God Save the King!!

Hampton Court Palace is incredible. To be perfectly honest, though, it would have been much less thrilling if it didn't have a few of its old residents roaming the grounds. The idea that King Henry VIII had walked through the hallways that you are currently walking through is grand, but to see an extremely convincing Henry walking down those halls in front of you truly helps you see the palace as it was during his time. Plus it was fun to bow to him and the Queen and yell, "God Save the King!" as they passed.

Throughout the day we got to be witnesses to a scandal involving Henry and his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr. We began our day watching the queen put on her more formal court attire with the assistance of her cousin, a Lady Lane or something like that, and a few young audience members. It was actually incredibly fascinating to see. Towards the end there was a bit of drama, however. She discovered a warrant for her arrest had been drawn up and was only waiting for the King's signature to make it official. She fainted. It was very exciting. I believe she was charged with heresy, or something similar. The rest of the day we got to follow her and the King all over the palace. The Queen sent some of my friends to go spy on the King and his council and report back, among other things. It was like a medieval soap opera in real life and it was incredibly fun. We also wore cloaks around the palace for no apparent reason.

The whole thing was an awesome experience, plus the palace itself was just beyond gorgeous. It was our course director's birthday today, and we got to surprise him and celebrate with his family in a nice restaurant on the palace grounds. We even had an amazing cake and everything. With candles that we didn't have a lighter for. Thank goodness for the lovely man at the table next to us that heard our dilemma and lent us his lighter. Thank you, random British man.

Let's see, what else happened...

Oh. It rained, but it was no big deal. It wasn't even enough to whip out my umbrella.

A few of my friends and I got lost in the hedge maze, but eventually realised that the exit was actually the entrance. We were just supposed to leave the same way we came in, which is incredibly lame. It's okay, though, because we used the opportunity to take pictures of ourselves acting like Harry Potter in the maze at the Triwizard Tournament in the fourth book/movie.

Used the tube (Underground) for the first time today! It's easy-peasy once you get the hang of it. We went to the Baker Street station which is AWESOME because it has tiles on the walls of Sherlock Holmes' profile. With the pipe and hat, of course. There is also a great statue of him just outside of the entrance that I need to go back and take a picture of.

Our first class (Shakespeare and Others in London Theatre) is tomorrow, so I should probably go to bed now. Yikes. I wasn't planning on writing this much tonight. Oh well.

Nighty night.