LONDON - DAY 4

Today we ventured out of London and visited Wimbledon Lawn, Tennis, and Croquet club.  Yes, that is the correct name as we were told today during our tour.  If you are not familiar with Wimbledon, it is where one of the major professional tennis tournaments of the year is played. This was a must see due to the fact that Bret loves to play and watch the game of tennis.  We took a tour of the grounds and saw court one and other side courts, as well as the every famous center court.  The center court stadium is not that big and while we were seated in there we didn't think that there would be a bad seat. Too bad that tickets are so hard to get. We also toured the media room where all of the players are brought for interviews.  Bret is sitting in that seat below.  Doesn't he make a great tennis star!

Here we are at center court.

While we were out in the country, we also went to see Henry VIII's Hampton Court Palace.  All of the palaces have tapestries, paintings and architecture that are outstanding.  Sorry for the nudity in the pictures.  I am not up on the history of art around this time, but you see a lot of art with bare chests and scantily clad women.  The gardens are really pretty and very spectacular.  They put my flower garden to shame.  Below are pictures of an outside front view of the palace and one of the murals that is painted on the ceiling and wall of one of the stairways. 

They have the best soft serve ice cream here.  It is a lot thicker and almost like a custard in a cone.  They top it off with a stick of chocolate. It is so good!

Both of these sites were out near the town of Richmond which was a neat area.  It is in the country, but it had a lot of shopping available and many cafe's and pubs.  We traveled by Tube and bus and were surprised how easy it was to get there, that is after Bret did a lot of research.