Day 5 in the UK. Aeryn was wearing out and was sick of us and took off to the London Zoo. I mean, wouldn't you be sick of us too? I was sick of me, and I'm my own best company.
Pooteewheet and I hoped on a train at Waterloo and made our way to Hampton Court. About as far as you can go with an Oyster Card without having to shift to real train tickets is my understanding. I was in Hampton Court over thirty years ago. If I remember correctly, parts of it were still sealed off because of the fire. So I was able to see more of it this time, and even have lunch in their cafeteria. Something nice about eating British food in a castle dining hall surrounded by others. Not exactly the early medieval experience, but closer than not.
So much booze. We talked to a tour guide outside for a while. She was great. Told us about the only time they actually felt the need to arm the battlements [during one of the rebellions under Edward I wrote about for my master's thesis, although that tidbit wasn't in any of my books].
My inlaws used to have a "time out kid" that had no face and was "art" in the corner of the room. Apparently they were way more into history than I suspected. I don't know this guy's story. Missed beer time?
A courtyard garden. It had several of these statues. I assume this one is the dragon St. George defeated as that was part of the Tudor iconography.
Sometimes realism isn't really necessary. No one would have missed horse buttholes in their paintings if they hadn't been there in the first place.
One of the stairways dwarfing Jen. Did she have a crutch yet in any of the other photos? It's a permanent fixture for the rest of vacation.
Outside I found my way to the center of the maze. There's an easy exit, so with no one around I went and found Jen and brought her back in that way. I got more lost in reverse than I did coming in the proper path. Regardless, this is a photo of a cheater.
Me trying to selfie in the maze.
Wasn't exactly rocket science. I remembered that from last time. But it's a pretty maze and you're obviously walking where many historical figures walked.
We managed to catch a mini-production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I think this was supposed to be both Queen Elizabeth AND Titania. Doh...I'm out of order again. We'll some back to the play in a few photos.
Me just prior to the play looking like I stole the place from Cardinal Wolsey.
Ouch. I wasn't sure, but this may be a sculpture of Cleopatra, although that whole nipple biting thing vis a vis her is supposedly false. Ah...yep. https://bbookproject.com/2019/12/28/cleopatras-breast/
Apparently getting bit in the nipple by snakes leads to Snake Baby Cherubs. Who knew.
You could cook a lot of Scotts in these fireplaces.
Back to the play. I was selected to play Oberon, King of the Fairies.
I joked that this may be my new LinkedIn profile photol
A selfie by Jen at the front of the castle. We spent the whole day there. Pretty much open to close, and we were even in the city longer than that, having some dinner before we hopped the train back Waterloo and Willesden. We barely made the maze. Didn't get to the larger restored gardens. And didn't take a boat tour. Not to mention, I hear if you're there at the right time you can catch a big name concert at the castle. That has got to be wild.
No comments:
Post a Comment