Kew Gardens (a photo essay blog). One of my favorite places 15 years ago when as a teenager I used to sit beneath the hundreds of trees and write about high school crushes in my journal, daydream about life after the "dependent" years, and wander around imagining the thousands of passers-by who also experienced the royal botanical garden in over the course of its 250 years. 15 years later, with a very different set of life experiences to report on, the gardens were still as enjoyable as they were back then. Steve and I set off for the gardens a few days ago for 2+ hours of meandering around in the frigid cold. Armed with warm drinks in hand, a clotted-filled belly, and the digital macro function on our camera, we enjoyed the relatively empty gardens passing the occasional bundled soul and her sweater'd dog.
We thought we had the place to ourselves before discovering that everyone was huddled in the humid warmth of the Palm House. We couldn't blame them as the majority of our time was spent in the warm building under and amongst the tropical plants, bamboo, coffee trees, and blooming flowers.
After a walk along tree-level (see below), a rare bird sighting (below, too), a brisk walk to and unsuccessful attempt getting into the pagoda (yay below!), and trip through an 18th century-designed mock Roman ruin (...you know where to find it), we left the gardens a little bit calmer, with cleaner lungs, and a lovely change of pace from the rest of our wonderful UK excursions.
A definite must-see any time of year, at any age, and if you're of the teenage persuasion, I highly recommend you bring a journal.
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