and an original King James Bible stands.  We also saw a dramatic reenactment of Henry VIII's denouncement of Anne Boleyn before the Privy Council, and the introduction of a new favorite, Jane Seymour.  The lunch was really good, I must say-- and we also really enjoyed running through the extensive hedge maze on the grounds--

Our guide during the tour was Nigel Hake, who we had the first day in London for Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral.  Nigel is a group favorite, and entertained us much with his British wit and continual reference to the group as "Ladies and Gents" (you kinda had to be there....)  At the end of the day, we bid a fond farewell to both Nigel and our bus driver Dave, the later of whom had been with us for three days and had several meals with us (as well as being an excellent driver).

We are now in the Hotel Ibis in London near Euston Station, where we were for a week when the trip started--  The students are doing great, and we all feel like English experts now-- gone are the early anxious moments of the trip.  We are having fun, relaxing, playing cards, writing journal entries and papers, and generally enjoying each other.  The first pangs of sadness at our trip ending have started to surface, though we still have two full days left for individual explorations and paper writing.  We fly back Thursday--

Today we also had a lot of fun celebrating Katie's 19th birthday!  The class sang to Katie in the morning, and we took her out for Italian food and cake tonight (with more singing)-- what a place to celebrate a birthday milestone!

Here are some photos: