So last friday I got to go on a small day trip to Hampton Court right after class. The day was bright and sunny which worked out very well for taking pictures. This palace/court is massive having multiple wings, private chapels, easily over a hundred rooms, hidden passage ways, mots, court yards with fountains, stachues, various pieces of art (sculptures/oil paintings), private gardens, little labyrinth, and water ways. I was given an audio guide-thing but ended up just taking lots of pictures (or the best I could) and getting lost in the massive complex. The other thing that was fun was there were actors who dressed up in old entire (King Henry’s time) and would act out scenes continually throughout the day.
It just blows my mind to think that people could live so lavishly. It feels like you’re in some fairly tale. The other thing I found interesting was how endless this palace felt and how easy it was to run into something new. But the overall surprise was the detail of art throughout the building. Massive paintings on ceilings or walls, the gold leafed carvings or architecture, gigantic hand-woven tapestries, and the private church/chapel (which I could not take pictures in sadly). At the same time there were points where I would just scratch my head and wonder the simple question: “why?” I mean it might be just a king thing because you look at some of the things they would make or design and know there is really no point for it. An example would be how at one point I ran into this enormous room where its entire upper portion of the wall was decorated with hundreds of weapons (rifles, pistols, swords, spears, or armor). All of them intricately placed together in certain patterns or forms. Damn. Whats the purpose – other than looking cool and being dangerous to stand under.
Wish I could tell you more detail on its history but hopefully the pictures came out alright (or the best they could).
