The butterflies at RHS Wisley

Yesterday I promised you butterflies and today butterflies it is.  We stopped off at RHS Wisley on our way home, and it seems quite a few other people had a similar idea. The first car park was full, but we struck lucky in the second car park finding a space just as someone was leaving.  As we'd needed to keep our plans flexible we hadn't been able to book a timed slot, so we decided to head straight over to the glass house and check out the queue.

The glass houses are always a good place to head for on a chilly day as they're noticeably warmer than outside. In with the butterflies the temperature goes up a notch or two again, and it's definitely not a place for coats.  As we arrived in the glass house shedding hats, gloves and scarves as we made our way to the queue I made an unplanned stop to capture a couple of photos - I can never resist a bird of paradise (above) and the yellow ones looked spectacular.

I've no idea what the flowers are below, but their stripey detail was exquisite, but it was their symmetry that really caught my eye.  They look a bit lily-ish, if I find the name I'll let you know.

When we reached the butterfly queue, the marker said it was a thirty minute wait from there. The queue seemed to be moving and so we decided to wait. It was a good choice as less than ten minutes - and several more photos - later, we were in and it was warm. And busy. 

Not just people either, there were plenty of butterflies flying about, much to the delight of everyone close by.  We saw many more butterflies than I could photograph, and many of my shots are of them resting. But what I learnt from this visit was how decorative the underside of their wings are too.

The blues on the butterflies was just stunning, and quite often I found myself looking at the plants and then suddenly noticing a butterfly taking a break too. The atmosphere in this part of the glass house was pure amazement, with people pointing the butterflies out to each other and to strangers too.

And I almost missed this one. Stunning isn't it?

"Hunting" butterflies was thirsty work, so lucky we walked past this plant - do you know what it is?

Yes coffee beans, although it's a little way to go before it ends up in a cup, I'm sure.

It seems that this past weekend, highly detailed plants were my thing as I was mesmerised by this one. Isn't it fantastic?  Sadly there's no butterflies on this one, and I spent quite a long time looking for one and encouraging them over, but with no luck.

Just as we were about to leave I spotted another one resting on a plant and put my best "leaning in" skills to use to get as close as I could. All that peering and leaning into greenhouses and places I shouldn't seems to have paid off.

So while I don't have shots this time round of the colourful butterflies, I am pleased with what I managed to capture and pleased that we managed to get along to see them this year.  It was noticeably busier than our visit in 2015, but I'm not sure if that's because our visit was at the weekend rather than a weekday, or because visiting the butterflies are much more widely known.

It was still worth going along though.

If you're planning to go along, then I'd book a timed ticket - while we got lucky with the queuing system, it was busy. The queue was full of young families who were spread out and with parents retrieving stray children so it probably wasn't a true reflection of the queue. There's plenty to see along the way if you do have to queue, but with a timed entry you probably won't need to queue at all.

If you want the butterflies to show interest in you, or one of your party, then wear bright colours. If you don't, then don't of course. There's also usually a lot of butterfly activity around the feeding tables, and this time on our visit we saw the most butterflies while on the upper level of the glass house.

And I'd definitely recommend going along, it is amazing to see butterflies almost the size of an iPhone 5 flying around so close to you.   Have you been, or are you planning to?

Admiring the beauty of São Bento station in Porto

Arriving back at São Bento station after a week in Pinhão, neither of us were quite prepared for the grandeur of the station. You might be wondering why as we'd left Porto by train the previous weekend, but as our apartment in Bomfim was closest to the next station along the line, we'd headed there instead. That station was nowhere near as spectacular, but it was less distance for MOH to drag our luggage, see I really am good to him!

São Bento station is central to the old part of the town and was built on the site of a Benedictine Convent which had fallen into a state of disrepair. The first train arrived here in 1896 but the station wasn't inaugurated until 1915.  There are approximately 20,000 tiles in the mural which dates from 1905-1916 and each of the central panels represent work scenes of vineyards, harvesting, the wine shipment down the Douro and work in the watermill.  

And when I was looking at the beauty in front of me, I knew nothing of that. 

Take a look, they really are amazing.

I wonder if in years to come our tube and rail stations will have people like me taking pictures of them, and being in awe of their beauty?  Who knows, stranger things have happened!

Looking up in Porto at facades and roofs

Ah, just look at those blue skies - I was editing my photos and could almost feel the heat from our trip in October, either that or I had the central heating up a notch or two higher than normal. We've had blue skies here, but they've been distinctly lacking in heat haven't they?

I've already shared some of my tile pictures from Porto, and they are the most obvious part of its charm but as we wandered I was looking up and started to notice some strange going ons on the roofs of Porto. Like many cities many properties are unable to expand outwards, in London there's a trend to dig down, but it seems in Porto for many years the attraction has been to extend up. 

But not just extending, we also spotted plenty of roof lanterns, there's three in the photo below - and yes, you can only just see the top of the third, it was on a relatively busy junction and I didn't get too many chances to get the best shot and live to tell the tale.

I couldn't help but wonder what they were like on the inside. It wasn't long before we walked past our first facade, and in our short time there it turned out we would walk past many.  I had to do a double take to see where the rest of the building was, but the giveaway was the very top floor and being able to see the sky through the openings. 

Even with the graffiti many of the facades are still beautiful, and by retaining the frontage it's most likely what's led to the higgledy-piggledy-ness nature, which is spectacularly charming. I'm sure the recent years and hardship haven't helped many in Porto and of course for some the buildings will also fall into disrepair. 

There was evidence though of building projects which is always a good sign, we know that from redevelopment in London too. The hardship isn't restricted to any one area, although clearly some have been more affected and less affected than others. 

There's a mix of materials used too, just look at the yellow, red and black building below. I think its unusual to have the darker colour at the top, but - and I know it's a smaller footprint - but it doesn't dominate does it? 

Even on the more touristy waterfront there's also upward extensions - my favourite part of the photo below is the pink drainpipe on the black roof extension - quirky isn't it?

Also on the waterfront, snuggled alongside the bridge over to Gaia was this small three storey property - obviously the colour caught my eye, but look at the tiles on the property next door.  In Porto, any colour, any tile pattern really does go!

I lost count of the number of these shed-like extensions, many clad with corrugated steel, some weathering beautifully.

I'm a big fan of looking up - and in Porto it really did pay it was much more rewarding than I ever expected it would, and we noticed parts of the city that I suspect passes many people by.