How gorgeous was today’s weather. A picture perfect summer day and we spent it at Hampton Court Palace. Hampton Court is Henry VIII’s palace on the Thames River. I don’t think I need to go into too much detail about the palace here except to say that there are basically six routes/tours that explain how the palace was used. Also there are daily programmes available including costumed tours and mini-recitals using period instruments. If you are pressed for time the most impressive rooms to visit are Henry VIII’s State Apartments and The Tudor Kitchen.

The highlight of the day, though, was definitely the time spent in the various Palace Gardens. Covering over 60 acres there is a lot of greenery to see. My personal favourites were the sculpted and highly manicured East Front Garden or Great Fountain Garden (the trees reminded me of giant green Hershey Kisses) and the Privy Garden. And of course you must leave time to visit The Maze – its quite small and simple but fun anyway.

My ticket	Snoops (formerly known as Uncle Bobby) and R at the entrance	The fascinating clock in Clock Court
Nice buildings against a gorgeous blue sky	Costumed tour guide	Mmm … dinner
R and I by The Tudor Kitchens	In a doorway	A giant “kiss”
The East Front Garden or The Great Fountain Garden	R looking a bit worried about the duck …	… but he’s harmless
Just lounging around	More lounging	The classic Bollywood shot
We’re not really cheating on The Maze – honest	Aw .. isn’t that cute	Success – the centre of The Maze with Lions’ Gate behind
View of the Palace from the Privy Garden	The Privy Garden	The Great Vine – the largest in the world
In the shop	View out into the courtyard	Isn’t that so cute – a duckling
Enjoying the roses	The flowers deserve a closer look	The Rose Garden from a distance

Okay I couldn’t leave London without doing a tour of Buckingham Palace. I had been staring at the advert on the tube for so many weeks and it finally clicked that I should get there before the summer opening of the state rooms was over.

Talk about getting in at the last minute! Today was apparently the absolutely last day that the state rooms were open. Thanks to a friend of mine, Carolyn, we were able to pre-book our tickets on Thursday with the minimum of fuss. For those in the UK for the long haul – so locals and ex-pats alike – paying to go into Buckingham Palace is outlandish and does not feature high on the to-do list. Let me say that at ?13 a head the Palace are not doing too badly!

Nevertheless visiting the state rooms is the done thing to do as a tourist so I was naturally up for it. After the initial herding through the various gates and waiting pens like cattle we were free roam the palace with audio headsets as our guides. You can’t deny that the Palace is beautiful but the opulence of the place is dazzling. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos inside (darn it) but I’m sure there is a guidebook that can be bought somewhere (yet more money for the palace) with more than enough photos in it to satisfy. The gardens are massive and ever-so gorgeous. I could have spent all day wondering through it.

Steps taken: 14,211