Flowers and Sunshine

Great Qantas crew on both legs of the journey

Kew Gardens summer colour

Chihuly glass sculpture looking over the lake

Had a photo frenzy at this spot

These ones looked like snakes
rising out of the grass

My fav piece, suspended from
one of the conservatories

The peacocks found us again

In the Japanese garden

How does Chihuly make this stuff?
A man climbed over the fence here
to get a closer shot, got yelled at
by the garden workers but just ignored them.
His wife was so embarrassed.

Everyone was having icecreams in the sunshine so we did too!

24 hours of enforced rest, with yummy food and funny movies, is good for the soul. Lots of little delays in Sydney, Singapore and London pickup so arriving at Ladywell Lodge much later than anticipated, but lets’ go with the flow and get into the sunshine.

We are at Kew Gardens to see the Chihuly exhibition, back to nature. Dale Chihuly is a glass sculptor and there are many of his pieces dotted throughout the garden to discover this summer. But first, we must get some sustenance to stave off jet lag, yeah, the traditional egg sandwich there is one left on the shelf. No elderflower drink so let's try a ginger kombucha and into The Orangery, we go to enjoy our lunch in the sunlight bathed pavilion. 

Time to get walking, down the long avenue, the flowers are divine, the bees are buzzing and kids are in overdrive. There’s something new, right turn down this little path and we have discovered the Hive. Its represents a beehive and resonates like a buzzing bee, also there are a thousand LED lights that glow with the vibrations of bees. But we must move on we have not found a Chihuly piece yet. 

Jane is in full Dora the Explorer mode and finds the first Chihuly piece around a fountain, then she leads us on and on, the red sea monster beside the lake is striking. The crowds get thicker and we are in the zone. Let's go up this path, it leads to the conservatory, inside, wow, there is one from the ceiling, this is so my favourite the glass is delicate but ginormous and the blue is stunning. I like this Dan guy.

15,000 steps later we have discovered every piece, we deserve an icecream.