A Morning Out in Kew Gardens

Well....here it is...the final stages of our trip, but still a bit of an adventure worth sharing. 

I had originally booked our room at the  Kew Gardens Hotel because it was only two blocks from the train station, making it accessible from London as well as to Heathrow Airport.  Also, it had the added plus of being a couple of blocks from Kew Gardens.  With our departure being 4:00 pm, I figured it was nice to have the option to check it out if the weather was nice.

My original intention was to take the train to Heathrow, but I knew it wasn't direct and would require a transfer.  But after yesterday’s harrowing experience where I was inside the car, the doors nearly closed and Marty was still on the outside looking in with fear in his eyes,  I decided no more of that.  I didn't care what it cost.....we were taking a taxi to Heathrow.

But, as it turned out, the fare was quite reasonable, about twice what two train tickets would have cost us. No stress. No lugging luggage up and down stairs (the station does not have a lift), no crowds rushing and pushing by to get in the car before you. And, more importantly..... no worries about getting separated.

Plus, it gave us a lot more time to explore the gardens!
Perfect!

 So, of course, we headed to Kew Gardens just after breakfast.

The weather was brilliant, just perfect for strolling through this spectacular venue.

A Chihuli exposition begins on April 4, and various glass structures were in the initial stages of being erected on the grounds. 

And, here was Marty's attempt at taking a Selfie in front of the Palm House Pond.

Apparently, he didn't notice that the medusa-like design was flanking my head, despite my mentioning it as he was taking the photo.  One to go down for the memory books, I think. 

We've seen Chihuly in the past, and I've always enjoyed how they are often placed to compliment the surrounding beauty, and this particular piece stood out as doing just that.  

I loved the blending of colors to the flowers surrounding the glass. 

Not far from the entrance to the Gardens stands a huge Palm house, with stone structures standing erectly along a walkway, each with historical significance.

A lion, representing the King of England

and the Scottish unicorn were two that caught my eye.

The stretch from the Palm House Pond to the Orangery is believed to be the longest double herbaceous border in the world.   Along the walk, the borders are have various layouts, some devoted to a single plant family while others focus on pollination.

The triangular evergreens are actually yew that is shaped to a formal look to the gardens.

I've got some junipers planted in my back yard that could use some sprucing up.  Wonder what my neighbor would think of giant triangles in the backyard?   Hmm....

The long walk featured benches for relaxing and just enjoying all of the beauty surrounding us.

There is a diversion from this walk called the "Hive".  This still has me a bit perplexed.

It is a very large metal structure which is illuminated by nearly 1000 LED lights.  It's supposed to represent a vast honeybee hive.   It's actually surrounded by wildflowers to attract bees for pollination.

The information board states that it is linked to one of Kew's hives and that the lights flicker in time to vibrations caused when the bees communicate with each other.

We went into the interior, and we could see lights flickering, but what was really interesting was that it sounded as if soft accordion music was playing.  I didn't see any bees, or an actual hive, so I actually left without understanding the complexity behind this construction.  

I imagine that there is a lot of buzzing going on when the weather is warmer, as there are fields of wildflowers nearby to attract them.  But with the weather still being a big frigid, I only saw a few here and there on our walk around the grounds. 

Just past the Orangery, stands Kew Palace, which actually is the color orange, unlike the Orangery, which is a lovely white structure which I failed to photograph.

I have no idea of the significance of the color, although you must admit, it does look quite striking.  The house wasn't yet in season to open, but will in a few weeks.

It actually stands not far from the Thames, with gardens sandwiched between. 

This ornate structure, standing on a mound just behind the house, actually offers a beautiful view of both, although I didn't bother photographing the river.

From here we headed to an entirely different section of the gardens to check out something called the tree top walk. You can see it nestled in the trees in this photo.

We did walk to the top, which required climbing a LOT of stairs (only to see a lift at the top for easier access....go figure).   The concept sounded inviting... "tree top walk", but really, it was a circular path constructed at tree top height, that actually shook quite a bit when the wind blew....which wasn't all that comforting to me.

And, I would have thought that the various spots for viewing would have given me some sort of idea of what I was looking at in the distance.  

And, for the record, I have a fear of heights, so taking this photo was a bit fearful for me.

