Outside Class Visit #2: National Archives and Kew Gardens

So Wednesday was a "research day" which means you can either sit in the computer lab all day and try to catch up, or you can go out and visit another site on your own...or gather research for your papers.

So I started off doing some quick research to see WHAT I could find more information about so I could pick a solid topic for at least ONE of my papers. Yea....that is hard. I decided to go to the United Kingdom National Archives (all the while scolding myself for never having seen the U.S. National Archives). It's about a 40 minute Tube ride...and that's if you get on the right train. A couple of flub-ups on the train lines (I picked the wrong one...an easy mistake) until I eventually arrived at the Kew Gardens stop, which is a quick 10 minute walk to the National Archives.


The Kew area is "kewte"...hehe I couldn't resist. I took some pictures of the things I saw initially getting off the train. (Notice that Kew has itw own "storefront library") Kew appears to be a suburb just like any other...tiny houses lining streets and small shops and pubs on the corners. It was a gorgeous day, so I started my walk down to the National Archives. After passing through the gates of the building, well I was overwhelmed by how out-of-place the building looked in comparison to its quaint surroundings. But it's a beautiful place...surrounded by water and very modern.

And as soon as I walked through the doors of the National Archives....well, I was told that their museum and exhibits were closed. All I was able to view was a COPY of the Domesday book and the chest it was housed in. I was not pleased. Of course I was invited to enjoy a £5 coffee in their restaurant or perhaps purchase some souvenirs regarding genealogy at the gift shop, but otherwise that was it...until April 2008 the exhibit is CLOSED. I was so upset! It was a long trip, I was excited to see it, I was by myself, etc.


**The Domesday Book is the most famous and earliest surviving public record. It is a survey and value listing of all land held by the King and his tenants in the late 11th century.**

I was planning on using the Archives visit as one of my off-site (not required) visits for one of the assignments I have. Obviously, since all I was able to see was the gift shop and some replica of a book, this would not work. So, the only other thing remotely interesting at this tube stop was Kew Gardens. I'm typically not the Garden-y type, but I've heard they are beautiful, and figured it was worth it since I made the trip. So I walked all the way over there, paid £12 to get in, and started walking. And it is truly stunning. I went on the perfect day, and took amazing photos. But there is only so much one can do in a garden...without a book to read. So I walked around, took in the sights and smells (that's one thing I wish I could convey on this blog...the fragrant lavendar.....amazing!) and basically walked the paths of the garden for about an hour before I started to wonder if I was getting sunburnt...and headed back to the Tube.



The entire time I was walking this garden, I kept thinking, how am I going to explain this garden being relevant to libraries?! I can't-- it's basically a really pretty yard. It's a garden for Pete's Sake! And I wasn't about to shell out another handful of cash to visit Kew Palace. I continued taking gorgeous pictures and pondering the tie in between library science and the garden. Then I came upon this Taxonomy in Action sign. A-Ha! This is precisely the tie-in between libraries and Kew Gardens. Classification of plants. They're all labeled- they're all organized, they all must be cared of in precise ways, because the plants are from all over the world, have different requirements for sustinence, and of course- the groundskeepers need to know where they put everything! So there it is....taxonomy.

So after my long trek through the gardens (and certainly not even seeing half of them) I headed back on the Tube to Waterloo station, and had some pints with Rachel before going to bed. It was a long day, and I'm glad I went out to Kew. I'm finding that the things I'm most fascinated by tend to be things I don't plan. I had no intention of paying nearly $24. for a walk around a garden, but it ended up being a really good idea-- and a really peaceful place to settle-down in my head and just soak in the surroundings.