Lisa as Tourist III: A Lesson About Traveling and Kew Gardens
When I returned from my travels to Convent Garden, I ended up chatting with one my floormates, Nileema, about my adventures. She said that she had the next day free and would like to go along with whatever I had planned. I told her that I was planning to go to Kew, and we agreed to go after she went to the library for a half an hour. Unfortunately, Saturday dawned cold and rainy - effectively ruling Kew out as a possibility. So, we decided to go the BL's public exhibits (which I had yet see despite spending so many hours in the reading room). I knew that Nimeela wasn't exactly all about getting up in the morning, but I started to get a bit impatient when it was one o'clock before she was ready to go. By that time the weather was so dreary, that we really didn't properly enjoy the galleries. Also, it was very crowded because it was a weekend. Who knew so many people came to the BL just to look around? Not a very enjoyable outing, I must say. It was interesting to me that I was so annoyed by having another person with me when I went somewhere. I think I've spoiled myself by going out and about by myself. I thought that I would be very lonely, but instead I'm really enjoying being able to do exactly what I want when I want to. I think a large part of it is my intellectual interest in so many things that most people wouldn't be interested in. I'm able to spend a great deal of time on Victorian-related sections of museums and such, and I'm such a nerd that this is really exciting to me. I guess I really am in the right field. |
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the town of Kew |
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| Consequently, when Sunday turned out to be very sunny, I packed my bag and set out for Kew. When going to Kew from Bloomsbury, you take the Piccadilly line to Earl's Court and change over to the District line that goes to Kew. The District line cars tend to be of an older make, and the one I road to Kew had wooden slat floors interestingly enough. When I got to Kew, the day had warmed just a little, and I was very happy that I had decided to come. To get to the gardens from the station, you walk a little through Kew itself, which is a very quant little town. | |
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me at the rose garden behind the Palmhouse |
where I ate lunch |
| The grass a Kew and in most English gardens that I have seen is very different from American grass. It's much more like a soft carpet than the rough blades that we have. One wants to lounge on it, which I did throughout the day. Kew invites you to go off the path with these wooden benches placed in secret little nooks and bends in the garden. It's very lovely and peaceful. I was feeling very adventurous after being cooped up inside the day before, so I walked much of the extensive gardens by following the Cedar Vista route (which was very much more a slight clearing than proper path). | |
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the Cedar Vista |
the Pagoda that you can't go in |
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the wisteria gazebo |
field of wildflowers looking towards Queen Charlotte's castle (closed during my visit) |
| The gardens themselves are stunning. The Palmhouse is like being in Florida with absolutely no breeze and has these giant palms reaching all the way to the top of the glass. The neat thing about both the Palm and Temperate Houses is that you can climb these winding Victorian wrought iron stairs and walk along the upper reaches of the glasshouses. Definitely worth the climb. | |
the Palmhouse |
inside of the Palmhouse |
the Temperate House |
inside of the Temperate House |
| Along the way, I stopped at the very interesting Marianne North gallery. North was a Victorian woman who traveled all over the world in order to paint flowers in the natural habitat. She was, evidently, very intrepid. The gallery itself was built specially to house her work and is almost floor to ceiling full of her paintings. The paintings are a rather odd cross between realism and fantasy, giving them a sort of hyper-realistic feel. | |
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the interior of the Marianne North Gallery |
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| Finding myself back at the entrance, I decided to go get tea somewhere in town and walked to toward a shop my guidebook recommended. I found the shop with little trouble, but was surprised to see a sign on the door saying it was closed and that tea was being served at the church on the village green. Really wanting some sort of afternoon snack, I set off for the church. Kew green is quite large, and St. Anne's occupies only a small part of it. As I approached, I saw some locals playing that most incomprehensible of games, cricket, in their whites and everything. The church had set up tables in their parish center and the section of the ancient graveyard overlooking the game. I was very much looking forward to having my tea while watching the game - such an English thing to do - but the most English thing of all (rain) prevent that. While I was getting my food, the rain really started coming down. I was very happy to settle in at one of the tables with green gingham tablecloths inside and wait out the worst of the rain. The center was a mix of locals and tourists, with the tourists being mainly English from their accents. It was a very nice place, with people talking across several tables at each other and children running here and there. | |
St. Anne's Church |
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Once the rain let up a bit, I put on my rain coat and got out my umbrella and set out for the station. Everyone on the train was just as wet as I was, and seemed to be just as tired. Though it was raining a bit when I emerged from the Russell Square station, that was nothing compared to the intense rain that fell about five minutes after I safely inside my room. All these dealings with rain have made me realize why the English are always talking about the weather. It's because their weather is very unpredictable - there are almost always clouds and sometimes they rain and sometimes they don't. And, just because it's warm and sunny one day does not mean that it won't be very cold and rainy the next. No wonder they talk about it so much! Would you believe I got sunburned from my day at Kew gardens? It's so silly - I live in Florida, the sunshine state, and I get my only sunburn of the summer in rainy England. I blame it all on the crazy British weather. You see, when I got dressed in the morning it was just a bit cloudy, so I put on a short sleeve shirt and put sunblock on my arms, face, neck, and ears like a good little girl. However, after breakfast, the sun had really come out, and I put on a sleeveless shirt. I forgot to put sunblock on my shoulders and consequently my shoulders got sunburned. Of course, the burn doesn't even compare with a day at the beach burn and is completely gone now. Still, I felt very dumb all the same. |
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