Today on my day off, I headed into London. My main plan was to see the Royal Botanic Gardens and Kew Palace, and that ended up taking most of the day! It normally should be a 30-min ride on the tube from Victoria Station (where the train arrives that I take from the castle) to Kew (in outer London), but there was construction on that line today. So, it ended up being a 90-min trip each way from Victoria Station to Kew, involving a tube trip, a long bus ride, and then a trip on the London Overground.
However, I had never been to Kew Gardens before, and I'm definitely still glad I went. The gardens cover 326 acres, so it was easy to spend several hours there! I went on an hour-long free guided tour soon after I arrived, and then spent the rest of the day exploring by myself. The gardens opened in 1759, and they now have more than 30,000 species of plants and serve as an internationally important botanical research and education institution with more than 700 staff.
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| Bride and groom taking wedding photos! |
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Museum exhibition "People and Plants" in Museum No.1. Neat arrangement of
human-made plant products grouped thematically, eg instruments/healing/flavouring/transportation
and many more. |
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Kew Palace: family home of King George III and Queen Charlotte (grandparents of Queen Victoria)
and their 14 children in the early 1800s. |
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| Inside Kew Palace |
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| Kew Palace in the background |
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| Azaleas |
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| Azaleas |
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| The gardens are on a flight path- it felt just like home in Burkeville :) |
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| Bluebell wood |
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| Bluebells |
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| Queen Charlotte's Cottage |
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| Treetop walkway: 18m above ground |
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| View of one of the greenhouses from the treetop walkway |
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| Pagoda |
After getting back from Kew, I had less than an hour before my train left, so I decided to stick close to Victoria Station. I walked down the street to Buckingham Palace, which is less than 15 min away.
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| The Victoria Memorial outside the palace (palace is just out of sight on the left) |
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| From the top steps of the Victoria Memorial |
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The Canada Memorial just inside Green Park, by the Canada Gate
that leads to Buckingham Palace 1 minute away. The memorial honours
members of the Canadian forces killed in WWI and WWII. |
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| Canada memorial closeup |
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| Green Park |
It was quite a change in scenery from the last time I was at this spot, on a gorgeous fall day in 2011:
A few more photos taken on the way back to the station:
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| London Eye seen from the palace |
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Costumed actors walking silently in circles, for no
discernible reason. They were outside the Queen's Gallery,
which is open to the public (I was there after they had closed for the day)
and is part of Buckingham Palace that houses rotating exhibitions. |
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| Sculpture in Lower Grosvenor Garden outside Victoria Station |
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| Flowers in Lower Grosvenor Garden |
Well, you had quite a day for yourself! The Kew Gardens looks like a beautiful place, and I'm sure you could spend days there, and still never see everything. Your pictures are wonderful; I especially like the old gnarly tree with the pretty mauve blossoms. I never saw any like that in NS!! xoxo
ReplyDeleteI want to go on the tree walk !!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDad
Wow - what a visual feast - thanks for posting all these photos ! It's too bad the trek to Kew Gardens took so much of your limited time today, but it looks like it was worth it. What an absolutely beautiful place - and beautiful photos ! I loved seeing the baby swan, which I didn't notice until the second time I looked at that photo.
ReplyDeleteI admire your courage going up that Treetop Walkway; eeek ! And yes that photo with the plane looked like it could have been taken right here in our front yard ;) Are visitors allowed inside Queen Charlotte's Cottage ?
Have a nice Sunday ! I guess it's not a long holiday weekend in the UK, right ?
XOX !
Love, Mom
What lovely gardens!! I have never heard of a treetop walkway- how neat to have a bird's eye perspective on things...
ReplyDeleteSpring is definitely here in full force, and is one of my favorite times of year in Metchosin. The grass is practically growing before my eyes, and the sheep can't keep up with it -and the lambs are fat and sturdy!! I love how fresh and green all the foliage is, on all the trees and shrubs. Is England's spring further along than it is here on the west coast of Canada?
This past weekend was of course Victoria Day, celebrated with a parade through the city, celebrating the link to the British monarchy for which the city is named. There was also a very big Highland Games event held here annually on this weekend. The organizers even include a small sheepdog demonstration, with a very limited number of dogs and handlers as there are just a few sheep available for the small venue... I didn't get an entry into the event in time, so passed on attending this year...
Have a great week, and thanks for keeping up a blog, and sharing some of the great pictures you have taken ! Love Aunt Martha