A Palace of History

Advantages: Beautiful rooms; Historical'; loads to see
Disadvantages: Huge!!

...Hampton Court Palace is about one of the 60 palaces built for King Henry VIII in about 1513. In my opinion, it must be the grandest and mightiest of all the Palaces with over 1100 rooms, acres upon acres of garden, mazes, tennis and bowling courts. It is located next to the River Thames in London. It took me, my mum and step-dad just 1 1/2 to drive there from Portsmouth. The castle is relatively well signposted and it's mainly straight road and motor way with few confusing turn-off's but then again,this is only relavant from where I am travelling from. We passed through some lovely old villages on the way so the journey was pleasing. You can also catch the train of course - the station is basically right next to it! When you arrive, there is a car park of which, you pay for on departing. It costs £3.50 for 3 hours and an extra 50p...

LaceyR26 17.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Hampton Court Palace, London

Partying at the Palace (ish)

Advantages: Comfortable, clean, good staff
Disadvantages: A few faults, doesnt live up to expectations

...This review is about my Christmas party experience at the Strand Palace Hotel. This year, I was in charge of organising our office Christmas party, and, being based in South East London, the department tends to head to Bromley or Greenwich for a meal. But this year we decided to go all out, and go 'up west', and so I came across the Strand Palace hotel on my googlequest and we decided to go posh as well. The booking process was slightly tiresome, seeing as the particular member of staff we made our booking through was somewhat challenged in the brains department. The initial booking process was easy. We booked ourselves in for the three-course carvery meal, and then Channy and I (the office babies) were sent scuttling around collecting everybody's cash (£33 per head). All was sent in when a couple of weeks later, the girl calls me...

fabulous_girl 19.12.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

Acqua Palace

Advantages: Clean, modern, fun slides, great day out
Disadvantages: Not as large as I thought it would be

...Myself and my boyfriend visited Tunisia in May 2008 and while we were there we decided to take a walk into the main town, where we found Acqua Palace. About Acqua Palace Acqua Palace as you would imagine, is a water park and it's the only water park in Port El Kantaoui. It was closed for a while in 2007 while renovation works were carried out and it opened its doors again for the summer season of 2008, boasting bigger, better and faster slides. Location Acqua Palace is located about a 5 minute walk from the main town of Port l Kantaoui. It is not very well signposted but we still found it very easy to find. Prices Admission was 15 dinars for adults which works out at £7.50. Prices for children were 7.50 dinars which is about £3.00. I thought the prices were very reasonable and although the park is not massive, I still...

daylehall 31.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of Aqua Palace, Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia

Palace aforethought

Advantages: Architecture, atmosphere, good food and service
Disadvantages: A few dodgy facilities; noises off at night

...The plan was to ease our way into India. We had found on previous visits to farflung parts of the world that the last thing one wants to do on arrival is to plunge straight into the hubbub of a big city, or be faced with an exhausting programme of sight-seeing on the first day. An initial pause to relax, acclimatise and shake off the jetlag seemed a much better idea. And, to judge from the map and the guidebooks, the Neemrana looked just the place for it. Or perhaps I should say, just the palace for it. Of Rajasthan's many converted palace hotels, it is the one nearest to Delhi, so that it can be reached in just two and a half hours from the international Airport. It is also one of the oldest, the original building dating from 1464, though since then it has been augmented, fortified, reduced and restored several times...

torr 21.02.2006 (23.02.2006) · Read review
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Review of Neemrana Fort Palace

Food Fit For A KIng At The Shimla Palace

Advantages: Brilliant food, good service
Disadvantages: Desserts not brilliant

...I decided to visit the Shimla Palace in Cowdenbeath after hearing a colleague rave about it and it has since become one of my favourite places for a relaxed place to eat out. It is an Indian buffet restaurant which offers meals for a fixed price ranging from £4.99 at lunchtime to £9.95 at the weekend. On arriving at the restaurant I was not impressed by the exterior. I parked in the small rectangular car park and, avoiding the huge potholes, made my way to the shabby looking whitewashed building which looked far from palatial. We made our way inside, and a smartly dressed waiter took us to a table and took our drinks orders. While waiting for our drinks to arrive. I took a look around and was impressed with the modern décor. There were around 20 tables downstairs set on lovely wooden floors with a further seating area upstairs...

wigglylittleworm 08.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Shimla Palace, Fife

The Palace Diaries

Advantages: A light hearted read yet brief look into Prince Charles bubble/aka the palace
Disadvantages: Lack of personal photo's.

