Kew Gardens

Friday, Michelle took the day off of work and we ventured to Kew Gardens, a beautiful botanical garden in west London.  Kew has 326 acres of land displaying what the British do best - create beautiful gardens.  There are trees and flowers and plants from all around the world.  We spent all afternoon there exploring and could have stayed longer if the pregnant lady hadn't pooped out.  It was a magnificent place, we truly had a fun day.  

 The Pagoda at Kew Gardens.  Wish they would let you go to the top, what a view that would have been!

 Japanese Gateway, built in 1910, then rebuilt in Kew Gardens at 3/4 the original size.  Beautiful Japanese carvings on the doors.

 Flowers in the Japanese Gardens

 This is called the tree walk.  You climb up the stairs to a circle walkway at the top, roaming among the garden's tree tops.

 On the walkway among the treetops. 

 Queen Charlotte's cottage, built for Queen Charlotte as a country picnic place for the family.

 Fall was definitely in the air at Kew - the golden angle of the sun, the crisp smell in the air, and pumpkins!  Speaking of fall, we learned something interesting from one of our tour guides.  Leaves turn colors in the fall because the trees are pulling back the chlorophyll in the leaves to conserve for next year.  Chlorophyll gives leaves their green color, so as it withdraws back into the trees, it leaves behind the red, orange and yellow pigments that are normally masked by the deep green of the chlorophyll.  How's that for a bit of fall trivia!

 Kew Palace, used by the royal family in the late 1700s.  You can go in today and see how it might have been decorated and what it might have looked like.  Like so many of the places here, it was like walking through the setting of an English novel. So fun!

  Mushroom sculptures at Kew.  That's Michelle, posing as a smurf.  How about a blue shirt (under the green rain coat - it is still London, afterall) instead of blue skin?
According to our guide, mushrooms are ecologically very important.  They break down decomposing plant material and return important nutrients into the soil.  I'm much more concerned about their culinary importance.  What would french dip be without some good, sauteed mushrooms?

These are supposed to be bouncing carrots. They weren't bouncy at all.  But they were a nice place for a pregnant lady to take a little rest.  

 Tea party at Kew?  We were waiting for the Mad Hatter to show up, it looked a little like a page out of Alice in Wonderland.

 In front of the Palm House (where they had several varieties of palm plants from around the world) was a row of statues - eagles, lions, horses, and even unicorns.  I'm assuming they were supposed to have some sort of royal significance, but this one looked suspiciously like scooby doo.

 Saturday was NFL on Regent's Street.  Finally DJ could celebrate his favorite thing about fall, even here in the UK.  Lately he's been staying up all hours of the night to catch the BYU games - I challenge you to find me a more dedicated fan!

Saturday's explorations ended at Fulham and Mason's.  It' your typical overpriced British shop (dating back to 1707!), but they were celebrating Christmas early.  Since that is what Michelle is most sad about missing here, we couldn't help but spend a few minutes roaming the displays.