We walked across the bridge again to Westminster station and after waiting a few minutes until 9:30 AM struck and peak fares ended, we hopped on a District line Underground train to take us to Richmond. We headed first to Richmond Green, the large open park in the center of town and walked across it.

At the far end of the Green was a historical marker describing Richmond Palace, which once stood at the edge of the Green. The area was once set aside as the Manor of Sheen by Henry I. Sheen Palace was built by Edward III but was demolished by Richard II after the death of Anne of Bohemia in 1394. It was partially rebuilt under Henry V as a "castle-like" building surrounded by three religious foundations but work stopped when he died in 1422. In 1485, it came into the hands of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. A fire destroyed the buildings in 1497 which led to the stone Richmond Palace to be built by 1501. Henry VII died at Richmond in 1509. Henry VIII preferred Hampton Court and so Richmond Palace was relegated as a royal site although Queen Mary honeymooned there. The palace was sold off and dismantled under Cromwell and only the stone gatehouse remains as an original part of the palace.

We visited some sites next related to the TV show, Ted Lasso. The facade of May's pub is the real-life Princes Head pub and around the corner on "Ted's Street" is a store dedicated to merchandise from the show. J. R. bought a Richmond AFC coffee mug there.

Janie found the Lindt store and bought a couple of chocolate rabbits since Easter was upcoming. It was time for lunch and we looked at a couple of the pubs that were just opening but decided on Wagamama since we had eaten a lot of pub food lately. The Asian fusion was good and it was a relaxing lunch.

Our final stop was the Royal Botanic Gardens, also known as Kew Gardens. We took the Tube one stop back and walked past a row of nice houses with nice cars to make our way to the Gardens. The ticket lines were slow, with each person taking quite a bit of time, which we did not understand when we reached the front as there were not many options and our transaction took just a few seconds. We looked at our map and decided to go anti-clockwise towards the conservatory.

Our next stop was the Princess of Wales Conservatory. With ten computer-controlled climate zones, the Conservatory is a glassy labyrinth through a series of fascinating ecosystems, including zones dedicated to carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps, and the dry tropics and their cacti and succulents, and steamy zones where tropical orchids and bright bromeliads are planted. First discovered at Kew, the giant waterlily Victoria boliviana floats in the wet tropical zone. Its spectacular flowers open at sunset, close in the morning and open again the next night, turning from white to pink. We had to navigate around several school groups and one harried teacher who kept trying to keep his young charges in order.

We contined on past "the hive", a contemporary art piece that is designed to replicate a real beehive, past the Carbon Garden and Kew Palace and the misnamed Orangery, where apparently no citrus ever thrived.

As we continued our stroll, we came across a fox hanging out and looking for food from strangers.

We walked towards the treetop walk and considered going on it but the lift was broken and having done the impressive one in Singapore, this one did not sem worth the stairs.

While much of the gardens were not yet in full bloom and we decided we needed to come back in the summer, one area that was impressive was the display of tulips and the walkway with numerous cherry trees all in full blossom.

We walked through a couple more greenhouses before calling it a day. There was much more to explore and we will likely come back when we visit London later in the year.

We walked back to the Tube stop and picked up some drinks at the Gregg's in Westminster station and returned to our hotel. Since the Indian place we had seen the night before was not open today, we walked to Slug and Lettuce where happy hour was going on and drinks were 2 for 1. J. R. opted for the Purple Disco Machine with Cherry Drop vodka, blue syrup, lemon juice and Red Bull Forest Fruits, which came with a plastic disco ball. Janie did the hot honey margarita. We had their version of poppers, called Peppadew bites. Janie had the Mac 'N' Cheese and J. R. dined on the chicken katsu curry.

⮜ Previous