Hampton Court and Portobello Rd

To distract ourselves from contemplating Charlie's ordeal (read next blog for explanation) we decided to go to London for a day of being tourists. Unfortunately the Warner bros. Potter Tour was fully booked until school goes back and the cheap $6 rail tickets from Cambridge to London have to be booked 6 weeks in advance, with only a limited number available.

Premier red carpet shot in the Metro - a paper found on the train.
They don't look too different here to the cardboard cut outs at Coles. image from : http://metro.co.uk

The train from Waterloo station to Hampton Court has to be the slowest we've ever been on - nearly two hours of our life oozing between all stations to and from. The Metro paper we found lying in the carriage was full of One Direction film premiers and engagements - if you listened closely enough you could hear the breaking hearts in every suburb we chugged through. At least it kept us distracted from the mindless moaning about multiple castle visits on their holiday by several teens in a family experiencing the same trauma behind us.

Entrance to Base Court

The unicorn is wondering: is your dress up to court standards?

Hampton Court was a hunting lodge turned Cardinal Wolsey's show home. Wolsey had it taken from him after failing to secure the Pope's cooperation in the dissolution of Henry VIII's marriage to his brother Arthur's widow. Historians have recently discovered that Anne Boleyn - who was in line to replace the daughter only bearing Katherine of Aragon - was a great respecter of Henry's rival's, Francois I of France, sister, Marguerite of Navarre. She was a strong advocate for her reformation theology after possibly serving her as a waiting woman across the channel. All the pieces fitting together. Anne lost her head before she was able to inhabit the Queen's quarters Henry was having built for her, he demanded all her badges removed but one intertwined H and A still remains in the carving around the Great Hall.

Now that Henry possessed the Palace on the Thames, at a handy distance from London and the breakouts of disease he so detested, he set about making it an appropriate guest residence for his favourites.  He added massive kitchens to ensure that his guests would be impressed by the huge joints of roasted meat. His only son was born here and Jane Seymour died ten days later but an idealised family portrait painted long after still shows her as the royal mother. Catherine Howard's indiscretions were bought to the King's attention here and she is said to haunt the gallery calling for mercy. Anne of Cleaves lived here for a while after her divorce for being 'uncomely'.

Charcoal stoves - left hole for waste ash, right hole for new
charcoal, put a few peices on the grill under the pot
- the more the hotter you can cook.

8 foot roasting fire - Two large men required to turn.

Dinning hall for visitors

Vegetarian fare on a trencher.

No photos allowed in the chapel either!

A beautiful chapel was built to celebrate the rites of the Church of England of which Henry was the head. Now in his forties he was a bit fat to hunt so he had tennis courts and bowling alleys built. His daughter Elizabeth I added a new kitchen and a coach house. James I had Shakespeare and his fellows entertain him here during his first Christmas as King and the conference that resulted in the official English translation of the Bible was held at Hampton Court. Charles I partied here and collected great works of art - most of which Cromwell 'protected' as he sat in court protecting England after parliament chopped Charles' head off and ran his brother out of the country. The Tudor crown was destroyed but a replica is on display, copied from the background of a painting. It is covered in precious stones and looks very heavy - no photos allowed!

image from :wiki

After the Restoration the last of the Stuarts lived there again but built a Baroque palace within the walls - formal gardens were extended and an orangery was built so the King could have a citrus display just like Louis of France. 

Hampton Court lost the favour of the monarchy but was maintained as a genteel home for courtiers who were widowed or impoverished. Many decades have been spent trying to restore the palace accurately. Food Historians try out old recipes in the kitchen and fabrics have been created to match those recorded in portraits. A large room full of mattresses invites visitors to lie down and watch a surreal video presentation of the Royal bedroom. William III's over-shirt is on display - gorgeous red but so tiny about a ladies size 6. His portable loo - upholstered in red velvet was there too. Only very trustworthy friends could hold the title 'Groom of the Stool'. William III's was the Earl of Albemarle.

Odd things happened in royal bedchambers,
even babies smuggled into birthing beds
inside warming pans!

Get that republican off the throne!

Listening to the audio in the watching chamber.
The doors behind petal used to lead to Henry VIII's private suite.
People invited to Hampton Court used to wait hopefully in this long
gold ceiling hall to ask for favours and legal intervention from the King.
The passed the time playing board games and gossiping very quietly.
All stood and bowed when the King entered.

The Great Hall.  The Royal table has replica pewter table ware. The stained glass windows nearly emptied the treasury.

With our heads bursting we left to try and get to Portobello Rd before leaving London. This meant getting down to the Waterloo tube station and taking the northern line to Tottenham Court then the central to Notting Hill Gate. Popping up from the tube the first thing we saw was a Jamie Oliver Restaurant the girls tried to hurry me away in disgust. 
We were heading for the original Hummingbird Cafe - author of a favourite dessert cook book. It was close to closing time and the girls had to be hustled out of very interesting little stores all the way down the road. A whole day visit here in the near future we think! 

The store was open, red velvet, carrot and chocolate cookie top cupcakes were purchased - plus the latest recipe book.  Good to know that our visit gave a friend some cuisine cred with a workmate the next day!

So many stores - Walk down hill from Notting Hill Gate Station but up hill to get back!

 No whoppie pie recipes in the new book :(

The trek home was long and included a stop off at Costco to get chairs for the study so the girls could have their Ikea ones back. At least we weren't worrying about Charlie all day long.