Wednesday

Another full day. We had another fairly late breakfast in the very crowded breakfast room. Lots of foreign accents around as you would expect – not many speaking English. By contrast with the Ibis that Mary and I stayed in 2 years ago in East Aldgate, there are very few black faces at the hotel. Not sure if I should say that really, but it was very much more colourful at the Ibis – no pun intended.
Off to the Underground just a few 100m down the road. Arrived at Kew Gardens about 10.45 and had a bit of a stroll around Kew Village. Paul bought another set of pressure stockings as his airline stockings are wearing out due to his need to wear one each day to help his leg.
It was a lovely morning and we really enjoyed strolling at leisure around Kew. The only fly in the ointment was the constant noise of incoming aircraft to Heathrow. I counted the seconds between them and they we arriving between 30 and 50 seconds apart. Some huge planes and just a few smaller ones. No wonder Heathrow is so congested. It was fascinating to see it from the ground.
Anyway, Kew is fantastic. We went from greenhouse to greenhouse (they are really too grand to be called greenhouses) saw amazing lily pads some almost 1m in diameter. We walked for hours taking in as much as we could, including the compost site. It was hard to find, but there was a viewing platform and the scale of the compost making was enormous as you could imagine.
A very nice lunch at one of the restaurants, then back on the tube. We took a fairly long journey to Canary Wharf. Paul wanted to go to the Museum of London Docklands, then the intention was to go on to Greenwich. However, the museum took so long. It was a classic case of information overload and would require several visits to take it all in. A really worthwhile visit showing the history of the Docklands from Roman settlement thru to present day. Set over 3 floors in the 200 year old former West India Quay, history was traced from prehistoric, Roman, medieval, Tudor and Stuart London to present day.
We then made our way back to Canary Wharf and the Jubilee line (right in the middle of the financial district) right on 5.20 rush-hour. What a horrible experience and just what I hoped to avoid. I was all for stopping and having a drink and letting the worst pass, but Paul was feeling the pain by that stage and just wanted to go home. Talk about bloody sardines in a can. I have to say that I had to do a lot of serious talking to myself to avoid complete panic at times. We had to make a couple of changes, but in the long run got back to Bayswater station by 6 pm. Just in time to find the Tescos for some water and some wine. Now partaking of both with alternate sips.
After a well earned rest we will wander down to the ‘village’ and find somewhere to dine out of the dozens of restaurants on offer.
One day left in London – haven’t made up our minds what to do tomorrow, other than to avoid rush hour (me).
Thanks for all the comments, keep them coming.