Sometimes you just need to run, not walk, away from the city. This was nearly one week after I'd left the comfort of my parents' home in the D.C. suburbs, and now I was hankering to get back to nature. It wasn't raining, so I decided I'd go to Kew Gardens. The Royal Botanic Gardens just outside the main city, on the same line as one would go from the city within to the All England Tennis Club at Wimbledon, where the Wimbledon tennis championship is played every year in June and July). It's a shame I wasn't in London for the Chelsea Flower Show, which is during the last week of May every year. Nope. But I did plan on seeing whatever I could at the gardens that Thursday, given the heat and the sun.
However, before we get to Kew Gardens, here are some pics I took on the walk to Westminster tube station. The first is a view of the Thames from the bridge. The second is of course the front of the tower that houses Big Ben. See, I took it about 10:15 AM London time that day. And the third is of a light fixture, one of many of these that grace the outside of the Houses of Parliament. I caught a glimpse of many young, well-dressed blokes in suits and said to myself, they're far too young to be MPs, I wonder what they do at the Houses of Parliament...
Getting to Kew Gardens is relatively easy, you just need a Zone 1-3 pass, or an extension if you have a Zone 1-2 week pass like I did. I found the people at the ticket windows extremely patient and helful, so when in doubt, ask. I had to ask a local couple for help at the Heathrow tube station, and they were happy to help. You take the train out to the (relative) countryside, and it gives you the opportunity to contemplate things outside of the city proper. You pass large fields, places of residence that aren't flats per se but actual council houses, golf courses, and of course, what you believe to be either football or cricket grounds (or possibly both). School obviously is still in session in May, so I'm peering out the train window and looking at the kids kicking around a football.
It's definitely a different feeling than what you get from a train ride through America, which generally takes you through land where no one has ever lived, over mountains, over forests, over places that man has not gotten to by any other means except by locomotive. You can go for hours between two cities and feel like you haven't been in the middle of civilization. Before I left on my trip, in order to ease my mother's worried mind, I reminded her that I would never be far from civilization and that a minimart would never be far away enough for me NOT to get a bottle of water or some food. In the U.S., I guess you theoretically could get lost in a forest or a desert and not have a way out, but I was going to 2 major cities, and I tried to reassure her.
So I alighted at Kew and followed the group out of the station, guessing that they were all headed for the gardens. I was right. A ticket in peak season is about 12 quid, so get your money handy. Man, was it hot and sunny that day. Here are two photos I took just entering the grounds. Note in the second photo, that mother is wearing a tank top. I'm sure she doesn't wear that very often in London.
I was trying to get a photo of hubby and wife mallard ducks, but the appropriately-dressed-for-the-weather mom is above.
A swan coming towards me (obviously with the wrong belief that I'm carrying food), another duck tries to take a catnap by the lake, and some lovely primrose. I tried growing primrose in my old office but one day I found that it was covered in aphids, and that some of them had jumped into my mug - ick!
The vanilla plant in what I believe was the edible plant exhibit inside the Palm House, one of the greenhouses. The Palm House had a underground aquarium which you could only get to by descending down a spiral staircase. I was just enjoying myself, as I enjoy aquariums more than the average person, when a group of little French tourist kids comes barreling into the quiet space, beating each other up and making a ruckus. Whoever coined "the ugly American" cliche should apply this to any noisy, obnoxious people from other countries, not just America, thank you very much. Below, a pic of outside the Palm House, followed by the Temperate House.
posted 12/04/06
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