Tea with the Kings and Queens of England

Whilst down south for the wedding we decided to travel around a bit. We

stopped by Hampton Court, a palace built by Henry VIII, and learned the history of Henry and all his unfortunate wives. His palace is over 500 years old and is full of history and is alive with stories of once was. When he originally built it he was so confident, after defeating France, of England's security that it was the first Royal castle built with no moat and little defenses. Since Henry VIII, the palace has housed many of the other Royals, including Queen Anne.

You may know her from the Queen Anne chairs that she made so famous. We had a nice stroll through the majestic gardens and thought about a nap under one of the incredibly unique trees, but settled for a clotted cream ice cream instead.

We left Hampton and headed over to Windsor for tea (dinner). It was so

wild to be driving through this quaint little town along the high street with nice shops, then to all of a sudden pass this massive castle towering over head.

As we parked and walked up to Windsor Castle we noticed a very rare sight, the Royal flag flying at full mast. The flag is flown only when Queen Elizabeth is presently in the castle. Windsor is one of the several residences that is still in use, it is a bit of a get away from Buckingham Palace in London. Interestingly enough the guards in front of Windsor Castle had not been informed of our tea with the Queen. I was disappointed because I had downloaded some great Hillsong music for her new ipod (courtesy of Obama). Of course that unfortunate incident did not stop us, we still managed to have tea at a nice Greek restaurant in Windsor, one block from the castle.

Whilst we had a wonderful time down south the only queen I managed to

have tea with was my amazing wife. I know I came out better in the end

and would not trade that for anything... Ruth is enjoying the Hillsong tunes

as well! ;-)

Until next time...