Kew Gardens

Google maps and Rio to Rome are great apps...they tell what train at what time and even on what platform..so no problems..off to Richmond we go..Arrived Richmond, the apps told us what bus number to take..now unfortunately this is where human error creeps in. Yes, we got the number 65..but as it turns out in the wrong direction. We ended up in Kingston...thanks goodness for  a helpful bus driver. Mind you it was a good way to see the local landscape.
Kew is big- 326 acres, and we got to see about 20% of it.
Managed to crash a walking tour "tremendous Trees". A very interesting tour. It covered mainly northern hemisphere plants -oaks, cedars etc. The final visit covered the early ancestor of the monkey puzzle trees. It is called the Wollemia, a genus of the coniferous tree. Kew has established a grove of them. Humbling to walk Mong and touch trees that were around during the dinosaur period.

The day had got very hot and our ears had been constantly assaulted by the many, many aircraft flying overhead. Airbus 380, Boeing 787's etc..we were under the flight path..a plane flying overhead every minute. So we retreated to the Temperate House. This building dates from 1859 and it is a breathtaking space full of specimens from the temperate world. It was hot inside.

Finally gave up and retreated to the shade of a big tree and rested for a period of time. Not much fun growing old, the stamina has deserted.

                                                        The Wollemia tree, has both male and female reproductive seeds

                                          The Temperate house.

       
                                      The Great Pagoda. Recently restored. First built for the royal family in the          18th Century.

Happy to report the trip home was uneventful.