A Float Down The Thames & Hampton Court Palace

(Actual date of events: Tuesday, April 15th, 2008)

Our first morning in London started will a complimentary 'Full English Breakfast' at our hotel. For those who don't know, a Full English Breakfast consists of:

1) Egg
2) Toast
3) Cooked tomato
4) Ham
5) Brown beans
6) Blood Pudding (this breakfast didn't come with that, which was fine by me).

This was a great way to fuel up for the day ahead.

First things first, we headed to Paddington station to pick up our train tickets to Bath. Warren likes to have all these things sorted out ahead of time. Next on the list was to try and get tickets to a stage play called 'Speed the Plow' starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum, that was happening at the Old Vic Theater. Our handy travel book told us that the Old Vic opened at 10am every morning. So we aimed to arrive there before it opened.

When we found it, there was a short line of people waiting outside already, but not too bad. When the door opened and the line moved inside to the box office, we were told that the ENTIRE SEASON was sold out, and that they only had a few 'Standing Room Only Tickets' left. As we debated in line on whether or not we would even want to stand through an entire play, the 2 couples ahead of us got the last available spots. So this attempt was a complete BUST. It was a bit disappointing because I used to have an uber-crush on Jeff Goldblum, but at least we can say we tried.

So what now then? How about an impromptu Boat Trip up to Hampton Court Palace (you know, the one from the 'Tudors'...)!

The boat we ended up on was called the Dunkirk and had an amazing history. It was a civilian type boat that was actually used during World War II to evacuate soldiers who were being attacked at Dunkirk back to England.

It was the PERFECT day for a boat ride like this. The sun was bright, the sky was blue and the breeze was warm. We really lucked out.
Because it was a 3 hour float down the Thames to our destination, the boat was equipped with a snack bar & BAR. One of the things I really wanted to do on this trip was have a Pint on the Thames. Check.

Throughout the 3 hours, the Captain recited all the historical tid-bits as we floated by them. It was extremely interesting and the 3 hours went by quickly. The Dove Pub supposedly has the SMALLEST BAR in the world, with only 2 stools.

After a beautiful trip, we docked at Hampton Court Palace.

We didn't head straight to the Palace, but instead strolled around the little town, looking in some antique shops and had some lunch at a Pub.

The entrance to the palace was huge. We have 2 paintings of Hampton Court in our Pub, so it was so neat to see it in real life.

Inside, many of the old rooms were staged to demonstrated what they would have been used for.

Outside, the gardens were immaculate (of course they were, this is England for goodness sake). Yes, that's me under the tree!

The Royal Tennis Courts were actually being used. I have no idea if they were royalty.

The first of MANY photos of Warren taking photos.
My critically acclaimed 'Flowering Bulbs' photo.

After the Palace tour, on our way to catch the train back to London, Warren bought a soft ice cream cone with a chocolate candy stick, that he used to eat as a kid. Awwwww.
We ended our day back in London and ate a Vegetarian Indian restaurant that our Travel Book had recommended. The food was great, but the service was absolutely atrocious. It's funny now, to think that the service was SO bad, we actually took the time to make sure we noted that in our travel journal :-)