Hampton Court!!

I wish, wish, wish we'd had more time at Hampton Court yesterday. Our bus ride took about an hour more than it was supposed to (late starting time plus hideous traffic), so we only had two hours. Which is enough to do just about everything very cursorily.

Luckily, there is no time limit on geeking out! Or, more appropriately, on staring open-mouthed at the incredible beauty and age and impressiveness of the place.



The palace is actually half Tudor, half Georgian. The back part of it was redone for William and Mary, and is really rather gorgeous. But the people at Hampton Court know very well that the money and the tourism comes with the Tudor part:



Yes. The trees have Henry's initials on them.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!

I don't want to sound sappy or ridiculous, but being in that place was like going back and being there then. It struck me at odd times, because it was so full of (fellow) tourists that it wasn't a complete constant, but there were places where I could feel - not the presence of these people, but the presence-that-had-been. The stamp of personality, the kind of thing that never goes away, that in fact changes the personality of the place just by existing.

And of course, mentally I sent myself back in time whenever I possibly could. I have now leaned out of a casement. And let me tell you: IT'S AMAZING. I've sat on a cushion in Henry's apartments; I've sat at the head of the high table in the Great Hall; I've walked in the gardens and down the stairs and through the Base Court with the sun over my head. You can't NOT imagine that it's then, and not now. (And even if you could, it's so much less fun!)

Oh, that's right. I mentioned gardens, didn't I? Gardens like this:



Of the Globe (which was right afterwards), I have, alas, no pictures. I was all set to take one when I was inside, and then one of the ushers came over and said that we weren't allowed to take pictures. I would have tried again, except I was basically sitting right next to the ushers. And I didn't want to get thrown out of the Globe before the show had even started.

But that's what the Internet is for! All the AMAZING visuals, none of the butt-soreness that comes with sitting through two hours on a wooden bench with no cushion. (A couple had to leave early during intermission, so I took one of their cushions. It was a GREAT relief, but my butt still hurt like anything.)

The show itself was great fun. I was not a fan of their Romeo (nothing changed between Rosaline and Juliet, which is kind of the point, that it HAS to), but Juliet was very good. Mercutio was FANTASTIC, and Paris was a hilarious fop. And it was the GLOBE, for crying out loud! Incredible to go.

(But I'm glad that the other two plays we're seeing are at Stratford. Maybe they'll have seats with built-in cushions...)