Hampton Court, August 2, 2010

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny. We were so lucky with weather so far. After breakfast, we set out with Robert to tour Hampton Court, before heading to the airport to go to Edinburgh. The drive through the countryside was very pretty, with green rolling hills.

We did a self-guided audio tour of Hampton Court Palace, the "country" home to Henry VIII, Queen Mary, and other monarchs through the 18th century.  In 1236,  the Knights Hospitallers of St John Jerusalem acquired the manor of Hampton and used the site as a barn. It was first occupied by a courtier in 1494, but Cardinal and Lord Chancellor of England, Thomas Wolsey was the first to begin substantial improvements to the property. There is a colorful history to the goings on at Hampton Court, beginning with Henry VIII and his succession of wives. Hampton Court Palace was the most sumptuously decorated of Henry's palaces.

We concluded our tour with a walk through the Maze, a half-mile path through bushes, and we had just a couple of false turns.

We made it to the center!

Then we strolled through the beautiful gardens on our way to the car.












Next stop was Heathrow, and terminal 5, where we had lunch at Giraffe Cafe. Our flight was a bit late leaving, so we didn't get to Edinburgh until after 5:30. We grabbed a taxi and headed to 89 Grassmarket; Peter Falconer, the owner of the flat we rented, kindly waited for us to arrive. He showed us the flat, and chatted a bit. Grassmarket area was recently revitalized; it's no longer the seedy spot in Edinburgh that it was 34 years ago, but the hippest area of Edinburgh!

After settling in a bit, we went out to explore and had a nice dinner upstairs at Maxie's Bistro, a local pub, right on Victoria Street, up the block from the flat. After dinner we went back to the flat for a good night's sleep.