Hampton Court - the quaint little home of Henry VIII.

We recently visited Hampton Court Palace, the stately palace of Henry the VIII.  It's very easy to get to from London - we took a bus and got there in less than an hour.  It's located in Surrey, 13 miles west of London on the north side of the River Thames.

It was originally built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1514, Henry VIII's lord chancellor, for himself but when the cardinal opposed the king's request for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the king was not a happy camper and nabbed Hampton Court for himself.  I believe there's a lesson there!  It was a royal residence from 1525 to 1760.  It was pretty much abandoned after that until Queen Victoria opened it to the public in 1838.

The Tudor kitchens are amazing!  There are over 50 rooms that were used in the preparation of food for all the feasts plus there were over 1200 people living in the household of Henry VIII that had to be fed on a daily basis.

As you can see, "pies" have been around for a long time.  These are meat pies (I guess that's where our "pot pies" came from) and, traditionally, the crust was made from flour and water.  It's sole purpose was to hold the stew inside and wasn't meant for eating.  After it was cooked, they took a knife and sliced the top off, then ate out of it as if it were a bowl.  There are still meat pies sold all over England now.  I had one once and it was really tasty but the crust was good, too, so I ate it!

Pretty pottery.

Look how big this fireplace is!  The racks that you see there are designed to hold a spit for roasting meats.

I loved this pot.  I wanted to buy one like it and plant some flowers in it but it wasn't for sale and it wouldn't fit in my bag.  Off with my head!

William III had additional rooms built during his reign at the end of the 17th century.  This was his magnificent bed chamber and

this was what he looked at each night painted on the ceiling above his bed.  I guess it was a good reminder for him to say his prayers.

This dining room in the King's Apartments was a little more my style.

The William III's private garden has been restored to the way is was in 1702.

The Great Vine was planted in 1768 and is the oldest known vine in the world!  It still produces between 500 to 700 pounds of grapes each year, which are harvested at the end of August and sold to the shops in the palace.

The Pond Gardens

After living here for a year and seeing and hearing about so much English history, I still find it difficult keeping all the kings and queens straight.  David Phillips, who is an amazing tour guide that the American Women's Club of London uses frequently for their tours, told us a little ditty that he learned while growing up.  He says that all the English school kids learn this and I thought it was very clever:

Willie, Willie, Harry, Steve,

Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three,

One, Two, Three Teds, Richard Two,

Henry Four, Five, Six, then who?

Edward, Edward, Dick the Bad,

Henry, Henry, Ned the Lad,

Mary, Bessie, James the Vain,

Charlie, Charlie, James again,

William and Mary, Anna Gloria,

Four Georges, William and Victoria,

Eddie Seven, Georgie Five,

Eddie, George and Liz alive...

and that's 1,000 years of English history in a nutshell.

There's no place like home!

I couldn't resist taking this photo of these darling little "Dorothys."  They were outside the The London Palladium Theatre waiting for the Saturday matinee of The Wizard of Oz to begin.  Their outfits were complete with the ruby red slippers!

Normandy, France

When our friends, Marilyn and Larry Fox were here visiting us in June, we took a side trip from London to Normandy, France.  This is something Rex and I had been wanting to do so we were happy that the Foxes wanted to go, too.  We hopped aboard the EuroStar at some ridiculously early hour of the morning and headed for Paris, where we had to switch train stations to catch a local train to Bayeux.  I planned what I thought was plenty of time in between but I didn't count on it pouring down rain in Paris when we arrived and therefore the taxi queue was a mile long!  So, we raced after our fearless leader, Rex, through the bowels of Paris on their underground (the Metro) - not an easy task as anyone knows that has "walked" with Rex!  We were quite a sight, running around hauling our bags behind us, trying to figure out how to get to the other station in record time.  Poor Larry was recovering from a sprained ankle but was a trooper all the same - nary a complaint out of him!

 We made it to the train in time, had an uneventful train trip and checked into a charming hotel aptly named the Churchill Hotel in Bayeux.  The owner and staff of the hotel were extremely welcoming and helpful and the rooms were clean and comfortable.  The cozy common rooms of the hotel were adorned with WWII memorabilia and photographs.

