Kew Gardens

My wife was one of the instructors that went to London on the California State Polytechnic University's "London Quarter" in about 2000.

It is a regular occurence at Cal Poly. Approximately 150 students and 4 or 5 faculty go to London and classes are taught using rooms at the University of London. They take a week off in the middle and students scatter all over the continent, from Stockholm to Cairo. They get somewhat less than the usual 11 weeks of instruction but the enrichment is unparalleled.

The first time I went we took the week (9 days) in the middle and went to Vienna, where we had a very pleasant visit with Dr. Walter Till at the Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna. We, of course, also took in the sights and I have placed some of the pictures at this link. http://www.charlies-web.com/travels/vienna.html. There is a picture of Dr. Till in his greenhouse.

I joined her twice. How could I turn done this much time and a flat in London with no responsibilities? I loved the "Underground", "The Tube". I made several trips to Kew Gardens and what a wonderful place it is.

The second time we took the center nine days and went to Italy, first three days on the Isle of Capri. Then we took the airboat over to Sorrento, got a much less expensive hotel, and then visited various sites between Paestum and Naples. My first station with the 27th Fighter Bomber Group in November 1943 was a dirt strip near Paestum. Paestum is a 600 BC Greek city and several of the buildings are in fair shape. There was nothing left to show our presence there in 1943.

The Princess of Wales greenhouse at Kew Gardens is one of the most recent additions. It has ten different climate zones, all computer controlled. These pictures were all taken in this greenhouse. It is named for Princess Augusta but was opened by Princess Diana.

I have four plants that I photographed and I present them here.

I received corrections to the names from Harry Luther of the Bromeliad Identification Center at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota FL.
Thank you Harry, I appreciate your corrections.

I have to do a lot of scanning to put some of our other "travels" on the page. It is going to be a time before I can get it all done.

Photo 1	Photo 2	Photo 3	Photo 4
*Pitcairnia spicata*	*Pitcairnia spicata*	*Neoregelia johannis*	*Neoregelia johannis*

Photo 5	Photo 6	Photo 7	Photo 8
*Portea grandiflora*	*Portea grandiflora*	*Pitcairnia cf pungens*	*Pitcairnia cf pungens*

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