Hired a car and set off with Elissa and Bapi to explore the countryside. It was great to leave the rat race behind.
First stop – Hampton Court Palace. This place has a facinating history and I am really glad we made it here. Cardinal Wolsey (played really badly by Sam Neil in The Tudors on Foxtel) first lived here transforming what was a small manor house into a magnificent country residence. He gave it to Henry VIII in 1528 (or perhaps it was forcefully taken over) who extended it. We walked through some of the remaining state rooms that Henry would have wandered down including the banquetting halls and the passageway one of his wives (I think it was a Howard) ran screaming down to beg for mercy from Henry who was in the Tudor Chapel Royal at the end. She was stopped short and later beheaded in the Tower of London for committing adultry. She named her lover just before her head was hacked off so they were subsequently hung drawn and quartered – nice! We also explored the huge Tudor kitchens that cooked meals for around 1000 people a day. Seventy-five per cent of their diet was meat so I am presuming they must have been seriously constipated in those days. William III extended the palace in the 1690s. I wonder if my relies ever visited him here in his apartments. I believe they attended the royal Dutch court and one of them did travel around with Will. I really must read that family history book.
On to Avebury via many quaint country roads and towns. I loved Avebury. Surrounding the village is the Avebury Stone Circle which was built around 2500BC. The stones are a bit like those of Stonehenge except smaller with a wider circumfrence. Sheep also graze around them. We wandered briefly around parts of the circle (it is very wide), St James´s Church and down some laneways – very English. We then had to go to Stonehenge so that we could compare it to the Avebury stone circles. Stonehenge (dating from around 3050BC) may possibly be up there with the oldest things we have seen to date. However, after having been to Egypt it is just not that exciting. Nor, is it as picturesque as Avebury, so I am glad that we went to both.
We stayed the night in Salisbury (founded 1220). The Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest spire in England. I can´t believe it only took 38 years to build this magnificent church. We didn´t go in as it was shut but it did look pretty awesome lit up at night (we went back to photgraph it the next day). I wasn´t not too upset about not entering as I am getting a bit churched out. Having said that, I think it is important to see the Cathedrals as they were the heart of each town in the ages past and therefore in order to understand the town you need to see them. At least that is my theory.
Dinner was in a pub that used to be an old English Chop House. The ´Haunch of Venison´ is infamous for the mummified remains of a hand hacked off during a card game. You can actually view the skeleton in the wall – kind of creepy. The floors and walls were so wonky it made it rather hard to walk straight, especially after a few glasses of ale (actually, I had cider and wine). Apparently there is a resident ghost but we didn´t see it. Instead we encountered a drunk old lady who told Jon English nurses were much better than Australian ones... Jon couldn´t bite his tounge. This only encouraged her to keep talking to us. She was rather crazy and very annoying and eventually Jon told her we weren´t interested in her stories. Well, she swore at him in some other language and then moved rooms because we didn´t, and more specifically, Jon didn´t appreciate her. She did like Bapi though.
First stop – Hampton Court Palace. This place has a facinating history and I am really glad we made it here. Cardinal Wolsey (played really badly by Sam Neil in The Tudors on Foxtel) first lived here transforming what was a small manor house into a magnificent country residence. He gave it to Henry VIII in 1528 (or perhaps it was forcefully taken over) who extended it. We walked through some of the remaining state rooms that Henry would have wandered down including the banquetting halls and the passageway one of his wives (I think it was a Howard) ran screaming down to beg for mercy from Henry who was in the Tudor Chapel Royal at the end. She was stopped short and later beheaded in the Tower of London for committing adultry. She named her lover just before her head was hacked off so they were subsequently hung drawn and quartered – nice! We also explored the huge Tudor kitchens that cooked meals for around 1000 people a day. Seventy-five per cent of their diet was meat so I am presuming they must have been seriously constipated in those days. William III extended the palace in the 1690s. I wonder if my relies ever visited him here in his apartments. I believe they attended the royal Dutch court and one of them did travel around with Will. I really must read that family history book.
On to Avebury via many quaint country roads and towns. I loved Avebury. Surrounding the village is the Avebury Stone Circle which was built around 2500BC. The stones are a bit like those of Stonehenge except smaller with a wider circumfrence. Sheep also graze around them. We wandered briefly around parts of the circle (it is very wide), St James´s Church and down some laneways – very English. We then had to go to Stonehenge so that we could compare it to the Avebury stone circles. Stonehenge (dating from around 3050BC) may possibly be up there with the oldest things we have seen to date. However, after having been to Egypt it is just not that exciting. Nor, is it as picturesque as Avebury, so I am glad that we went to both.
We stayed the night in Salisbury (founded 1220). The Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest spire in England. I can´t believe it only took 38 years to build this magnificent church. We didn´t go in as it was shut but it did look pretty awesome lit up at night (we went back to photgraph it the next day). I wasn´t not too upset about not entering as I am getting a bit churched out. Having said that, I think it is important to see the Cathedrals as they were the heart of each town in the ages past and therefore in order to understand the town you need to see them. At least that is my theory.
Dinner was in a pub that used to be an old English Chop House. The ´Haunch of Venison´ is infamous for the mummified remains of a hand hacked off during a card game. You can actually view the skeleton in the wall – kind of creepy. The floors and walls were so wonky it made it rather hard to walk straight, especially after a few glasses of ale (actually, I had cider and wine). Apparently there is a resident ghost but we didn´t see it. Instead we encountered a drunk old lady who told Jon English nurses were much better than Australian ones... Jon couldn´t bite his tounge. This only encouraged her to keep talking to us. She was rather crazy and very annoying and eventually Jon told her we weren´t interested in her stories. Well, she swore at him in some other language and then moved rooms because we didn´t, and more specifically, Jon didn´t appreciate her. She did like Bapi though.
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