The beautiful town of Bayeux itself has a lot of history.  It was occupied by the Germans in 1940 and was the first town liberated by the Allies a day after D-Day, June 7, 1944.  Even though Bayeux is a short distance from the D-Day invasion beaches, thankfully it was spared bombardment.  Now, it's just a quaint, sleepy little village with cobblestone streets and 17th century timbered houses.

Part of the enjoyment of travel for us is the FOOD!  It's still hard for us to adjust to the late-evening eating hours of Europe.  This little restaurant would be packed with customers at 10 or 11 at night.  The upside is that we can almost ALWAYS get a reservation at 7:00 or 8:00.  The downside is that we're eating alone!

Fois gras, anyone?

 And, in typical French fashion, the gastronomic feasts we had were delicious and beautifully presented - just like my cooking at home! (ha ha)

The town of Bayeux is also the home of the famous Bayeux Tapestry, which is housed in this museum.  Technically, it's not actually tapestry but a 1.6' x 224.3' long embroidered cloth which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings in the 11th century.  No one knows knows it's exact origins but they believe it was commissioned to be made in the 1070's.  In other words, it's really, really old!

  Here is a picture of just a small piece of it (not my photo since we couldn't take pictures in the museum).  If you're interested in learning more about it, there are lots of websites that tell about it in detail, including this one:  www.middle-ages.org.uk/bayeux-tapestry.htm

This gargoyle on the Bayeux Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux), would be enough to put the fear of God in me!

Sainte-Mere-Eglise Church is in the village of none other than Sainte-Mere-Eglise!  This picture depicts a famous incident involving paratrooper John Steele, whose parachute was caught on the spire of the church.  He hung there for several hours watching the fighting below and hoping the Germans would think he was dead BUT he didn't fool them and they took him prisoner.  He escaped later and rejoined his division.  Red Buttons portrayed John Steele in the movie, The Longest Day.  I must rent this sometime - have you seen it?

Our Kansas flag flies proudly at the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mere-Eglise.

Rex in front of a C-47 (sounds like I know a lot about aircraft, doesn't it?!)

The Airborne Museum was so interesting and definitely worth the stop.  

On to the Normandy landing beaches.  The picture above shows a once flat pasture now riddled with bumps and cracks where it was bombed.

A Nazi bunker.

A beautiful war memorial to the United States Navy.

Put on your readers to read this - it's a beautiful tribute.

Another fascinating war memorial on Omaha Beach.  The sides of this sculpture are meant to represent waves and the middle, the soldiers.  I thought this was so neat.

Rex, Charene, Lucie (our most-excellent tour guide!), Marilyn and Larry Fox.  

Utah Beach - another significant beach in the history of D-Day.

The two pictures above were taken at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.  The 172-acre cemetery is aptly placed on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach honoring American soldiers who died in Europe during World War II.  There are 9387 white crosses and Stars of David.  Of course, not all soldiers who died overseas are buried in the American military cemeteries.  After the bloodshed and it came time for burial, the families of those who died were given a choice as to what they wanted done with the remains:  they could have their loved ones repatriated to the U.S. for burial or they could have them interred at the closest overseas cemetery, like this one in Normandy. 

Coming here was an unforgettable and moving experience.  I learned so much and there was a real sense of awe, humility and reverence at the cemetery, the museums and the landing beaches.  You could spend a whole day at the museum located on the grounds of the cemetery but we only had a short time.  In it were photographs, letters, videos and many other memorabilia from a horrible but fascinating time in American history.  It was all so well done and made me feel very proud to be an American.

The next day we drove to Mont St. Michel, which has been called "the Wonder of the Western World."  It's located about a mile and a half off France's north-western coast.  It was originally built as an oratory in the 8th century but by the 10th century, it had been rebuilt as an abbey.  After a fire in the 13th century, it was again rebuilt in the Gothic style.

This wooden treadmill was used to haul good and supplies up to the top.

The Abbey is  technically located on a granite island that is linked to the mainland by a causeway that was built in 1877.  It felt like we were surrounded by sand as the tide was out when we were there.

It was quite a hike getting to the top.  The architecture of the Abbey was determined by the fact that it's built on top of a granite rock.

That's it for this trip.  See more of our adventures in London with our fellow K-Stater's in another blog.