November 7th 2010: Hampton Court Palace

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Breakfast at Gail's
The pan au raisin I got from our local, good, fancy bakery, Gail's.
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace as seen looking across the River Thames.	The bridge I crossed.	The entry gates have fantastic sculptures (in both senses of the word).	A map of Hampton Court Palace, which is really two palaces: one original and then a latter palace joined onto it.
Literally, gold leaf surrounding a door. Excellent.	The main entrance. Note the many twisted chimneys. There's a moat (no water at the moment), but it's not visible in this picture.	A line of supernatural creatures, each holding a coat of arms, flanking the bridge.	A close-up of the dragon and the intricate relief on its shield.
More sculptures.	A 360-degree panoramic video of the Base Court, the first court inside palace. The video begins looking back toward the gatehouse and entrance bridge. Royal guests were treated luxuriously: the many chimneys are for fireplaces so royal guests can stay warm. In addition, each room has its own privy. The palace is as much a hotel as a royal residence.	The grand gate between the Base Court and the Clock Court. (See the clock.) This was visible halfway through the video.	The opposite side of the clock has zodiac signs. (This is the clock face that faces the Clock Court.)
The impressive Tudor-era Great Hall used by King Henry VIII. Notice the hammerbeam roof and its molding and carvings. This picture doesn't do it justice. The canvas on the tables provided interesting information, including a good explanation of the origin of Henry's coat of arms and seal and symbols.	A sample of one of the many tapestries hanging on the wall of the room.	A sample of some of the stained glass above the center of the hall.	More detailed stained glass near one end of the hall. These show coats of arms. I wonder why these particular ones were selected.
The Horn Room could be out of a ghost story. Excellent for its strangeness.	The Great Watching Chamber, also in the Henry VIII section of the palace, has many games: fox & geese, cup & ball, etc.	A panorama of Master Carpenter's Court, an example of one of the small courts in the palace. (This one was mostly used for unloading shipments of food.)	One of the giant ovens in the Palace's kitchens.
Some "experimental food historians" showing how food was cooked back in the day.	One of yet another of the giant kitchen rooms. In this one, food historians are using one of the kitchen's six giant fireplaces to roast some meat on a spit. They're keeping careful track of temperature and time to infer cooking techniques. The fire is quite large; something that's a bit hard to tell in this picture.	The kitchen also has several "Boiling Rooms", tiny rooms with giant vats used for making stew.	The cellar and its many casks of wine.
One side of the (Tudor) section of the palace complex.	The baroque entrance to palace, in the section built by William & Mary. That's some nice relief-work.	A fountain in a lovely court.	Here in the Clock Court, notice something odd about the figures in front of the fountain? By the way, the colonnade is an entrance into William & Mary's section of the complex.
A mural in the entry stairway to King William's apartments.	A sample of the thousands of weapons in the King's Guard chambers.	Another sample.	Looking down the hallways in King William's apartments. What are these high tables properly called?
I took this picture for the amazing wood carving surrounding a painting in the King's Eating Room. The carving is by Grinling Gibbons; he did a lot of carvings for William & Mary, both in wood and marble.	King William's comfortable toilet, his "necessary office."	King William liked his paintings hung on ropes so they'd be easy to change/rearrange. There are many paintings in his apartments; he selected all them himself based on his tastes.	There was a room for storing orange trees during the winter. (Good to prevent scurvy, I suppose.)