6.8.07

Proms, Palaces and Picnics

James and I had an absolutely glorious weekend. It was the first weekend that there was not a cloud in the sky and it actually resembled the summer. We got out and took advantage of the weather and managed to get some pretty decent sunburns in the process.

Friday we went to:

the PROMS

Every year during the summer London has a 3 month classical music festival where every single day there is a different orchestra performing. Some of the best orchestras in the world play and the last night of the Proms is a national show of patriotism where flags fly for the national anthem and other English songs. Since moving here I've been every year and this year was no exception. We heard the BBC Symphony Orchestra--they played Russian music Stravinsky and Rachmaninov. I particularly liked the Rachmaninov piece---very beautiful smooth melodies. Anyway--we're going next week as well to the Proms so looking forward to it.

Saturday we went to:

Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace is just in the outskirts of London next to the Thames river. It was the home of Henry VIII (the guy with the many wives). It was absolutely huge and magnificent and reminded me of the palace of Versailles in Paris because of the sheer size of the Palace and gardens. They have activities throughout the Palace such as minstrels, guided costumed tours, etc. They also have a working tudor kitchen which is the oldest 'working' tudor kitchen still in existence. The chefs were making marzipan and bread and it was great fun watching them and the smells were divine. The palace has a deer park (the deer are original descendants of the flock belonging to Henry VIII), the largest and oldest grape vine in existence (planted in the 1700's and still living, produces a grape crop of 600-700 lb a year) and one of the biggest outdoor mazes in the world. In just under 4 hours we managed to see everything except the deer park. It was wonderful and a really great day out. Here are some pictures from the day (there are more on my flickr page):



We ended our weekend by having a picnic in Greenwich Park and reading our books whilst catching some rays in the sun. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend and I wasn't very happy it had to end!

1 comment:

sherrie said...

hampton court palace looks amazing, and although i've never been to either it does remind me of versailles too. beautiful shots you took!