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When not reviewing Doctor Who this weekend, I was in London with my parents and sister, visiting Linley Sambourne House and then London Zoo on Saturday, and then Kew Gardens and Palace on Sunday. These were not the best days to visit either of the two large attractions - the weather was much brighter than on many Easter weekends and consequently both were thronged. London Zoo in particular was full of people who displayed no respect for the animals, endlessly using flash photography despite the frequent requests not to do so, and, especially at Gorilla Kingdom at London Zoo, trying to provoke the animals. People can be sickening. Kew Gardens fared better, but some of the flowerbeds nearest the paths suffered trampling. A touring children's animal zoo had been brought in for the weekend, as had Giant Rabbit Rescue; the queue to see the rabbits was exceptionally long, but I caught a glimpse of their star, Snowman (who appears on the website) over the serried ranks.
Kew Palace has been successfully restored since I was last there, and one of my pictures has provided the new icon shown. The new display concentrates on informing the public about the lives of Queen Charlotte and King George III and their daughters, with some of the rooms redecorated to resemble the rooms as they appeared; the second floor is left undecorated and with wall panels missing to reveal the way the house - originally built for a merchant in the 1630s - was constructed and then altered. Meanwhile shadows of servants are projected onto walls, and conversation fades in and out. While I think that there were fewer items on display than there were when I last saw the house eleven years ago, those that remained were well-chosen - such as the silver filigree rattle presented to the future George IV by his newly-appointed governess, not long after his birth in 1762 - and the quotations scattered around the house were very telling. On the second floor, where the restored house has been left bare, one notice quotes Princess Sophia in the eighteen-teens writing to her brother George, Prince Regent, that she and her unmarried sisters are 'old cats' and she wonders why George doesn't just ask parliament to legislate for them to be put in a sack and drowned in the Thames.
Kew Palace has been successfully restored since I was last there, and one of my pictures has provided the new icon shown. The new display concentrates on informing the public about the lives of Queen Charlotte and King George III and their daughters, with some of the rooms redecorated to resemble the rooms as they appeared; the second floor is left undecorated and with wall panels missing to reveal the way the house - originally built for a merchant in the 1630s - was constructed and then altered. Meanwhile shadows of servants are projected onto walls, and conversation fades in and out. While I think that there were fewer items on display than there were when I last saw the house eleven years ago, those that remained were well-chosen - such as the silver filigree rattle presented to the future George IV by his newly-appointed governess, not long after his birth in 1762 - and the quotations scattered around the house were very telling. On the second floor, where the restored house has been left bare, one notice quotes Princess Sophia in the eighteen-teens writing to her brother George, Prince Regent, that she and her unmarried sisters are 'old cats' and she wonders why George doesn't just ask parliament to legislate for them to be put in a sack and drowned in the Thames.
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