Hampton Court Palace

Another weekend, another castle.  Destination was Henry XIII's castle, Hampton Court Palace.  Both Cory and I broke into song, "Henry the XIIIth I am I am, Henry the XIIIth I am I am."  We couldn't remember the rest nor could Cory or I remember why Henry the XIII was famous.  Turns out Henry XIII was famous for being married six times and for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church.  In case you're dying to now the lyrics as well, here you go:

I'm Henry the Eighth, I am, Henry the Eighth I am, I am!  I got married to the widow next door, She'd been married seven times before.  And every one was an Henry (Henry) She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam (no Sam) I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry, Henry the Eighth, I am!

 Cory and I are no castle novices at this point so we were quite impressed that in addition to the typical 'apartment' tour, Hampton Court offered up tours of the castle kitchen & cellar.  Cory was mesmerized by the pieces of meat the actors were cooking.  He asked if it was available for testing by the public and unfortunately it was not.  However, they did assure us the meat does not go to waste as they eat it.

Within the apartments you had your typical rugs, paintings, thrones, beds, etc.  There was also a pretty cool collection of guns on the wall.  Certainly would make you think twice about misbehaving in the castle.  I got a kick out of the audio tour at one point when it said that a particular room was open to public women as long as they were dressed appropriately and were attractive.  Perhaps, a bit discriminative, but the King makes the rules.  (Our at least at this point in time they did)

The gardens were amazing.  Brady particularly enjoyed the abundance of rocks and the HUGE swans.  The swans I kid you not were almost four feet tall.  At one point one was getting a bit protective and started walking at a lady making hissing like noises.  I immediately took about 10 big steps back.  Kari versus Swan was not the battle I had in mind.

Last stop at the Palace, Britain's oldest hedge maze.  After a few dead ends and a couple of wrong turns, we made it to the middle!  On the way to the maze we saw a cool looking bird, can you see it below?  It blended perfectly with the tree trunk.