London, Day 4

We got up early on Friday and headed out to Hampton Court. I had been there in 2008, and Larry really wanted to see those kitchens up close and personal! And they are indeed impressive. It's the first place you go on the tour of this magnificent palace that belonged to Henry VIII. And Henry and Anne Boleyn were there to greet us!
It's interesting to learn about the real efficiencies of 16th century cooking - they really knew how to turn out food for 1000 people! There are food historians that specifically work here to determine what the patterns and benefits of Tudor cooking, and see what we can learn about it. One commentator on the audio said that this Tudor "stove" was terrifically efficient, with places for storing wood and receiving ashes under the cooking pots, so that the whole thing could be in continual use.
Here's the big fire for roasting meat:

We did the kitchens, Henry the VIII's apartments and the William and Mary apartments. In the middle of it all there was a fire alarm and everyone had to evacuate! We were impressed by the smooth and non-excited way in which it was all handled.We really wanted to get out into the gardens to see if anything was in bloom. We tried out the famous maze and never found the center. We did, however, get out again! Larry did find irises in bloom and took lots of pictures. But the real bonus was finding the real name of one of the Holden irises - he was ecstatic! Here's the iris called Sunset at Holden and really called Harriet Holloway.We took the train back to London after a wonderful day. We made another effort (there had been others) to find an Indian restaurant somewhere near our flat. One of the fun things about London is great Indian food. But we seem to be in an Indian food challenged zone in this great city. So we went to M&S Simply Food (Marks and Spencer, Marks and Sparks) to get some stuff to heat up for dinner. And, lo and behold, there was a whole Indian food section! So we got our Indian take-away after all. It was pretty good!