Strolling along the peaceful lush gardens in Kew, with the birds chirping and the occassional wind blowing, whipping one’s long hair and sometimes dust into one’s eye too… with the song “Willow” by JJ72 playing in my head…
By the bright leaves
in the garden
of my saviour
as the parasol
gently shades her
*ACHOOO*
…. only to be interrupted by ah ya’s reaction towards pollen (hears ah ya blowing her nose vigorously)
Yes, Kew Gardens is indeed a must-visit for those who love to walk around aimlessly in cool weather and surrounded by the beauty of the various floras, massive trees and wild shrubs. But for those allergic to pollen, one must remember to avoid walking along paths that are surrounded by blooming floras…. well… too bad for ah ya that she was with people who wants to cover the entire Kew Gardens….
We begin our journey into Kew Gardens by turning left at the main entrance and to come upon our first landmark in the map given…. Behold the Temple of Bellona!
Built in 1769, it was named after the Roman goddess of war, who was also the companion of the god Mars. Inside, it is decorated with plaques displaying the names and numbers of British and Hanoverian (go check Wikipedia if you want more info on this…. hehehe) regiments in the Seven Years War (1756 - 1763).
“To the next landmark: Marianne North Gallery!!!”
That was where we intended to head to… but then… as usual, we don’t really follow the map and decided to try out some “short cut” paths and stumbled across this structure and assumed it was Marianne North Gallery….
Hmm…. are you sure this is Marianne North Gallery??? It doesn’t look at all like the building depicted in the map…. Turns out, this is King William’s Temple and it’s located on a mini hill hidden by shrubs and that was why we were attracted to it….
From the temple, we could see this glass building, the Temperate House…
Used to be the largest plant house in the world but it is the world’s largest Victorian glass structure. Going inside, it reminds me of the plants we have here in Malaysia. According to the site, the Temperate House holds an extensive collection of temperate American plants and also from Australia. I absolutely love spiral staircases, and one of the first few things I did as I stepped into the house was climbed up the first spiral staircase we spotted! Looking down from the top of the stairs, it reminds me of the canopy walkway at FRIM, with the tropical trees covering most of the landscape. And the view was spectacular, looking down as well as looking out through the glass walls!
At each corner of the spiral staircase, you can find a statue posed there. The statue in the top left is David in all his glory (I can’t help thinking of the recent joke my colleague sent to me about a local minister who quoted that he is very proud of his kemaluan, but what he meant was on shyness and not that kemaluan…). And the top right is an elegant shepherd, who was sadly separated by his shepherdess who was located at the other corner of the section…
It was quite warm being inside the Temperate House, like duh… coz the weather conditions got to be suitable for the plants or they’re freeze to death if exposed to London’s weather conditions. So, imagine the blast of wind we received as we stepped out of the glasshouse…
We probably wouldn’t have realised we were hungry and way past lunch until Sweet started moaning that she was hungry…. those were the days when we were in college and Sweet was hungry quite often *feeling nostalgic*
Anyway, we had lunch at the Pavilion Restaurant, which would be further elaborated in another post (god knows when I’ll update next…. hehehe) and stepping out of the restaurant, we were greeted with the sight of a red Pagoda….
I don’t think the Pagoda is tilting…. I can’t see straight and probably my shot is crooked here…. *sweatdrop*
Anyway, according to the site, the 10-story octagonal Pagoda was completed in 1762 and is 163 feet high and was the tallest reconstruction of a Chinese building in Europe at that time. In fact, the original building was very colourful and the roofs were covered with varnished iron plates with a dragon on each corner. That means there were 80 dragons in total, each carved from wood and gilded with real gold! Uwaaaah, I can’t even see the roof from the base, how am I gonna see the bloody dragons??! *sniffs* I love dragon carvings and structures….
And when we were there, the Pagoda wasn’t open to the public! Such a waste! Or we would be able to climb its 253 steps all the way up to have a spectacular view across the gardens and across London with the London Eye, the new Wembley Stadium and as far as Canary Wharf visible!!! But anyway, me climbing 253 steps??? With a full stomache?? I think I would have rolled down the stairs after 10 steps… hahaha
Just next to the Pagoda is the lovely Japanese Gateway, or Chokushi-Mon (Gateway of the Imperial Messenger), which is a 4/5 actual size replica of the Karamon of Nishi Hongan-ji in Kyoto.
