Buy a King Henry VIII Teddy Bear?

A visit to Hampton Court for a day trip out of the city.
I've never seen such a love fest for Henry VIII, who - if my memory serves me right - I learned in history class was not a very nice man. They reenacted one of his weddings, had a friendly Henry VIII in costume roaming the property, even sold Henry VIII teddy bears!

The castle was pretty cool, a lot of tapestries and portraits - not unlike other castles. I think my favorite portrait was actually of Christina of Denmark because of its placard, entitled "The One That Got Away."
It reads, "After Henry VIII recovered sufficiently from the death of his third wife Jane Seymour, the search was on for a new bride. At 16, Christina of Denmark, a noted beauty, was suggested as a potential bride. Christina declined, apparently joking that if she had two heads, one of them would be at the King of England's disposal."


While I enjoyed the castle, my favorite part of Hampton Court was its 60 acres of surrounding gardens. (Above, the Great Fountain Garden and the Privy Garden. The Privy Garden has been restored to how it was for William II in 1702).

The gardens had patches upon patches of vibrant colored flowers!


Below - these were the pond gardens - sunken flower gardens that were originally ornamental ponds used for holding freshwater fish, such as carp and bream, used later to display William III and Mary II's exotic plant collections. Some people were enjoying a picnic in one.


Part of the Great Fountain Garden, there was an expansive water area to the Jubilee Fountain with some beautiful swans.

There was a fence between two sections of the water, and this swan seemed to believe the water was bluer on the other side. He tried repeatedly to fit through the bottom of the fence, but obviously his body would not fit through. I wanted to help him up the little ramp to the other side of the fence.


In addition to wandering among the plants, we found our way to the center of The Maze and saw the Guinness World Records largest grape vine, a circumference of 3.8 m (12 ft, 5 in) and average branches measuring up to 33 m (108 ft). The longest measured 75 m (246 ft) as of Jan. 2005.

It was a surprisingly beautiful, blue-skied day. Obviously, the weather had to be nice for the weekend - another paper due, so aside from my visit to Hampton Court, I'd be stuck indoors!