England, Richmond upon Thames

I have a lot of books about English history and I read lots of stories about Richmond Palace in these. I looked at a map in December and I saw that the town is not so far from my accommodation. I knew that the Palace was destroyed, but I'm interested in the spot. So we planned a trip to the town.

Richmond was a royal residence from 1327 to 1649. At that time there was a village in county Surrey. Today it's a part of London Borough, a popular resting place and residence. Many people organise excursions there on weekends.

The first inhabitant of the palace was Edward III in his childhood . According to old documents, the furniture and decorations of the palace were splendid. The tapestries showed the heroic deeds of kings.

There is a survived old blueprint from 1649. According to it the building consisted of rubble stone, it was three storeys high, and had 14 gun towers. The large hall was 30 ms long and 12 ms wide, and there was a Chapel in the same size and a large library room.

Henry VII. died in 1509 here. 

There was the residence of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII.'s older daughter in 1533. Henry VIII. gave the palace to his fourth wife, Anna Cleve, as a divorce present in 1540. The palace was the favorite place of Queen Elizabeth I., who died in 1603 here.

Charles I. established the Richmond Park (Old Deer Park) in 1637, where there are more than 600 deer without restriction these days, too. 

Charles I. was executed in 1649, and the Parliament sold the palace a few months later. After that the significant part of the palace was demolished during 10 years, the materials was used elsewhere again. The remaining ruins had never been rebuilt. Today the Gate house of the palace and some of the old street signs remind us of the former palace.

Richmond Park belong to the Royal Parks. It is the largest of the eight Royal Parks. The area is 955 hectares and it is the second largest park in London. The park is a nature reserve, too.

The Parliament announced that the park is a public park in 1872, but it's not allowed to collect firewood. This law is still valid. The 10 buildings and the fence are under extra protection today.

Thatched House Lodge was the London home of U.S. General Eisenhower during the Second World War. Since 1963 it has been the residence of Princess Alexandra.

Edward VIII was born at White Lodge in 1894 and his brother Prince Albert, Duke of York (the future George VI), and the Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), lived there in the 1920s.

King Henry's Mound, a burial site. Henry VIII stood on the mound to watch for a sign from St Paul's that Anne Boleyn had been executed at the Tower and that he was then free to marry Jane Seymour.

The gates are open daytime, where car traffic goes, with max. 20 km/hour speed. The park is open for cyclists and walkers day and night.

Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to look around in the park, so I have to go again this summer.

England - Hampton Court

One day we travelled to Hampton Court by train. 

I was there a few years ago, but I had only one hour. It wasn't enough to look at this gigantic building and area.

 We were there befor Christmas, so there was a skating rink in the park to entertain the visitors and children.

Hampton Court can be found in southwest London, at the Thames bank.

Thomas Wolsey, the archbishop of York (later bishop) 

hired this area from the Maltese Knights for 99 years and he had a wonderful Bishop Palace built. At this time he still was Henry VIII'friend. He had separate aparments built for the visits of Henry and his royal household. Later the relationship worsened between Wolsey and the King bevause of the divorce of Catherine of Aragon 

and Henry VIII. Henry asked for the Palace as present for himself. Wolsey was forced to give it to him. But it wasn't enough either, because he became disgraced.

The building became one of the most luxurious royal palaces in Europe in 1540. There are tennis and bowling courts, a gigantic dining room, 

the kitchen had more than 3000 square metres, a vast number of rooms for the visitors and a chapel. The Palace had water pipes.

Henry's only one son Prince Edward 

was christened in Hampton Court. Mary (later Bloody Mary)

 spent the honeymoon here and Elisabeth I.

 held receptions for the foreign delegates.

The function of Palace has changed at the time of (Stuart) Jakab I. 

Jakab used the Palace as the place of his enjoyments. His son, Charles I. had a new tennis court built, he had the water led to the fountains of the Palace from 11 miles and he enlarged the collection of the royal art gallery. During the Civil War, in 1647 the King was jailed in this Palace for three months.

 During the years of the Republic and the Protectorate (1649-1660) they were destroyed the values ( everything what had some value ) in the spirit of Puritanism in utter confusion in England. But Hampon Court escaped from this because Oliver Cromwell the Lord Protector used the Palace himself. He kept the marriage ceremony of his daughter Maria in the royal chapel here.

Charles II. preferred the palace of Windsor, but one of his mistresses, Countess Barbara Villiers, lived here with their illegitimate children. The next golden age was during the reign Wilhelm III. and his wife Maria. The popular architect of this period, Wren was commissioned by the King to rebuild the Palace, as in the case of Kensington Palace. 

He had a conception to destroy the whole Tudor Palace, but fortunately he hasn't enough money and time for them When Queen Mary died, the construction were interrupted. There were continued when the Whitehall Palace burned down during the Great Fire in 1698 in London. At this time the baroque palace was built and the parks and gardens were renovated, too. Queen Anne preferred Windsor and Kensington. After her death, George I. became the King. He came from the royal house of Hanover, from Germany. He didn't speak English and he spent in Hanover much time. But his son, George II. and his wife took a liking this palace. The appartements of King and Queen were full of luxory

 and there was completed the Queen's staircase.

After the death of George II (1760) the palace never became a residence of the royal family. During the reign of III.György the palace was divided into smaller parts. The kind and servile subjects of the king moved to these appartments. In the following two centuries were a lot of various inhabitants in the palace. For example Lady Baden-Powell, the widow of founder of the Scout Movement and the famous physicist Michael Faraday, too. The young Queen Victoria opened the palace for the interested public in 1838.

 But the opening had an unfavourable side. The visitors tore off the wallpapers, many paintings and furniture were missing. But the reconstruction of the whole palace happened in 2 details till 1900 and the building was restored as it has been in the Tudor period. The last decades of the story of the palace were about the restoration again. The major part of the royal apartments was destroyed by fire in 1986. The reconstruction was completed in 1995.

Long weekend in November

We had a trip  to North Hungary, among the hills of Cserhát for 4 days. Perhaps  it was  the last beautiful autumn weekend. In the mornings  was  cold  and foggy the weather  but in the early  afternoon it was 20 degrees and clear blue sky already.

 We walked for two days, and the other two days we went to the  countryside by car. Our

accommodation was a well-equipped, spacious apartment in a little village  called

Nográdsipek. 

The owners were a very pleasant couple. On Saturday, - after our arrival - we walked to  Hollókő. The path  was 13 km long. On the way we visited the castle as well.  

Hollókő is a beautiful, world heritage  village, there are  famous traditional costumes and typical palóc houses. 

Many  people walked on the streets in  the fantastic weather. We went back  to our accommodation by bus. We had to change to another  bus in Szécsény, so  we had dinner here. 

On Sunday we  looked up  another hike on the map to the Tábi reservoir. At first there  was a  good marked trail , but  the signs disappeared  later, so we needed  to navigate  with a map and compass. Fortunately, we  found  the  lake in a beautiful valley. 

Many people were angling  on the shore.

 We started back  in  another path ,  on the way we enjoyed the beautiful views and beautiful autumn colors. On Monday, we travelled to Mátraverebély by car, here we visited the old holy place Szentkút. 

We met many pilgrims. The next stop was Sámsonfalva.  we saw  an interesting geological

formation 

and the  nearby beautifully situated, small village Nagybárkány. From here we drove to  Alsótold, to the Bableves csárda,  where we spent some  time.  

After we came back, our  hosts  were waiting for us and we grilled in the open air.

 On Tuesday,  we stopped  on the way home  in  many small villages of Cserhát and we

 looked around, and then ordered a late lunch at the Lake Bánki.  It was a very nice

long  weekend.