Embraceable Kew

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. 

South Bank of the Thames

Steve here - a quick post about our adventures walking along the South Bank of the Thames River before I'm off to bed to get some sleep for our overnight in the Cotswolds tomorrow.

We started the afternoon at the Borough Market at the base of the London Bridge, which was for a very long time the only bridge in London, making the market a critical trading post. It was the beating heart of London for quite a long time and still remains right in the thick of things. These days, the market is chock full of local merchants, organic farmers, and artisans, making it one of the best (and perhaps most crowded) farmer's markets in London. We sampled a huge number of cheeses from local farms and Sophie very much enjoyed all the free cookie samples.

Moving along the river from the market, we ran into a number of historical bits and pieces. The boat on the right is a full-size recreation of the Golden Hinde, which was Sir Francis Drake's boat (he was knighted aboard it by Queen Elizabeth I in 1581). It seemed remarkably small by today's standards, especially considering the many miles it traveled.

We also popped into the Southwark Cathedral, which has been around since at least 1086, when it was noted in the famous Doomsday Book survey. It was a stunning cathedral not for its ostentatious trappings, but for its history. John Gower, one of the originators of the novel format, is buried there, along with Edmund Shakespeare (Willy's brother). William Shakespeare lived in the church for a short time and reportedly did some of his writing there.

We also saw this random-looking wall, which, as it turns out, was part of Winchester Palace, home of the powerful Bishops of Winchester. It was one of the most important buildings in medieval London. And who knew, they even had a bowling alley, tennis court and pleasure gardens there (exactly what a pleasure garden is, no one was able to tell me...)

I love seeing these pieces of physical history. I feel more connected to the historical force of the place by being able to touch the stones, or sit in the same church that people have been coming to for over 1,000 years.

And one more fun little tidbit - we got a chance to see the Clink Museum, which is possibly the oldest prison in London. It was not a particularly nice place as you can imagine and is where all prisons have gotten the moniker "The Clink."

Walking a little farther down the waterfront, we came across the Globe Theatre. Shakespeare et al put up the money to build this theatre in 1599. It burned down once and was demolished once, but was rebuilt after both. We tried to weasel our way in for a look but there was a show on so we were turned down. We groused and they looked at us like we were being annoying US tourists, which after all we were, so we took a hint and kept on walking. If we all look a little chilly in these pictures that's because it was freezing cold and quite windy. If you plan on visiting in January, heavy coats, gloves, and hats are a must.

The next bit of adventure was a stroll across the Millenium Footbridge, which leads to St. Paul's Cathedral. It's space-agey and very fun to walk across because there are sections where the supports are out of sight and you feel like you are suspended in air on a little walkway above a rushing river. Neat view. Funny story - two days after the bridge opened in 2000, an event was held there during which many people walked across at the same time. All those legs managed to hit the right harmonic frequency so that the bridge started swaying widely from side to side. It had to be shut down and worked on for another two years before it was reopened in 2002. Ouch.
The Tate Modern is at the other end of the bridge, where we did not go but hear is quite cool as well. We did a little tromping around right in front of St. Paul's on Peter's Hill, which I have no idea of the history of, but enjoyed watching Peter, Sophie, and Sarah pretend to climb. (The hill is about 3 feet).

 

Our final bit of adventure was to continue our stroll back over the bridge and down the waterway. (As I mentioned and you can see on Sarah's face - we were frigid by this point - still quite cheery, but chilled right through). The South Bank has been redeveloped over the past 15 or so years and is beautiful now, full of that mix of old and new styles that London does so well. One of my favorite spots was a stretch under an overpass that had been completely spray painted with graffitti. There were ramps set up in random places and teenagers on stunt bikes and skateboards tearing around, hopping around and generally impressing the crowd. Sophie was so amazing she nearly was run down several times trying to get close enough to watch. Overall, an amazing day along the river and an area of town we highly recommend spending an afternoon in.

Burnham Beech Memoirs

More often than not, I've looked forward to the New Year's Eve while forgetting the wonderful New Year's day that is guaranteed to follow.  For instance, this year we were with family in London!  Like other years, there were wonderful people (family and new friends), good food (a yummy 7 courses), fun games (we created a "draw your resolutions from a hat" game), good music (starting off the decade right by playing guitar into the night), and, of course, counting down - this year, we counted down while watching fireworks flying from the London Eye (see image below) and listening to Big Ben - very different from the ball-dropping traditions of Times Square, NY!

Yes, New Year's Eve was wonderful and familiar, but New Year's day was fresh and new!  We set off with the family for Burnham Beeches (I thought we were heading to a beach, but no...beeches) to perambulate around the forests which evoke images and feelings of a rich, royal history, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, and a delicacy that is not generally as present in the Pacific Northwest.  As mentioned in previous blog posts (like this one on east coast woods), I'm amazed by the difference in sensations, smells, and sights of different woods.  Having grown up with woods as a key character in my childhood play time, I had no idea how much I was affected by the variety of forests that one can encounter in this world.  It makes me excited to explore more.  Burnham Beeches was packed with everyone and their dog soaking up the chilly, yet sunny New Year's day.  Frozen ponds and bogs were scattered throughout the forests and plaques at the bases of trees shared a history of inspiration (i.e., specific locations amongst the beeches inspired Mendelssohn to write certain movements in "A Midsummer Night's Dream").  The trees themselves, gnarled with stories in each of their branches, were reminiscent of the thousands of years that this land has been occupied, captured, fought over, shared, owned, and worked.  As much as Steve and I have been in awe of the architecture and man-made history of this town, who knew the forests could share so much?

After a stop off at a "proper country pub" (right) for a warm up, we returned to a lazy evening of movies, knitting, emailing, Bananagrams, and hanging out with the fam.  A great start to a new year and a new decade.  Happy New Year, all, from the forests of yonder year across the pond!  

Faces in the crowded V & A

We had a wonderful lazy morning trying to sleep off the jet lag before heading out to see Laura and Peter's new flat in Little Venice, which is the area of London with canals. (who knew? canals in London!) It was a very cute area, with houseboats lining the canals and cafes on most of the corners. The apartment has a garden in the back, with a gap in the hedges that leads onto a massive park that is hidden from view of the streets and only accessible through the apartments that line it. Amazing little niches in this city.

Afterward, we headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A), which is one of those stunningly massive, twisting museums one can get lost in quite easily and happily. The museum seems to focus on melding the antiquated with the modern (which seems to me to be a London thing) and the melting is quite beautiful. The picture opposite is in the lobby where a 40-foot twisting glass sculpture hangs over the information desk, in front of a large ornate wooden panel you can see in the background. The mix of old and new happens in the juxtaposition of the artwork as well as in the architecture of the building, which is a mash up of a number of styles. As we headed towards the costumes exhibit, (a favorite of Sarah's) we walked by this amazing room with absolutely massive Greek carved columns. It was difficult to capture the scale but as you can see from the picture, Sarah and I were on the balcony and it extended from the ground floor to well above our heads. Off the other side of the balcony we could see into the restoration room, which was quite fascinating as well.

 

When we finally arrived in the costume exhibit, a number of the pieces were not on display, but the remaining ones were quite stunning. The one on the left is a funny one - Elton John's bicycle outfit, complete with a bell, reflectors, and streamers. Impressive. I do not think I could pull that outfit off, but then again it was the 60s, maybe that was just what everyone was wearing then.