Tuesday, April 23, 2019: London Theatre 2: Admissions

We used the tube a lot today.  While maybe old hat to others, the tube system has a new wrinkle for me.  Gone are the days either paying in cash or buying and loading funds onto a Oyster card.  The London subway now uses contactless credit cards.  You tap the card upon entering and leaving each station.  Payment is charged to the card and the system keeps track of daily and weekly usage and the price is capped at the maximum daily or weekly rate.  No more worrying about what is the best option.  I'm told that all US AMEX cards work and "most" US Visa cards work.  But they have to be the contactless cards.  And each person needs a different card.  Two people can't ride on one card.  It is a great system.  Of course, you still have to MIND THE GAP.
Our excursion today takes us to Kew Gardens, also known as the Royal Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO world heritage site, of 330 acres located in southwest London.  The Gardens has many species of plants and flowers from all over the world.
This tree caught my eye, the monkey puzzle tree.
CHIHULY, the glass artist, has sculptures all over the Gardens.
I have way too many photos of Chihuly pieces to fit into a blog but here are several examples.
During our nine miles of walking today, we find sustenance dining outdoors at the Botanical Cafe
where the drinks are partially made from plants.  I have the Augusta, for the Dowager Princess of Wales, made from gin, sugar lemon dandelion & burdock bitters, grapefruit with rosemary and dandelion leaves.  Bev has the Glass House made from white peach syrup, white hibiscus & peach green tea, grapefruit & rosemary tonic with a sprig of tarragon.  This is not on every bar menu.
This is the "hive", a rather strange grid-like structure where the sounds of bees are amplified and played over speakers.  Weird.
Kew Gardens also has a tree-top walk which presents a nice view at tree top level.
Oh yes, I promised you theatre.  Yesterday's theatre tickets were purchased on-line in advance of travel.  Today we decided to use the TKTS booth in Leicester Square for "day of" tickets.  Alas, the play that we wanted for today was sold out.  So we used the concierge at the hotel to obtain tickets to that play on Thursday and also Friday night's musical for us.  Today we see Admissions at the Trafalger Studio theatre.  It is a drama about an admissions director at a New England prep school striving to get minority students to apply.  Little does she know what effect that would have on her son who is going through the admission process for college.
I'm still trying to perfect this "selfie" thing.
Tonight we do "after theatre" dessert at Furro, near Leicester Square, a great Italian restaurant recommended by the concierge.  We start with prosecco, of course.
Bev has the panna cotta with raspberry sauce
and I have the Neapolitan rum baba with limoncello.
Wow.  I've gone on far too long.  Sorry about that.

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