Wednesday target run: 45 minutes
Day 2 of the Texans visit greeted us with what was to be our start every day for the coming 8 days: utter and complete sunshine in London. The weather was picture perfect as you will see in all the photos from this week. Consecutive days of good weather, let alone perfect weather, is unheard of in London. We were glad to be able to offer up this sunshine and decent temperatures to our guests, since the previous Texans' visit to Germany 2 years ago (during the same time of year, I might add) had resulted in daily snowfalls and desperately cold weather.
Our itinerary for day two included a trip to Henry VIII's summer palace, Hampton Court. After a quick train ride, we arrived at Hampton Court ready for a Tudor filled day. And that is just what we got! Our first glimpses of Hampton Court.
Upon entry, we headed first to the gardens where were greeted by English springtime in full bloom.
The formal gardens.
Four texans lost in a garden maze.
Hampton Court is really the story of two palaces: a Tudor palace, magnificently developed by Cardinal Wolsey and later Henry VIII, alongside a baroque palace built by William III and Mary II. Being that 2009 is the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's ascension to the throne, and where so many royals, including Tudors, Stuarts, heirs from the house of Orange and so forth spent their time, we decided to spend a bit of time exploring the palace and grounds.
The entrance to Hank's pad....
The architecture of Hampton Court.
One of the exhibits in Hampton Court is a replication of the Tudor Kitchens. Built to feed the court of Henry VIII, these kitchens were designed to feed at least 600 people twice a day. The annual provision of meat for the Tudor court stood at 1,240 oxen, 8,200 sheep, 2,330 deer, 760 calves, 1,870 pigs and 53 wild boar. This was all washed down with 600,000 gallons of beer.
Our final views of Hampton Court and the river Thames.
The Texans catch a few "zzzzs" on the train ride back home before a Moroccan meal in central London.
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