Cloud 9: April 2012

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Kew Royal Botanic Gardens April 25, 2012 - Part 1

It rained all day, but I didn't care! It made for more of an adventure and cut down my time at Kew Gardens which enabled me to fit in a trip to Hampton Court Palace.

I love the Oyster cards. Got on the tube after breakfast. Swipe card on and off. Had to change part way along to another line to get to Kew Gardens, which is some distance away. When you get off at the Tube station at Kew, the National Archives are almost right there! Wish I'd known that.

Didn't realize there was such a big park at Kew. I began walking on a garden path and was virtually alone. Sure, one could spend a whole day there... on a nicer day. I didn't feel like walking all the way in pouring rain to the other end to see if the bluebells were blooming. Went through several large glass buildings. It's not the same kind of garden as Butchart's but it's a case of apples & oranges so they can't be compared. Frankly though, I expected this place to be much grander.

Get off at the station and you're in a residential/commercial area. Where might the gardens be?

Just follow the crowd, I guess.

The entrance gate. Actually this is probably a different gate. There are a few.

Nice weather if you're a goose.

The Pagoda was completed in 1762.

The Temperate House.

Eek, I didn't expect to be reminded of The Haunting here. This place is a little ramshackle.

Perhaps it is interesting to people who are avid fans of unusual plants.

Back outside it's still raining.

My kingdom for a gumdrop.

Palm House.

Still raining.

Inside this building I cut my finger while closing my umbrella. Wouldn't you know it would be a rare occasion that I was without a bandaide? I had to find a worker to ask for one... but in England do I call it a bandaide or a 'plaster'?

I'll go for a little woodlands walk.

A magpie?

Kew Palace and the Royal Kitchens.

The best part - snack time! There are a couple of cafes and a couple of restaurants on the grounds.

A young man in an info booth gave me terrific directions to get to the bus for Hampton Court Palace - turn right out of driveway, take road to the right but not the one to the extreme right, pass under a bridge, go to so-and-so and catch the # whatever bus. I followed his instructions, saw a shopping area, looked across the road and there was the bus! I got on, swiped card, and it left a minute later.

This was the worst weather of the day. The rain was pelting down.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The dreadfully dreary Best Western Phoenix Hotel, London

The exterior of the hotel looks okay. So does the lobby and breakfast room but from there it's all downhill. Sure the building is old - built 100 years before I was born, but the rooms are worn and tired-looking.

Gads, are they joking? Is this a closet turned into a room? I had the feeling that if Glenn had been with me, we would have spun around and left. This hotel was booked through the travel agent, which was probably a mistake. Since he booked through a third party, it may have been more complicated to cancel. However, I didn't care to spend time looking for another hotel, so this dive would be my home for four nights. Luckily, the clientele seemed perfectly normal. Most mornings I shared a breakfast table with a kindly gentleman from New Zealand who was about to embark on a train journey around the country.

The bed is up stairs and crammed next to a wall. The bathroom, enclosed in a 'box' at the bottom of the stairs, is so tiny that you risk knocking something off or whacking your head. Floors creak, and the window bangs in the wind. I looked at another room but it was even smaller and it faced the noisy street.

At least there is a desk and a kettle.

But it must have been quite the joker who wrote on this hotel's website that the decor 'is of the highest standard.'

On the plus side, the room was quiet, there was a luggage rack and a working internet connection. Breakfasts were included, and service in general was fine. The hotel is handy to the Tube station. However, the lack of English accents with the hotel staff and in the Bayswater neighbourhood didn't give me the London experience I had hoped for on my first stop in England.

London arrival April 24

The plane landed early at Heathrow and I breezed through customs so I had time to go buy a phone, although I wondered why since I don't even know how to work it. Luckily the driver showed up early to drive me to the hotel (I'd arranged this from home with 'Just Airports' - not cheap at around £32 but worth avoiding a hassle after a long flight), arriving there around 2:00 pm.

The hotel was in the Bayswater area of London. There are lots of tourists in this neighbourhood; also cafes, shops and a Marks & Spencer's. One thing I noticed is that most pedestrians don't bother to wait for a walk signal before crossing intersections.

Oyster card (internet photo)

I set out for small mall in the area in search of flat iron (for straightening hair). Came across tube station so I bought an Oyster card which everybody uses for public transportation. The pleasant clerk with a proper English accent (almost a rarity in this neighbourhood where most accents seem to be eastern European) told me which trains to take tomorrow - I'll have to make a switch, like a transfer on a bus. Then three nice police people helped me find the mall. I probably didn't get the best deal by buying a flat iron from a kiosk... but I haggled and got the price dropped by 20 pounds.

Tomorrow I want to be eating breakfast at 7:00 and then head off to Kew Gardens first thing. It opens at 9:30 am.

I set out for a walk to Hyde Park and passed this church, St. Matthew's. Buildings sure are old here.

Classic English scene.

Instead of Hyde Park I wound up in adjoining Kensington Gardens with the Palace. Ornate black and gold gates there.

Birds here have the most interesting calls. Even the swans sound different than ours. I saw English robins - so little and cute.

I had hoped to see more flowers in England but there were some around.

I came across a golden figure with sculptures around it. Went to investigate, then noticed a dome-shaped building across the road.

It was the Royal Albert Hall!

Pasta for supper at an Italian place.

There were a lot of expenditures today:

The phone. UPDATE: Do not buy a phone at the airport. I found out later, from dropping into a T-Mobile store in Canterbury, that I could have got one there or probably any similar store for half the price.
The ride from the airport.
The Oyster card.
The flat iron. UPDATE: These could probably be found cheaper at a Boots store. However, the Boots store in Bayswater didn't have a great selection so, in retrospect, I probably would have done what I did.

If I keep this up, I'll be home in two weeks.

Flights April 23 to 24, 2012

Flight from Victoria to Vancouver, then to Heathrow on 'triple 7' - smoothest flights ever.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

England trip 2012 - map

My proposed itinerary. It didn't work out this way - almost but not quite. Number 5 was dropped, as I'd half-expected, and 6 and 7 were reversed. I changed my return flight and stayed an extra three weeks.

The purpose of this trip was not as much for 'fun', except in a way to keep me interested in life, as it was a method for trying to cope with the devastating loss of the love of my life, Glenn. Someone aptly called it a pilgrimage. Described by Wikipedia as 'a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance', it fits to a T. There was a sense of going back to my roots, to the home of my ancestors. Ancestry research was a good focal point for me on this (mostly) solo journey.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Blogging woes

"Your browser is no longer supported by Blogger. Some parts of Blogger will not work and you may experience problems. If you are having problems, try Google Chrome."

Otherwise, we will leave you to work in a ridiculously tiny window, having to guess at the icons which are now only partially showing, and it will be excruciatingly slow. This comes at a bad time for me. Argh.