But here's a pretty shot of one side of the gardens. 

I'll admit, I expected something more....like some sort of awesome view of the city, or gardens, or something.   Ok, I'll be blunt.  If I'm going to have to face my fear of heights, I expect the end result to be spectacular.  It wasn't.  

But I didn't let my disappointment detract from the beauty of this venue.  I was very pleased that we were able to actually have the time to explore, even though it was a relatively short time.

From here we headed to the B&B, boarded a taxi who drove us to the airport in about 10 minutes.   

Security wasn't bad, even though I was randomly picked for a full body search going through.  And Marty was picked for a security search prior to boarding the plane.  Do you suppose those CCTV's in the underground spotted our tube fiasco, and red flagged us?  

The flight home was relatively uneventful.....except for the man who decided to freak out towards a stewardess and go storming down the aisle after her when she went to get her manager.  Many feared an emergency landing.  I'm quite thankful that didn't happen! 

Oh yes.....the luxuries of travel.  We love the experience.  We dread the transport.

On a happy note....our final meal was a boxed High Tea:

A special sandwich and scone with clotted cream and jam.  Certainly nothing to write home about, but a lovely reminder of the wonderful Cream teas that we so enjoyed on our trip.

So, here ends this Gallivanting English Adventure.  

Thanks for following along!

Brilliant Blue Skies Over Edinburgh

Our special weekend was drawing to a close, and we bid fond farewell to Amy, who boarded the Airlink bus to the Edinburgh Airport for her flight home.  The transition was super easy from the Scotland side of things.  Can't say as much for the American side, but I'll address that later.

On this end, the weather on our last morning in Scotland couldn't have been more beautiful!

We enjoyed our last breakfast at the B&B, checked out and rolled our luggage to the bus station to store it in a locker for a bit so we could walk around unheeded.  Brilliant idea on Marty's part because you can bet your life that I wasn't carrying a suitcase up the many staircases required to get to the top of Calton Hill!  I barely had enough stamina to make the climb without them!  Whew!

But, once at the top, you can see that it certainly was worth the effort.

Poor Suzie wasn't wearying sunglasses and her Uncle Marty was intent on getting this angle for a photo.  So, no worries.....she isn't crying!

From here we headed back down the hill to St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral for Mass.

By the time that was finished, it was time to retrieve our luggage and head to the train station for the LNER back to London.

It started out cozy and comfy, with stunning scenery along the northern part of the route.  But by the time we were 3 stops in, it began to feel like we were a can of sardines as more and more people boarded the train for London.  The same trip that had seemed a breeze going North was quite tiresome going back.  (or perhaps we were just missing the friendliness of those Scots already.) 

I can honestly say that I was very happy when we reached London, even though we did have to say our good-byes to Suzie.  We had such a delightful visit, and she was grateful that we had made the effort to come to London to take her to Scotland.

From here we rolled our luggage to the Picadilly line and began the harrowing task of boarding a crowded subway cabin towards our destination.  Let me just say that the entire experience was not exactly pleasant, although things calmed down when we alighted to transfer to a different train that took us to the Kew Gardens Stop.

Our B&B is in a Pub here very near the train stop.  Since it was Mother's Day here in England, I had the foresight to book a table for 8:00 pm.  As it was, we rolled through the door without a second to spare.

The proprietor here was super friendly, upgraded our room, carried up my luggage the 4 flights of stairs, and set us up with a  lovely meal in the restaurant.

The room has been quite and comfy and certainly the calmness that we needed after the crazy trip from Kings Cross Station!  I've decided that we are taking a cab to the airport.  It takes 5 minutes compared to 50 and two train transfers into the airport.  Here's hope that getting out of here goes easier than Amy's experience at JFK.

In the meantime, I'm boycotting Delta and suggesting that if you are  thinking of flying into JFK from Edinburgh, and have a transfer time of less than 4 hours, you might want to rethink that decision.   The customs line is apparently a real holdup and, honestly, Delta shouldn't have even offered the flight combination with less transfer time.  However, they claim this isn't their problem.   Just keep that in mind when booking. 

Our flight is direct, and hopefully, with limited stress on both ends!  I'll keep you posted.