Hampton Court Palace

We visited Hampton Court while Nick's parents were visiting. It was the first time we had been there as well. Since it's in the SW part of London it took us about 1.5 hours to get there via public transport, but it was worth it and honestly, it never seems like that long when you are going from bus to train to another train. Pack a snack and everyone is good to go.

They had activities set up for Halloween there, including ghosts of people who lived in the palace roaming about. The wine cellar was full of spiders including a gigantic robotic tarantula. The whole place was just incredible and really informative. I've said before, I am not a huge fan of museums, but I love places like this where you can feel like you are living the history and culture as you read a plaque. Plus, the internal courtyards felt like you were on the set of a movie or television show.

There is apparently a really awesome playground just past the gardens, but we did not make it there due to our time constraints. Thankfully, we had not talked it up to the kids so they didn't know they were missing out. Next time. We did make it through the hedge maze which was fun - more so for the kids than my claustrophobic tendencies but still fun nonetheless.

Overall, Hampton Court Palace 10/10. We will definitely go back, probably in the late spring when all of the plants in the gardens are blooming.