Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew
After a basic breakfast at the hotel, I took the Tube out to the Richmond area to visit Kew Gardens, the largest botanical gardens in the world! This checked off three of my trip goals at once: to see something that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world, to visit UNESCO World Heritage sites, and to dabble in digital photography.
Warning: Lots of plant photos ahead!
Its a large park with many different paths through the trees. Walking the paths around the park, I could hear the birds chirping, and the sun was shining. I could breath in the fresh air, clear my mind, and find peace in the outdoors.
There were certain areas of the park, particularly near family oriented areas and restaurants, that were busy, but 95% of the space was serene, and had only a few other people nearby.
I stopped in to one of the art galleries on the grounds, the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. Exhibits with nature themes were on display, including a series of paintings depicting the plants of the Quran. The artist had done extensive research translating the text to try to determine which plants are mentioned in the text, as some of the words could mean more than one thing.
There is so much to see here!
If I had to pick just four things to do (yeah, yeah, I couldn’t pick just three), it would be to visit the Temperate and Palm houses, the Princess of Wales Conservatory, and the Davies Alpine House.
In the Temperate House, there are plants from all over the world that exist in temperate climate zones, which is most of North America and Europe. Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew has displays of plants, in the Temperate House, that are being researched for a changing world. Some of these plants are resilient to climate change, some provide medicinal value, some might be alternate food sources for addressing food shortages in developing countries. It gave me hope that science like this is being done, and it fits into the Rick Steves’ climate smart commitment.
I spent the afternoon walking around at Kew, not minding where I was going, but just enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, and the opportunity to take heaps of photos of beautiful blossoms. I walked around the lake, and saw the waterlily pond. Then I walked through the rock garden, and the Rhododendron dell pathway in bloom.
I saw the Great Pagoda and the Japanese garden and the bamboo gardens. Later that afternoon, I saw the collection of miniature trees in the Bonsai House.
I stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants in the park. Then, I walked through the Rose Garden and saw all the different colors of roses, and went into the Palm House.
The Palm House has, you guessed it, cacti! I mean, palms. Of course, it’s palms. It also has lots of plants from tropical and rain forest biomes. There were many plants I had never seen before, such as the ebony tree, which I’ve only ever seen after it’s been turned into home decor.
There was a greenhouse for desert plants, and one for alpine plants, and yet another for water plants!
I also visited the Waterlily House, the Princess of Wales conservatory (the best!), the Duke’s garden (most like a traditional flower garden), and the Davies Alpine House, showcasing plants and flowers from the Alpine region.
Simply put, if you like plants and flowers, you should definitely check this out.
Cruising Up the Thames
At 4pm, I had a planned river boat ride, so I left Kew Gardens and walked a short way down the road to get to Kew Pier to catch the Thames River Boat.
This company has sailings between Westminster pier to Kew, then up to Richmond and Hampton Court, and back.
It was an hour and a half trip down the Thames to Westminster pier. It was a beautiful day, and so I sat on the top deck, enjoying a drink. It was windy though and my hair was blowing around quite a bit. We saw some college crew teams practicing on the Thames. At the end of the ride, we were let off between Big Ben and the London Eye, and that was my first time seeing either of those landmarks! Amazing!
Victoria & Albert Museum
Some of the museums in London are open late on Fridays, so I was able to get in to the Victoria and Albert museum in the evening on this day.
They have so many things there, and yet it doesn’t get overwhelming.
I looked at displays on historical Chinese and Japanese fashion and housewares, and then a display on fashion from around the Regency era to modern times.
Some of the displays were closed. I am not sure if that is due to the time of day, or something else. I couldn’t get in to see the displays about jewelry or iron working. There was also an exhibit about Korean popular culture that, if time allowed, would have been fun to see.
After leaving the museum, I stopped at Sainsbury’s on the way back to the hotel. I got some provisions for the week, and some souvenirs of traditionally English candy, like Licorice All-sorts and wine gums.
Total steps: 24,259
Staycation No More 