Day Eleven, Kew Gardens

Today we went on a special London Walk to Kew Gardens, which is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. Over the years, Kew Gardens has served many purposes, including growing plants for their beauty, for botanical study, for conservation and for preservation. Today, the gardens have seeds and plants from all native UK species, as well as many plants from all over the world. It serves an important purpose in conserving plants which are threatened in various parts of the world. The gardens cover a huge area and there are many buildings to explore, including one which recreates a tropical rain forest, one which houses a display of water lilies, and one which demonstrates the evolution of plant life throughout history. There was also a "Tree Top Walk" built to allow visitors to view an area of the gardens from the tops of some of the taller trees (warning for motion sickness in the shaky video!!):

Later, after our visit to the Hard Rock Cafe in Cardiff yesterday, Ben wanted to see what the London location had on offer (again with the overpriced food). He first of all got up close and personal with Mick Jagger. We then had a tour of the vault of rock and roll treasures. The guide assured us that the building used to be a bank, and that the vault did once serve as a bank vault. They helpfully allowed the visitors the opportunity to pose with various guitars to have photos made for the bargain basement price of only £10 (about $15). Of course, Ben couldn't resist the lure of the Gene Simmons ax guitar . . . There were TVs throughout the restaurant showing various music videos, but the sound was blaring so loud that anytime the waitress came to our table everyone had to shriek at the tops of our lungs to be heard.

Tomorrow we will visit the Natural History Museum and attend the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London.