London, A Day at Hampton Court Palace

View of Thames and palace as we crossed the bridge from train station

Outer entrance to palace on a very cold and cloudy day 

inner court with fountain

one of the 9 mantegna paintings of "The triumphs of Caesar" 1485, acquired by Charles I in 1629.

having the entire Mantegna sequence  all together in one space is amazing

detail of one painting, the Romans extracting booty from their enemies as was a favorite pastime for them!

one of the court ceilings

grand hall with amazing tapestries 

and amazing stained glass with Henry VIII right in the middle 

grand hall windows

they had a wonderful linen tablecloth on the huge table in dining room with great sayings

close up of one of the tapestries, The Story of Abraham, worth millions of dollars,  colors were much more vivid on site

view toward entrance to hall, photo again doesn't do it justice. it was rather breathtaking

tapestry detail

a part of the gardens

another inner courtyard

 Fran and I  with cafe in background where we had  a warming lunch on the grounds

4 of us at entrance, it was windy and cold

Caravaggio's Christ with Peter (with fish in hand) and Andrew, also acquired by Charles I.

One of the rooms with two caravaggio paintings as well as many other outstanding artists

fabulous wood (closet) room with a wonderful cycle of frescoes discovered recently when they were cleaning the 16th century frescoes they found 15th century frescoes. I loved this room.

there were a series of room describing the young Henry

Caravaggio's boy peeling fruit

detail of Last Supper fresco on closet described above

same cycle of frescoes, detail 

We even met Henry himself and members of his court

some more gardens on the grounds

the flowers were glorious

another wonderful table saying

The kitchen was huge as it fed thousands of people a day. I believe they said they cooked hundreds of sheep a day. in a year they ate 8.200 sheep, almost 2,000 pigs etc. 

This is the story of two palaces: a Tudor palace, magnificently developed by Cardinal Wolsey and later Henry VIII, alongside a baroque palace built by William III and Mary II. -We spent all day here and it was well worth it. I have way too many photos to post but this place had many treasures and I learned a lot.