Built in the late 16th century, it has finely carved woodwork, depicting stylised flowers and animals. The most intricately carved panels potray an ancient Chinese legend depicting the devotion of a pupil to his master.
On our journey to the next landmark (more like following any paths that look like a short cut instead of following the main path), we spotted a funny looking creature…. it’s a peacock! And a very tame one that doesn’t want to stay still, it was not easy trying to get a clear shot of it…
And we finally arrived at Queen Charlotte’s Cottage where the celebration of Woodland Wonders festival is centered.
Queen Charlotte was given the building in 1761 when she married George III. The cottage remained private until 1898 when Queen Victoria ceded it. Now, it only opens to public on Sundays and that was why we decided to visit Kew gardens on that day…
In front of the cottage, a stacked of hays were arranged in a ring where in the middle was a dude playing a mini guitar and another dude wearing a goblin mask was playing the flute. I created videos of their performance but don’t know why Skyfish can’t upload it…
After the performance of the duo dudes, it was followed by dances from a group of red and white attired dudes. It was highly entertaining watching them as you can spot an extremely enthusiastic fella and another fella who doesn’t know the steps!
Anyway, there were stalls selling broom sticks and exhibition of wood carvings and various wood stuffs…
And we were quite absorbed with the festival, that we didn’t realiesd it was past 4 and we haven’t even made it to the Kew Palace! And off we rushed to continue our journey!
We crossed the Sackler Crossing and reached the Minka House…
Spooky looking dolls, eh? Yeah, it was quite eerie just looking at the dolls and we just rushed through the small house and me screaming “Azalea! Azalea!”
Yes, the Azalea Garden…. I was looking for that place but the thing is…. none of us know how does an Azalea looks like…
But we did indeed found the Azalea Garden and ah ya was situated far far away from it, hiding by the trees, far away from the flying pollens. It was getting windier when we approach the garden and the sound of rustling flowers could be heard from a distance… but we still weren’t sure whether it was indeed the Azalea Garden or Rhododendron Dell…
Walking further down to another glass building, we approached the Palm House. It’s just like the Temperate House, except it’s gone a Rose Garden and statues of mythology creature at the entrance.
At the end of the Palm House, is the Waterlily House….
Surprise surprise, there is indeed a pond inside the building with various waterlilies… but no frogs singing on the waterpads…. dang…
What was fascinating to find in there, is to see cili padi and pineapples! But I’ve never seen a red pineapple and purple cili padi’s before!
The sun dial located just before reaching Kew Palace. How excited I was by the time I reached the sun dial…
*screams* KEW PALACE! KEW PALACE!
Me and Deb were exploring the grounds quite excitedly even though the palace was closed already…. yes… we didn’t make it in time… it was 5 minutes to closing time but what the heck, the grounds is good enough for us!
The many wonderful structures surrounding the Palace grounds…. The top left looks like a well, I think it is a well and it’s not deep enough to be a well…. and overlooking it is a fountain in the shape of a cherub. And more statues surround the garden, and this statue reminds me of Pan…
From left to right, Skyfish, Sweet, ah ya and me seated on one of the lone benches which seem to be everywhere in Kew Garden…
More pictures of the lawatan-sambil-belajar troop. Top left is Deb and Skyfish in front to the Japanese Gateway. On the right is me and Deb leaning over the spiral staircase in the Temperate House.
Bottom left is Skyfish and me on the spiral staircase in the Temperate House with the canopy of tropical trees behind us. And finally, Skyfish, ah ya and Sweet resting again (these ppl keep resting) at the many entrances of the Temperate House. I believed this was taken while waiting for me…. I was quite occupied taking shots of anything in the glasshouse…
Want to give souveniers from London but can’t afford them? Not to worry! Ah ya and Skyfish started collecting pinecones all through out our journey to give out as souveniers… and besides picking, they were throwing it at unsuspecting victims… that is me…. and there was I was… wondering why pinecones kept flying from nowhere around me….
Four lazy bumsteads resting on a bench again…. and they didn’t even leave any space for me!
And of course we must not forget the main stars of Kew Garden, the flowers….
I wonder whether anyone can identify the name of these flowers…
