Kew Palace
**As an interesting bit of trivia, there are a lot areas in NYC that share names with places in London, one of which being Kew Gardens, which happens to be the neighborhood next to ours in Queens.
Kew Gardens, at Kew Palace in southwest London, is the largest and most diverse collection of living plants in the world. It was pretty remarkable. We went there on a Saturday morning, with a picnic lunch. The weather wasn’t terrible but the clouds and sky changed so much throughout the day that it was driving me crazy trying to get the lighting right in the photos.
The area is massive, and we didn’t see it all, but we did see a lot of it, and it was all beautiful. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Princess of Whales Conservatory
The Corpse Flower (Gilmore Girls fans, watch for a reference to this beauty in the upcoming GG mini-series.)
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The “whomping willow” from Harry Potter was modeled after a sweet chestnut tree in Kew Gardnes.
The treetop walkway.
The snoozing baby, the loveliest species of all.
Japanese Garden
We’ve seen lots of peacocks in London parks, but this was the first time we saw one all splayed out.
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This table reminded me of the scene in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader when the old men are asleep at the large feast.
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#realfamilyphoto
We spent hours in the gardens and didn’t have time/energy to go through the Palace, which was disappointing. But a day well spent nonetheless.
Just Your Average Jo 