Kew Gardens

A couple of weekends ago I went to Kew Gardens with a friend. I had been planning to go since I moved over to London three years ago. But somehow it never happened.

But now finally I made it on a glorious autumn day. Enjoy the photos:

 The Pagoda was very fascinating. I took many pictures of it.

 They had a little forest of redwood trees. They were huge, but apparently they weren't even half the size of the biggest ones ever found. That is just crazy!

 Pagoda from afar. There were big 'lanes' running through Kew where you could walk across and watch tree. I love trees. It was so great to be in such a green place in the middle of London. The only annoying thing were the planes heading for Heathrow. They fly really low and are very loud.

 Biggest surviving Victorian glasshouse structure. It looks beautiful. I took this photo from the treetops on the tree walk. Yes, they have a walk inside the treetops. It was amazing! And a little shaky...

 Banana palm. I used to have one. Much smaller though.

 Star fruit. 

 Bonsai. This was hidden away in the garden behind some research buildings. The map they give you is a bit crap.

I was very glad that I went. I might have to do it again in spring. Though autumn was really nice with the trees in glorious colours.

London Aquarium

A couple of weeks ago my sister came to visit me with her husband and my 10 year old nephew. Unfortunately I had to work for most of her stay. But the weekend she was here we managed to hang out a lot.

The first day we headed out to Borough Market. I had never been, but really enjoyed it. It's basically a fresh food market. Though they have some amazing food there. You can get oysters, German sausages, fruit & vegetables, fresh juice and smoothies, chocolate, bread etc. It is really amazing.

Right next to the market they are building the tallest building in Europe. I'm sure it will be finished for the Olympics. It's called 'The Shard' and looks pretty ridiculous.

The next day we made our way to the Sea Life Aquarium. My nephew absolutely loved it there. They recreated different bodies of water. My favourite was probably the mangrove tanks and rainforest ones. Bear with me here. I took a ton of pictures. But it was really hard to get good ones. Most of them are a bit blurry. But I love the colours.

Big sea turtle bang in the middle. They were moving slowly, but it was still hard to get them on the pictures properly.

There are blowfish in these tanks (at least that's what I think they are called). They were behind big magnifying glass. And they were quick buggers. But very cute.

Yay, got the whole fish on there. But blurry again. Sigh.

I can see you!

Penguins! It was really cold in the rooms with the penguins. They loved it, but we had to move on quickly as we had no sweaters with us.

Lots of pictures of water. I really tried to get the penguins on film while swimming. They look beautiful. But again, they are too quick. It's really a shame.

We spend about three hours in the aquarium. It was a great experience. If you are in London, go check it out. Especially if you are here with kids. They will love it!

Houses of Parliament

Finally managed to pull the photos of my camera from my visit to the Houses of Parliament. I met up with a good friend a couple of weeks ago. Through her I got 'access' to the Houses and her husband was so nice to give me a tour. It's a really amazing place.

Once I got the pictures on my computer I noticed that most of them are a bit shaky. I'm just rubbish at taking photos with my phone. Just can't hold that damn thing still enough. Need to buy a new camera.

This is the oldest part of the parliament. The monarchs are usually put up here when they die and the public can go past them to pay their respects. Or you know, make fun of them...

The middle plaque commemorates the place where William Wallace was sentenced to death. Pretty cool, heh.

I'll leave you with the rest of the pics. Enjoy!