Kew Gardens

A Proper Good Morning toYou!
Even I get museumed out, so it was time for a change of pace.  Oyster Card in hand I lit out for the famous Royal Botanical Garden at Kew.
Pil, what is this Oyster Card you keep referring to?
The London Transport System is integrated, so cards and passes work on the tube, overground, Docklands Light Railway, suburban trains, and (ugh) busses.  The card is one of those electronic jobs that the passenger taps in using a special card reader on entering and taps out on leaving the transport.  The fare is automatically deducted and is cheaper than the normal single ride fare.  The bearer can add credit by card or cash, and having the Oyster Card saves queueing for tickets and fumbling for change.  I love it!
It took me about an hour to get to Kew from Holborn.  I had to wait and change lines at South Kensington.  It was another beautiful, brilliantly sunny day--a good one for getting out of the city on a nice Sunday afternoon, and a zillion other people had the same idea I did.  I had to wait in line to get into the gardens for about ten minutes.
The ticket clerk asked me if I was over sixty.  I admitted to this and offered my passport.  He told me he would trust me.  I said it would be more flattering if he didn't and forced him to look at my birthdate.  Being older saved me a pound on admission, but I am not altogether sure I am happy about this.
Kew Gardens is huge, but most of the people stay near the entrance where the greenhouses and formal flower gardens are.  I took off for the interior.  My first target was the tree top walk.  I wanted to do this before I got tired.  A very high walkway supported by pylons meanders among a stand of different kinds of trees and offers some lovely views. When I came down I just wandered the many paths. I came upon a lake with swans.  I was often under the trees.  Everything was cool, green, and peaceful, and I blessed myself for having such a wonderful relaxing day while getting in some exercise.  But I do get tired and the afternoons are hot, so I tubed back to the city
I have branched out a bit in the matter of drink.  I have some pear cidre for an aperitif. Very nice!  It's not too sweet and is mildly pearish.  For dinner there is the Other English National Dish--chicken tikka masala.  One can get good and authentic Indian food in London, and I might just do that, but chicken tikka masala is an English take.  The chicken has been braised in a spicy red curry sauce.  It's hot but not very. I'm having mine with rice, and it tastes pretty good.
There's desert, too.  I picked up a traditional pastry in Kew called Maid of Honor.  There's a puff pastry shell and a sweet filling with egg and sugar.  Yum!