Richmond & Hampton Court {Day 6}

{Day 6} Richmond and Hampton Court

Wow, what a day!! We took a day trip to see the town of Richmond and Hampton Court.  It was so amazing.  We went by train to Richmond from Waterloo Station.  The English Countryside really is so beautiful and the small town was extremely picturesque (which is one of the reasons this post has about 40 picutres...)!!  I am pretty sure we have all said at least once or twice today that we could totally live here. So, if we don't come home...you'll have a general idea where we are :)

We then took a boat to Hampton Court which is further down the Thames.  This is how Henry VIII and William III and Mary II (the primary residents of Hampton Court) would get to this vast palace, so it was really neat to arrive there the same way they did centuries before.

Our London Walks tour guide was a wealth of information about the palace.  You can read about it {here}. Once we were back in London we had dinner at our London favorite Bella Italia (which we have eaten at 3 times in the last 5 days, if that tells you anything).

Hope you enjoy all of the pictures from today!  Tomorrow, Wesley and I are off to Belgium while Mom, Dad, Kelsey and Issac stay in Britain for two more days.

Until tomorrow! 

London: Tower of London/Globe Theater {Day 5}

{Day 5} London: Tower of London/Shakespeare's Globe Theater

Today was much quieter and slower than the last few days.  This morning, we all got up and went to the Tower of London.  We got there early since Sundays are apparently their busiest days.  The Tower itself was a castle where the monarchy was stationed for several hundred years before the days of Henry the VIII when it was a prison.  The crown jewels are housed there now and they were stunning (Britain has this thing about not letting you take pictures of their best parts...Buckingham Palace, the crown jewels...come on now, really?!?).  

We then broke off into pairs and spent the rest of the day leisurely exploring at our own paces.  Wesley and I walked down the Thames to Shakespeare's Globe Theater.  There are no tours after 11:30am...they have plays running all Sunday afternoon!  So, we did the next best thing...having a lovely traditional English meal at the Swan, which is right next door.  Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, and delicious vegetables and gravy...I'm getting hungry again just typing this.  It was like Christmas Day...because it almost the same as what mom makes every year (We prefer mashed potatoes over roasted, of course!).  After lunch we headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day just resting.   Mom and Dad had a very similar lunch closer to the Tower and took a long walk down the Thames (apparently a much prettier walk than ours because the side they went down had a lot of historic buildings).  And, Kelsey and Issac headed to the National Portrait Gallery.

Tomorrow, we are taking a day trip with the London Walks tomorrow to Richmond to see Hampton Court!

London: Portobello Road/Harry Potter Studios Tour {Day 4}

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{Day 4} London: Portobello Road/Harry Potter studios tour

For the first time in a long time, we did not sleep in on a Saturday morning.  We all got up early to go to Portobello Road, a very famous road that has an antique and flea market on Saturday mornings.  We got there at 8:30 and we were so glad we did!  It was not too crowded so it only took a little over an hour to explore and shop.  By the time we left around 10am, the crowds were pouring in...so much we felt like salmon trying to fight our way upstream in order to get back to the tube station.

We had just enough time to drop our vintage finds off at the hotel (I got these amazing 1940s original Winnie the Pooh prints and a pair of Victorian silver candlesticks!!), grab a quick lunch and catch the train to the Leavesden filming studios.  We rode a double decker bus to the studios (which was completely covered in Harry Potter from top to bottom of course) and went on the 2 hour tour.  We snapped dozens of photos on all of the amazing sets they left up and got a behinds the scenes look at the making of the films.  It was really cool to walk down Diagon Alley, see the Great Hall, and the complete "small" scale model of Hogwarts they used to film a lot of the aerial shots of the castle.

We had a traditional fish and chips dinner...well, everyone except dad who can't stand fish (he had salad and chicken nuggets!) and planned out our day for tomorrow. I'll give you a hint....it's going to be another great one!!