伦敦皇家植物园 (邱园) / London Royal Botanic Garden (Kew Garden)

位于伦敦西南方的Kew Gardens（译为邱园）, 全称是Royal Botanic Garden即皇家植物园，收集了约5万种植物。园内规模庞大，除了常规的园林设计，还有专门的野生动物保护区。比起伦敦里的免费公园，邱园的门票不菲，需要16 .5英镑。可它的美总能吸引着游客纷至沓来，我也不例外。  

一进邱园，就被它的占地辽阔所震撼。园内自然景观设计，非常接近大自然的原生态。处处都是纯天然的绿草“地毯”，或茂密的树林，让人忘却了都市的喧闹，只想好好地拥抱大自然。   

这里众多的颇具规模的温室就是特色之一。而棕榈屋(Palm House)是我的最爱。它是由维多利亚时期玻璃与钢结构的建筑，非常有特色，是邱园的地标。棕榈屋模仿了热带雨林的气候， 里面大多是来自非洲，美洲和澳洲的珍稀又频临灭绝的绿叶植物和少有的花种。  

The beautiful Kew Gardens, also known as The Royal Botanic Garden, is situated in South West London and has a collection of around 50,000 various types of plants. It's a massive park, which includes a animal sanctuary for protected wildlife. Compared to most of the free parks in London, it does cost £16.50 entrance fee. However, it will be well worth it, I assure you.

From the moment you step into the park, it takes you a second to take in how big the place really is. It's designed to resemble as close as possible to how nature intended the botanical environment to look. You literally forget about the concrete city a few short steps away.

Kew Gardens features some incredible greenhouse structures, especially Palm House made with original Victorian iron and glass. They create a tropical climate for the plants inside, some of which are rare and almost extinct. They range from regions of Africa, America and Australia. 

 

温室里闷热潮湿，刚一进门就一股子夹带着水汽的热浪扑面而来，但我被眼前茂密，翠绿色的雨林植物所吸引，感觉自己来到了非洲的热带森林。在这片绿林中穿梭，我一边欣赏一边拍照。这里树干的高度，和任何一片树叶的宽度都大得不可思议，非常大气而有魄力。  

It was very humid in there, causing one to start perspiring almost immediately. For a few moments I forgot I was actually still in the UK, lol. As you can see below, some of the plant were simply stunning. 

除了帅气的植物们，也有不少奇花异草隐藏其中。   

温室里是有两层楼，由旋转楼梯可以爬上一层。在二楼的回廊，可以让人从高处仔细观察温室内的植物，真的不错。这是我在楼上往下拍的棕树照。

There are a staircase around the inside of the greenhouse allowing an aerial view of the plants below. Here is a top down photo of some palm trees.    

 

从棕榈屋出来没多远，就是莲花温室（Water Lily House）。温室不大，但珍奇品种却很多。据说玉莲叶子的直径多在一米以上，可以承受一个婴儿的重量。

Another greenhouse near Palm House is Water Lily House. Smaller in size, it's includes a few rare variants of the water lily. It is said the leaves can grow to over 1 metre and hold the weight of a newborn baby!  

园内除了莲花，也展示了部分葫芦科植物。 你看看左下图像不像国内的丝瓜? 

The cucurbit plant is also housed here, shown below. Very beautiful.

此外，威尔士公主温室，高山植物室，澳大利亚室等，亦各具特色。千姿百态的仙人掌，让我忍不住又拍了一张，呵呵。 

Check out the Mickey Mouse cactus!  

 

其实还有太多太美太壮观的植物和风景，但是相机实在拍不出十分之一的感觉。 漫步园中，宛如荡漾在大自然的花香鸟语里。路边美丽的花卉树木，一望无际的草坪和温室的珍贵品种都有她们各自的美丽，让人感到无比喜悦。  此时，一只美丽的孔雀从我眼前大摇大摆的走过，连正眼都没瞧我一下，可谓是一身的骄傲！我安静地停了下来，没有打扰，只是静静地看着。而它也自始自终沉浸在自己世界里。在这里，人与自然，人与动物就这样融合的共处。    

It is an amazing place. The photos I took cannot do justice to how dazzling this place really is. I recommend anyone in London to visit here as it is one of the major tourist attractions in this great city.