...The Palace Diaries Written by Sarah Goodall and Nicholas Monsoon **** Introduction**** Written in 2006 and published in 2007, this 318 page hard back book had me gripped in almost every chapter. Hailed as "Racy, outrageous and hilarious - there's never been a Royal book like it. The Palace Diaries is a unique insider's view of what really went on during the most tumultuous period for the British monarchy, since the abdication of Edward VIII. On the cover is Miss Goodall, looking slinky and sassy in a Audrey Hepburn type pose, complete with Corgi. Her adoration and respect for Charles is paramount but I think this mostly comes from her loins, not from her heart. To be honest, I had never heard of this Miss Goodall. This book came upon be by pure chance whilst browsing through a leading book website. It was on offer at 75...

mrsmopples 01.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Palace Diaries - Sarah Goodall

A palace fit for a (very spoiled) Lemur

Advantages: Architechture, good value for moneym not too busy
Disadvantages: bit off the beaten track, not open Saturdays

...glimpse of the frontage of Eltham Palace with it s magnificent curved At Deco facade and the Great Hall jutting out to the right. Walk through into the entrance hell of the Palace where you are greeted by the staff who hand you fetching blue plastic covers to put over your shoes to protect the vast swathes of cream carpet inside. It did look funny seeing everyone with these blue poly bag type things on their feet but it makes prefect sense and saves on cleaning bills. It is useful to note that there is no photography inside the house so keep your camera for outside shots only. The entrance hall sets the tone for the rest of your experience. It's a huge light space crowned by a concrete and glass done poring in light like a modern day St Paul's. Underneath this is a wonderful circular huge carpet which your eyes are dawn to. Walk round...

duskmaiden 16.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of ELTHAM PALACE

The Blue Mountains

Advantages: everything
Disadvantages: nothing

...This next review is on my time on The Blue Mountains National Park, located in Sydney Australia. A few friends and I had decided to hire a van and take a tour of the national park, as we had been recommended it by several people we had met along the way. I am usually a fan of national parks; it gives you a chance to take in the scenic view, it gives you a chance to relax and unwind if you have had a busy week, and you even get to see some wildlife. It?s a great experience, which allows you to camp overnight, whilst also have a magnificent driving experience. History & Park Info: The park covers 267,954 hectares, which included several mountains and rivers along the trek. The highest point of the park is Mount Werong (1,215 m), and there are some breathtaking views from the top. The area became a national park in 1932, and ever since...

jaygami1986 01.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Blue Mountains

A Palace with Promise

Advantages: Helps put Romania in context, an astounding building
Disadvantages: Uncomfortable history, vulgar and ostentatious decor

...Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin?.the twentieth century certainly had its share of unpleasant and tyrannous leaders. Romania?s Nicolae Ceausescu must surely rank near the top of the list - if there were league tables for nastiness then he would likely be in a medal position. Tales of his evil deeds abound but the Romanian capital, Bucharest, is home to the project that embodied his bizarre and frightening ideas - the Palace of the People. In terms of surface area it is the second largest building in the world, in volume the third largest. It is not just its size, though, that makes it astonishing; millions of Leu were poured into the project while Romania received international aid and its people starved. The building was not even completed when Ceausescu was overthrown in December 1989 and nearly two decades later it is still...

fizzytom 24.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Palace of Parliament (Palatul Poporului), Bucharest

The Palace: Fit for a Princess?

Advantages: Central location, nice breakfasts
Disadvantages: Expensive rack rate

...I live in Manchester. Not in a ?Greater Manchester? kinda way, but in Manchester proper. You may wonder, therefore, why I stayed at the Palace Hotel in the city. I wondered too. But, I was at a national event organised by a national office, and in their national wisdom, they booked all of us in as resident conference delegates, even those of us who live within, um, walking distance. I do like my own place, my own kitchen, my own bed, but not in an obsessive way, so when someone else wants to pay for me to stay in a nice room where I don?t have to make the bed or clean the bath, and where I get 3 meals per day provided gratis, I don?t say no. The Palace Hotel is located on Oxford Rd near the city centre. It?s near the Palace Theatre, the Cornerhouse cinema and the Sainsbury?s Local store. You can walk to Oxford Rd, Deansgate...

zoe_page 03.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Palace Hotel, Manchester