Last Days in London

 Wednesday 26th June - London

Meeting Ronda at Paddington station in the morning before going to Kew Gardens, Wasn’t that easy a task as she arrived at the other end of the station, we eventually worked it out and were on our way. 

It was getting quite hot when we arrived at Kew, didn’t know where to start so headed towards the kitchen gardens, all very tidy and looked over by a man with a spade.

Decided just to wander, keeping to the shade as much as possible, found a lovey bronze sculpture 

Visited the Palm as The palm house, which is always depicted on tv programmes about Kew. A grander scale of what we have in Christchurch Botanic Gardens. But beautiful all the same, It was getting warmer so didn’t stay there long. Sat under a tree and partook of a Lemon Gelato, well it was hot! 27 and climbing! Headed for the woodland Walk and came across the Temperate House, another beautiful building.

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Then we found the trees and the pagoda, Somewhere I had seen that it had just been restored.

A curious sculpture, not sure if it is an orchid, with Pagoda behind 

A small but perfectly formed Japanese garden then we found the trees, and a bench to sit on in the shade, such beautiful greens!

We slowly made our way back toward the entrance, passing the redwood grove and some sheep, then came across the lake , and another sit down, as you do. Whilst the Jet planes passed overhead every few minutes going to Heathrow…I think.

When we got to Kew Station all the trains had been cancelled - eek!- But we managed to catch a bus going towards Hammersmith where we thought we could get on the underground, It was stifling and the bus was packed, and then half way through our journey it went out of service and we all had to get off - what!- Luckily we were not. Too far from another station so managed to get on the train there, and air conditioned train no less! What Bliss! Back to the Hotel for a rest and a shower then we went to a local lil restaurant for pizza and salad. Decided we hadn’t done enough walking and it was a beautiful evening so went back to Kensington Gardens, walked to the Princess Diana memorial fountains which had already shut down for the evening, but I did manage to see a squirrel - just caught his tail on camera

We had our photo taken by one of the receptionists from our hotel, who was outside when we got back. Bit more hotel than us, but that may be a good thing.

Thursday 27th June we decided to go to Shakespeares Globe, I realised that I knew exactly how to get there as it is right next to the Tate modern, just over the Milenium bridge from St Paul’s. 

We were a little early for our tour, so stopped for a hot drink and then went in, great informative tour about this being the third Globe, The instigator to build it was Sam Wanamaker, I knew the name because of his daughter Zoe. They built it as close as possible to the original two versions. It was a great tour led by a young Irish woman with a great loud voice, that we could all hear. She brought the history and the theatre to life. Apparent the ones that would be in the mosh pit were called the Penny Stinkards as it cost a penny, and hygiene was not easy in those days, also they would piddle where they were standing as there were not intervals, you paid an extra penny to be in the Botton tier of the seats, the piddle would often seep through the boards.

It’s all beautifully made, and put together, The stage is set for The Taming of the Shrew, Here’s  proof I was there and a view of the stage, from the next tier up

We then walked through the museum and some of the costumes they also have one of the first prints of Shakespeares collected works, no doubt worth millions, they also had some costumes and of course history of the Globe 

Outside again and across the bridge, one more skyline photo. From the bridge

Then we headed to Covent Gardens as I wanted to check out an Art shop there, we wandered around the streets, a very pretty area and had lunch, in one of the market halls, here I am getting hungry.

We walked from there to another tube station where we went our separate ways, I had a little bit more time in Kensington gardens, for a hot chocolate and a little bit of sketching . They gardens are over the road from the station I got off and 5 minutes from the hotel.

Then collected my bag with time to spare before going to Paddington to catch the train to Cardiff, It was still hot in the station so waited outside a bit, then the train was delayed by about half an hour, by the time it got to Cardiff it was about an hour, as had to wait for a later train to clear the platforms before us. Had some refreshments on board so that was okay, but was longing for my bed, once I got to the hotel.