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can almost see the steam rising up. you can't bathe here, but you can 'take waters' at a nice restaurant next door. we all tried a small glass- not so much something i'd drink regularly.
the roman baths were (again) larger than i thought, so our walk around bath was just long enough for a lunch (pie- of course) and a walk around the main street.
more from the photo line of 'gorgeous chapels that you can't photograph on the inside.' loved the ladder to heaven on the outside of this one.
the last leg of our tour brought us to castle combe. it's been used as the backdrop of several movies. it was a lot of beautiful countryside and dirt roads to get there, but the time passed easily while we chatted and joked with our tour guide.
we didn't have a long time there. maybe an hour, but plenty of time to walk up and down the street. to see the river and walk through the chapel. 'st. nick' also knew the man who left bread and cakes by his door for a few pounds each (honor pay system). ps- yummy.
dan and i took an evening walk to get to the eye.
dan and i get to the eye and don't see a place to cue up- turns out it closed 15 minutes before we got there. doh!
even on a miserable day, hampton court makes for a great visit. neill spent the day with us and we were blessed with his encyclopedia-tic knowledge of history. as we walked in we were impressed with a special historic castle/ palace pass he possessed. in turn, he was impressed with how many places we had access to with our london passes.
in a courtyard of hampton court. dan ran ahead to get us a couple of audio guides (we ended up not needing them- neill was by far the best guide.) dan beckoned us into a room where one of the morning events was happening. two men were being undress, checked for weapons and sickness and getting redressed. it was really crowded so we moved through quickly. i figured it was something we might have a chance to see again later. (wrong)
we headed to the kitchens next. we were told/ warned of their size and impressiveness. they didn't disappoint. dad started to look at how the rooms and fireplaces had been altered and converted to accommodate smaller or larger courts and modernity. we also started to realize that the costumed players weren't just doing tasks on a loop through the day- they were actually living out a 'day in the life' scenario. a really a cool bit.
working on a crown made of sugar. sooooo cool.
mom had a long conversation with one of the cooks about how they used a particular spice. (during henry VIII's reign, meticulous notes were kept, so they know how many sheep or carrots were eaten in a year. also recipes were kept and available in the kitchen gift shop.) it took me a while to realize they were actually cooking food- the first few rooms had fake food. i was hopeful that we would be able to try the old recipes at the cafe. the cook told me i wouldn't want to eat his food since he isn't a licensed chef. i attempted to argue and asked what was done with the food. everything they prepare is eaten by the people who work at hampton court. he explained that i could watch their methods online and follow the recipes to try for myself. too bad. (interesting though how he was allowed to be fluid between keeping true to the period as well as give me directions about searching online.)
massive fireplaces in the kitchens. (great to warm up) and check out the temperature control system.
these smelled amazing and added to the holiday ambiance.
this great hall was lined with precious tapestries (each had sensors constantly measuring humidity, temperature and light) there were costumed players teaching dances and table manners. and to my great delight, the floors were heated! (my feet were pretty chilled on account of the rain and all.)
we didn't intend to continuously cross paths with the king, but it just seemed to happen. here we watched the two guys we caught earlier in the day take an audience with the king.
swords and guns. my next question is, would you actually remove the 'art' to protect yourself, should an invasion occur.
i mentioned earlier how a great docent can bring a place to life. that includes my good friend neill. here he talks about the different rooms that someone would have to walk through before having an audience with the king. and how you can't show your back to any likeness of the king, and how one would bow to each throne, even if the king wasn't seated there. (there was one trick room, set up with a throne to bow at, and at your back, a painting of the king.) there seemed to be a theme. first people were ushered through armory rooms (or 'fear me' rooms.) there were opulent rooms, ('envy me' rooms) and room after room with empty thrones to bow to ('worship me' rooms). . . just some mind games before actually meeting the king.
haha, the king's 'throne.'
fantastic, even on a chilly, drizzly day.
dad and i both chuckled over this one, and both ended up buying one. there were fantastic gift shops as part of hampton court. (we also found out, several days in- that our london passes worked to give us a discount at the gift shops- that would've been nice to know earlier.) there were more than a handful of gift shops as well.
as a crowd gathered to watch the jester, even some of the castle 'inhabitants' peeked out to catch the show.
stalling tactics didn't work too well. he said he'd count to 3, but others rushed him on, so he tried counting in french, others rushed him, he tried counting in german, others rushed him, finally he tried japanese. . . myself and someone else in the crowd were able to rush him to three.
you'd think, or be worried that these bits would be lame and cheesy, but incredibly they weren't. seriously, very impressive.
after stalling and amping up the crowd, the jester asks the king if he should swallow the fire, to which the kind replied- 'please do.'
just an excellent day- even though the weather was craptastic.
i had been feeling a bit disappointed with day 2. winchester i mean westminster took so much longer than i thought, and while the sherlock gift shop was fun, it wasn't the museum. but day 3 will make up for it a bit. big day. shakespeare's globe, tower of london, tower bridge, then meeting up with friends for dinner and new year's fireworks! on our stroll to the globe we all stopped to look at the thames beach.
here we are- first stop of the day. shakespeare's globe.
there's something to be said about a good docent/ guide. they can really bring a tour to life. we didn't have a bad docent the entire trip and here is another good one at the globe. easy to develop a crush on someone with such authority of knowledge, passion, and charisma. heard a couple of girls gigglishly declaring their love and thought, 'yeah, i can see that.' then i heard a woman next to me explain that when they would go off to college (in the near future i'm guessing) they would meet people from the drama department. these people would be like this guy- kinda bizarre, energetic, but completely wonderful. (having been a part of those drama departments, i didn't find this guy that out there. . . but i secretly smiled at her words of wisdom.)
i remember hearing about this being built while in college. some of my friends got to see it before opening. i was pretty jealous of them. would've loved to see a show or two here. maybe next time?
while walking away from the globe and looking for some transportation we stumbled upon this. probably wouldn't have found it if we had looked for it! the original spot of the globe.
off to tower of london. dan and i separated from mom and dad but we both got a little bit of the tower of london in.
dan and i got audio guides but thought we'd also try to follow a yeoman tour (which was shortened due to weather- blerg.) however, to meet up with the yeoman we had to pass through a gate which set off our audio guides as if they were being stolen. i was wondering what that annoying bleeping sound was! got them reset and had the yeoman chat in the st. peter and vincula chapel (of course you can't take pictures!) where anne boleyn and catherine howard were buried after being beheaded. but here's a trebuchet outside the tower gate.
thought this was fake at first, then i smelled the grill and got hungry.
ravens are kept at the tower as part of a superstition. we learned from the yeoman in the chapel that the tower must always have six on site, which is why they keep thirteen. one of them is over forty years old.
there was a large display of armor in the white tower. this was one of henry viii's.
a 'toilet' off the main dining area. everything just poured out a hole in the side of the building. a good reason to not walk directly near buildings in the day. dan and i only got through the first and second floors of the white tower before a fire alarm went off and had to leave. interesting to see all the tourists, yeomen, and costumed revelers react though.
yeoman performing duties. they get to live there!
crown jewels would've been cool to see, but it wasn't a priority for me. thank goodness, otherwise i would've missed about three hours of the rest of london tower while waiting.
just as we are set for the selfie, countdown is counting down- someone asks to help us. dan is distracted and i'm trying to say no thanks while upholding my smile.
thought he was going for a grotesque, but not sure what we ended up with here.
cool because it's iconic, or iconic because it's so cool looking?
next stop, the top of the tower bridge. sites include pretty views of the city as well as cute illustrations of different historical aspects of london.
