Hampton Court Palace

Rating: ****
About the place
Its a beautiful palace. Home of King Henry VIII. Maintained really well, and a very good effort is made to try and give you a feel of how it would've been in king's times. Audio guides are available and I would recommend you definitely pick one up if you really want to know about the place. Its not boring at all as one might expect, infact has anecdotes, expert comments, music and sound recordings in parts to make the entire experience fun.
The palace has its own gardens, and though I visited it on the onset of the winters and there was a little sun along with the chilled winds, I would recommend a summer visit to enjoy the gardens.Pictures
Getting there:
Its really simple to get there. Overhead trains from waterloo every 20mins. Thats what the schedule was like now in november 08. I'd suggest you look up http://www.tfl.org/ to be sure of your train. So get to Waterloo, take a train directly to Hampton Court, and a 2-3 mins walk from there.
Cost:
Latest costs can be looked up on their site, but mine was GBP 13.50 including the gardens and the maze.
For travel, I had an oyster for Zones 1,2 & 3, I had to add a 3.50 for a day return.
I think that quite a decent price for a whole day out.
Food:
There is a restaurant Inside the palace and one out in the garden (to the right of the palace where the maze is). I carried my own food and ate indoors cause the inside tour took me quite a while. But from the little I saw of the one inside, it was more of a cafe, giving a choice of food, but not a vast one.
Highlights

• All parts of the palace that are mentioned in the pamphlet and/or in the audio guide menu are a must see.
• There are 3 different shops in 3 different parts of the palace, if you want to pick up souveniers. I picked postcards which were up on offer. (If you want to just pick up postcards,before you get to the palace, on Hampton Court station, check for the price at the little store and pick them on the way back, if the palace stores dont have a discount price running).
• Dont rush through the palace, you'll miss on a lot of interesting facts.

Enjoy your visit... allow yourself to be transported into that century... and walk around like a royal.

btw... its so big that it has 3 different ghost stories, in 3 different parts :)

Travel...

I have come to understand, that my kind of travel is not about landing into a city, covering monument 'a' and site 'b' in the morning, the 'c' ride in the afternoon and grabbing a bite in 'd' famous restaurant before I board my transport back. Its not about the monuments I can tick off or the places in the map I can pin.
Its about where the place stands in history, why people staying there, would love it the way they do and how the geographical position of that place make it different in terms of its natural beauty. its the how, why, who and when that completes my visit and not just the 'what'. tell me, show me, feed me.
Having said that... I don't generally have too much budget for my travels, which does not allow me to attend all the information sources and visit all the corners I'd like to see and try every food joint I fancy. But above EVERYTHING else, I make my trips fun!
So here's where you'll find fun short and unconventional FUN trips on a shoe string.
(don't promise to be regular but still..)