To Kew and Back, circuitously

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  London, United Kingdom
Thursday, September 25, 2008

We were out the door this morning at 10, a record (we are not right off the dime for morning touristing), headed for Kew Gardens, Jerry with his butterfly cap (not that THAT was eccentric) and with plastic bags and vials surreptitiously jammed in his pockets.  Arrived at the Kew Garden station to find a charming (CHARMING) cluster of shops, very Old England, so appealing, that I just about decided that on our next trip, it's to Kew we will look for accommodations.  The garden itself is immense, and of course we walked and walked, but it was much less exhausting than museum walking (Jerry thinks it's the marble floors in museums that do you in).  We lunched in the Orangerie, which had, shall we say, petite, orange trees planted in boxes here and there.  Then more walking, all the way to the edge of Thames, where across the water I spied Syon House--a stately home Madeleine and I were dragged to when our family went to England in 1959.  I remember the guide joking about the statue of a lion on the roof roaring. 

Most of the time, Jerry scouted for moths, illicitly picking insect-chewed leaves for later inspection. I studied people, trying to guess who was British and who was American.  We took a tree-top walk (120 steps up a circular staircase,  per JP), up in tree canopies.  The damned thing swayed in the wind. Jerry claimed it was an illusion, but an Englishman who took our picture said no, indeed, it sways.  I tried not to think about it.  The view was fantastic.  Jets from Heathrow thundered high over our heads.

At the end of the visit, Jerry sprinted off to  see the rock garden, while I hit the gift shop to indulge my latest 'tradition'--buying tea towels in gifts shops from which I am going to make a quilt. For the first time, we screwed up on the Underground and had to ride backward, catch another train, blah, blah.  But the Underground has served us well.

Well, we're off to Norwich tomorrow.  So much for London-- we saw so little of it, relatively speaking (& must report that I was sadly disappointed to find that gorgeous hanging baskets of flowers are sometimes ARTIFICIAL!  Yes!  Saw this at a train station today.)

Tonight we pack up and ready ourselves for inspection by the agent who rented us the apartment.  Then off on the 10 am train to Norwich, to a 'Premier Inn' which apparently has a computer for guests to use.  This will be handy.  Also handy will be a washing machine--our flat here is strewn with damp black socks I wash in batches with a dish liquid called 'Faerie.'  Or Fairie.  Whatever--why?!

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