Kew Gardens Blog #3 (I promise there aren't many more)

The Temperate House is the greenhouse that houses those plants that live in a temperate climate. It is the oldest surviving greenhouse from the Victorian ages and the largest greenhouse at Kew Gardens. And, inside this incredibly old and interesting looking greenhouse is the largest plant in the gardens, which I didn't manage to see, despite the fact that I walked through the greenhouse. By the time I figured it out, I didn't have time to go back. Today they were setting up an ice skating rink outside of the Temperate House. We will definitely be going back to ice skate at Kew Gardens. Those pictures should be pretty interesting...there will be a lot of us splayed out in various positions on the ice.
I took a picture of this royal coy, relative of Mom's giant coy, Moby Dick, who met his death in a pond filter. Maybe he is reincarnated as a royal coy?
Another view of the temperate house.....
 

Kew Garden Blog #2

Next I walked over to King William's Temple, pictured below. It has some commemerative plaques inside of it, but I can't remember what they were commemerating. Actually, it wasn't that interesting. But it was old! Here's the view from the inside out--a little more interesting because you can see the beautiful trees through the door.
And some wellies that someone left behind outside of the temple....
 

The Kew Gardens--blog 1

To describe everything that I saw at the Kew Gardens today is going to take several blogs. So, here we go! I left this morning, not realizing how long it takes to take the tube from Greenwich to the Kew Garden stop...so I spent nearly two hours getting there. It turns out that I could have gotten there faster, had I read the tube map correctly. My trip back was still long, but not that long! Anyway, when I got out of the tube station, this is what I saw: Very cute little street with cafes and bookstores and...STARBUCKS??!!!! Yes, they are everywhere here, too. Not as much as at home, but they are pretty much taking over. In fact, I went to one recently, for which I am very ashamed...but I digress.

The weather was looking pretty questionable so I was prepared to be disappointed after making the long trek out. I figured I would walk in the greenhouses and not be able to see most of the gardens. And there were a lot of gardens that I couldn't see, but it's not because it rained. It's because I ran out of time (see previous blog about how it gets dark here at 4:00!!!)

So, this was the first thing I saw when I walked into the Kew. Colors everywhere, menacing clouds, stately buildings, and...ugh...seagulls. Despite the seagulls, the gardens are spectacular.
The Palm House is a large greenhouse filled with...you guessed it! PALMS! My camera got fogged up from the humidity--I felt like I was back in New Orleans again--so the pictures are a little ethereal looking. This is a spiral staircase leading up to the top of the greenhouse, where I was able to walk around at the top of the palms. This is the tallest palm in the Palm House. This picture doesn't do it justice. It is gigantic, with leaves that are each about 2 stories long. And it isn't the biggest plant in the Kew greenhouses. I somehow didn't notice that plant, so I'll have to take a picture of it the next time I go. Next Blog..... 

A few more pictures

A combine, rolling through London, and representing the farmers of Great Britain in the Lord Mayor's Parade! Farmer's FIIIIGHT (AH HAH HAH AH HAH...just kidding, Jim...and all you other Aggies out there...I just have to take every opportunity to mock). Seriously, we took this picture because it made us think of my Dad and because we have great respect for all the hardworking farmers, worldwide. The previously mentioned flourescent, rollerblading, rat person. I have no idea what he was representing, but he and his fellow rats were pretty skilled on the rollerblades and were having a blast yukking it up for the crowds.
Channelling Shakespeare--Jim get's his Hamlet on in front of the Globe Theatre:

Oh dear...that was only the first pint, too:
 

More....

After we escaped the masses at the Tate Modern, we walked across the Millenium Bridge to St. Paul's, where we were denied entrance and didn't get to walk to the top after all...or even walk inside. But Jim looked pretty cute standing in front of it.I took this picture of the Millenium Bridge to show how many people there were walking across. The funniest part about it is that you can see Dan walking, front and center, across the bridge. He was also just coming from the Tate Modern as well, but we didn't know it until we ran into him on the steps of St. Paul's (after this picture was taken). Random.
After getting rejected from St. Paul's cathedral, we joined Dan and his cousins for a drink at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (founded in 1667 and one of the many places Mark Twain used to drink). There were many merry makers there and lots of raucous singing of "God Save the Queen" going on. We were also asked if we were Canadians...and we fessed up that we were not (but it was tempting to be Canadian for a few minutes).
I was feeling pretty happy after my first pint and the evening continued with lots more pints, some good Vietenamese food (sp?), good fun with friends (we caught up with Meg and two other friends of Dan and Meg's), and a ride back to Greenwich on the drunk train. London on the tube on the weekends at the end of the night can be pretty entertaining.
"I love Bitters! I'm Canadian..I mean, American!" 

The Lord Mayor's Parade and some culture

Yesterday, we took the tube into London with the plan of going to St. Paul's Cathedral and walking to the very top. Instead, we were sidetracked by the Lord Mayor's Parade, which stretched through the streets of London. Most of our pictures turned out blurry, but there were lots of military bands interspersed with African drumming, characters on stilts, children marching, people dancing, and some flourescent orange rats on rollerblades being chased by a cat on some pogo stick/stilts contraptions. It was all very festive and the point of the parade was so that the Lord Mayor (we're not sure what his relationship is to the Mayor of London yet...) could present the state of the people to the Queen (who was around there somewhere). There were some high society looking people in the grand stands near us, complete with big, fancy hats, and, as always seems to be the case in London, there was a fireworks display somewhere last night. We managed to wind our way around the parade, using Jim's great navigating skills, but getting to St. Paul's at that point was not possible, so we settled for the Globe Theatre. We just enjoyed it from the outside and will go back some other time to see what the inside looks like. They won't be putting plays on there again until May, because it's too cold.

After the Globe Theater, we moved along to the Tate Modern, where we planned to maybe slide down the giant slides pictured behind Jim and enjoy some of the exhibits. But there were literally mobs of people at the museum, which made it hard to walk, much less enjoy the art. We plan to go back sometime when it's not a Saturday afternoon. There is supposedly a great David Smith exhibit there now, which we would like to check out.
Here is Jim outside the Tate Modern--which is a pretty ugly building and not very modern looking at all (as opposed to the art inside).
 

Adventures at the London Zoo

The London Zoo, despite the cold weather, was full of action. I saw everything that I have always hoped to see at the zoo...and some things that I could have lived without seeing, like these amorous Zebra type things in the Out of Africa exhibit. I stuck around to realize what they were up to and then I got out of their little house:These Meercats had the right idea, huddling together under the heat lamp in their "cave." They were very cruious about the camera.

These "Peckish Penguins" thought that the zoo keeper cleaning out their pond was going to feed them, so they all followed him with great enthusiasm as he made his way around.

And this pink pelican looked a little chilly. More colorful than our Louisiana State bird the Brown Pelican! They turn pink when they are ready to breed:
I also saw the lion being fed and then roaring for more and two vipers slowly eating a mouse each. Fortunately, the mice were dead before the vipers got to eat them. I think it would have been a little too graphic for them to kill and eat the mice in front of all the kiddies (and me).