6/21

Today was Hampton Court Palace. Since it's 500 years since Henry became king, there are lots of celebrations in the Tudor palaces. At Hampton, they were having a coronation weekend. So, Henry and Katherine Parr (his final wife, the one who outlived him) were there for the celebration. It was the whole weekend. Yesterday, they came up the river from the Tower, and today they went back. Before that, though, there were activities. We got to gather in the courtyard and greet them as they came down from their rooms, and later in the afternoon, we got to gather on the banks of the Thames to see them off.

There was some spectacular architecture in the palace. It's another one that was built about 500 years ago, and has been lived in and modified many, many times since then. But, there is still a wonderful amount of Tudor stuff here. This is a Palace where Henry brought many of his wives. Jane Seymour gave birth to Prince Edward here and died here 12 days later. Katherine Howard was imprisoned here before she was executed. Here is also where he married Katherine Parr.

We got to borrow cloaks to wear while we were in the palace, which was fun. They also had a kids' audio tour and an activity book - always big hits for Em.

We had a spectacular lunch at the cafe. A beef and ale pie that was just to die for. Em had chicken pie.

It was a long day, but a very satisfying one.