Saturday morning we managed to wrangle four kids and three adults out of bed, through the shower, and past breakfast and leave on time for Hampton Court. Located southwest of London, about 90 minutes by bus and train from our place, this palace is the "love nest" of Henry VIII. He courted girlfriends here and at least one wife who lost her head is said to haunt the place. But all that was past. Today, the palace is a splendid architectural monument to 500 years of royal life: We took in the royal apartments of William III and Mary, Queen Anne and Kings George I and George II. We saw the enormous Tudor kitchens, where 1200 meals were prepared daily over open hearths at a court which consumed 1240 oxen, 8200 sheep, 2330 deer, 1870 pigs, 760 calves and 53 wild boar annually, all washed down with 600,000 gallons of beer. The kids enjoyed turning a roast on a spit over the open fire. Cecily was especially fascinated by our tour guide dressed in traditional costume and wig, labeling him, "the man with the big hair."
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