Flora, but not much fauna.

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This morning we went to mass at Great St Barts, a church built in 1125 as an Augustinian abbey. The interesting part about it is that the nave no longer exists. There is only the quire and the chancel, plus an extension for the Lady Chapel that make up this church. Still, a beautiful building and great liturgy, with the sung parts in Latin; loads of smoke (aka incense). Following mass, we headed off to Kew Gardens, which ended up being a mammoth journey as there were engineering work on the District Line. This required three train changes and a bus change to get there, which would normally is just a single train journey. Ditto on the return journey. The gardens were lovely. We visited some of the greenhouses, including the Temperate House, which had many Australian plants. There was also the Princess Diana Conservatory and one called 'Evolution', which showed the development of plant life since the beginning of time. There was a Woolamai Pine that was planted by Prince Charles earlier in the year. We also visited the Pagoda, the Japanese Gate and garden, and we walked along an elevated walkway that took in the treetops. It was OK, but it is not as good as the one in the Otways.

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Photos

The Palm House.
One of the Victorian glasshouses.

Woolamai Pine.
The one planted by Charlie.

Kew Palace.
The home of mad King George III located with the gardens.

The Temperate House.
The Northern part of the glasshouse.

Xstrata Walk.
The elevated walkway.

The Japanese Gate.
With a japanese garden in front.