An Icy Full Moon...

Our winter was extra strange this year with snow in early December and ice in early March, both earlier and later than any other year since we’d moved here. On March 2, I had my camera along for a trip into The Hague. The Hofvijver was partially frozen...

...creating some cool patterns of ice. 

This photo doesn’t do justice to how eerie it was to see the sky turn black with starlings.

With icy streets, Jimmy decided not to lay a running trail for that evening’s FILTH hash in Leiden, but rather he led the four of us who braved the cold on a pub crawl. Shockingly, he managed to find four bars that we’d never been to before. The first was so old-fashioned it wasn’t surprising to find this old cigarette machine on the wall.

Feel bad that I didn’t take any other photos, but it was definitely a night to remember.

Orchid Festival...

While our timing was off to visit Temperate House, the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse which would be reopening the following month after a five-year renovation, our timing was perfect for the Orchid Festival inspired by Thailand’s 1,100 species of orchids.

Needless to say, we saw a huge variety of beautiful orchids.

For some strange reason Billy dragged Stanley, a plant that he gave Veronica for their one-year anniversary, around the park all day. Imagine how happy he was when we turned a corner and found the plant’s cousins. Sadly, it’s three months later now and while Veronica and Billy’s relationship is still going strong, Stanley is not.

That evening we went to Ealing to see where Billy lives. The next morning, Ashlynn and I made the easy commute to Heathrow Airport to catch a flight home. What a great visit!

The Hive...

The Hive was an attraction that didn’t focus on plants. Instead, this 55-foot tall structure made from 170,000 aluminium parts and 1,000 LED lights is an immersive sound and visual experience.

Apparently, the lights and sounds inside The Hive are triggered by activity within a real beehive elsewhere in the park.

Mostly I just thought the patterns were really cool.

Kew Gardens...

Dating back to 1840, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens houses the world’s largest and most diverse botanical collection. It is also a massive park that includes this funky treetop walkway, 60 feet high and made out of weathered steel. 

Veronica was very excited to be able to spot where she works at GSK in the distance.

Davies Alpine House was a small glasshouse featuring the small plants that survive above the treeline.

I had to take a photo of Veronica at this spot as it was reminiscent of the Old Well at UNC-Chapel Hill where she was baptized at six months old by Sir Walter’s Hash House Harriers in Raleigh.

The iconic Palm House was built in 1844 to house tropical plants brought back by Victorian explorers from their adventures. The architects borrowed techniques from the ship building industry to design the largest glasshouse at the time, which explains why it looks like the upturned hull of a ship.

It was quite muggy inside and my camera lens quickly fogged up.

Street Art in the Gardens...

At the far end of the gardens was a massive wall filled with fantasy street art...

 ...which made a good backdrop for some photos.

On our way out, we saw some graffiti artists working on the wall near the entrance. As an ever-changing work of art, I can only imagine that the place will look completely different the next time we visit.

Nomadic Community Gardens...

Veronica was excited to bring us to the Nomadic Community Gardens that she had found on one of her earlier explorations of Shoreditch. This garden, combining art with vegetables, was unlike any we’d ever seen before.

The deeper we ventured in, the more I thought about dystopian movies like Mad Max.

There was a lot of art made from recycled tires.

 There was also a huge mish-mash of design elements.

London Street Art...

We saw lots of interesting street art during our visit. Shakespeare was in Southbank...

 ...while the rest of these were in Shoreditch.

 Some involved famous characters...

 ...while others included scultpure.

 Not surprisingly, some made political statements...

 ...while others made questionable statements.