London Day 3

June 8, 2007

Today I went to Hampton Court first. It was about a 30 minute train ride. Hampton Court is the palace where all the royalty has lived up until about 200 years ago. While it is a beautiful palace most recently decorated for King William III and Mary II by Sir Christopher Wren, it is more famously known for it’s eccentric gardens. Such as the one shown.

As I walked from room to room in the palace, I couldn’t help but try and imagine what kind of daily activities would be occurring back in the days of William. Such as in this long corridor, what would the need for such a long hall be, and would it serve any purpose at all?

After parading through the palace we raveled back into London to check out the British Museum. This was an extremely interesting museum because it contained many of the artifacts obtained from Egypt. I understand that there is a huge controversy over many of the pieces in this museum because Egypt does not have the money to buy back many of the objects even thought they were originally theirs. The museum was at such a large scale from the outside with a very Greek traditional look.

While inside was so impressive yet had a very modern feel. The interior was done by Norman Foster and with all the use of natural lighting the museum contain such a warm welcoming feeling.

While I was able to see many great historic things today inside the museum and palace, the most intriguing scenes for me were simply walking through the streets. This corner café had such a beautiful exterior. I loved the use of color.

In addition, I happened to turn the corner and run right into little Italy. It was such a quaint section of town. I could not help but walk through the alleyway. It only made my anticipation for the end of my trip grow stronger.