Gorgeous Greenery and Plants on Hotels And buildings: Milan, Singapore and More

Parkroyal hotel on Pickering. Photo by Smuconlaw in Wikimedia.commons.org

Problem
How do I get away from the concrete jungle? Skyscrapers with solid walls and no windows straight down onto the pavement? No trees in the street!

Answers
GREEN CITIES
A city filled with greenery on buildings - Milan, Italy.
A garden city filled with trees - Welwyn Garden City, England.
GREEN HOTELS
The Athenaeum Hotel, London, England.
A hotel covered with greenery - The Parkroyal hotel on Pickering, Singapore.

Useful Websites
http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20170925-why-milan-is-covering-its-skyscrapers-in-plants
https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/30/10-plant-covered-buildings-point-greener-future-living-walls-roundup/
https://www.parkroyalhotels.com/en/hotels-resorts/singapore/pickering/stay/rooms.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsZHPBRClARIsAC-VMPCRysdHV8SG7kvuGtRBEnuc_Vqkoiy7zXOs-Sd1vpWWzizM91KY51gaAh75EALw_wcB
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g294265-d3523347-Reviews-PARKROYAL_on_Pickering-Singapore.html
https://www.athenaeumhotel.com/athenaeum-life/off-the-wall/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I am sorting out photos and topics for a couple of new websites.
My quirky travels and anecdotes will stay on this website.
Focused posts with more specific holidays to book and items to buy will be on
New website: luxurytravelforlessblog.wordpress.com
Forthcoming website: luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Greenery walls in Singapore

I remember reading about greenery walls in London and a museum in Europe and wondering how they worked. If you've ever had greenery growing on a house you know it's a real nuisance, and can damage the walls and cause costly repairs. Once system for growing is to keep the greenery on a trellis in front of the wall with a barrier between the wall and the trellis. The word facade, or false face, comes to mind.

In a previous century trees in the street were the novelty. Hence the book title No Trees In The Street. London has streets lined with tall plane trees, plain trees whose chief advantage is that their peeling bark survives traffic pollution and smog.

Driving though France and Italy, those old, straight Roman roads are flanked by tall poplar trees.

Then along came entire garden cities. In England we have Welwyn Garden City. In the Far East Singapore is the garden city with flower-bedecked bridges, a Disneyesque litter-free fairyland. the Skyscrapers are growing. The early four storey buildings were replaced by those ten stories high.

This picture was taken from CapitaGreen building in the Central Business District of Singapore. The nearest MRT (train) stations are Downtown and City Hall. A friend remarked not he swimming pool on the roof of a nearby building. Another building also has a rooftop swimming pool. Rooftop swimming pools often have trees around them to provide shade and the illusion of being out of the city.

Driving back from CapitaGreen, we passed another striking green-covered building in an area I have visited several times, next to an MRT station.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer  

The Wellington Gourmet Pub Restaurant Near Welwyn

The Wellington is a gourmet pub serving yummy food in a historic beamed building. Easy to find in the centre of the old village of Welwyn near the later and larger area of Welwyn Garden City. 

The restaurant menu handily tells you the history of the building and the surrounding including the old church you can see from the front windows.

Upstairs they have bedrooms.

At the back is a car park.

The house next door to the car park has a circular history plaque which you see as you drive in and out. It says that the house was occupied by the sister of the famous Impressionist painter Van Gogh. She taught French at the local school. Van Gogh walked all the way here from the southern coast of England to see her.

On the restaurant walls are many amusing pictures including a wall of cartoons. In addition the wonderful surroundings, the place serves interesting food. You can find conventional food on the main menu. But I suggest you opt for the special of the day written up on a board over the fireplace. We had a vegetarian dish with a mustard sauce.

The Wellington

www.wellingtonatwelwyn.co.uk

Wine Society, Welwyn Garden City Costa Coffee, White Lights

Wine Society
The Wine Society is a co-operative with lots of events at the warehouse cum shop and tasting room in Stevenage. Membership currently costs only £40 to join for life but you get back £20 to spend on their wines.
The wine shop has a tasting dispenser called on Enoteca. You pay for a card which is topped up with however much money you want to put on it. You can then help yourself to glasses of wine costing various prices by putting the card in a slot by the bottle.
The wines are changed regularly.
Within the shop is a bin end shop.
I recently went to their pre-Christmas tasting event. In addition to dry wines, I tried four sweet wines and liked the muscat.
I also got free tastings of their Xmas gifts: super smoked salmon, wild boar pate, good, pudding - can't go wrong, chocolate sticks with mint in the middle and yummy chocolate truffles. Did I mention the nuts, large, more-ish nuts.

Welwyn Garden City Coffee Stop
On the way up we hit traffic and diverted to Welwyn Garden Suburb town centre looking for coffee. Welwyn centre has a John Lewis and Debenhams department stores, a central green, assorted charity shops and several restaurants including Ask, and several coffee shops including Cafe Nero and Costa. We found a parking place for one hour near the Costa which had indoor and outdoor seating and was large and spacious. We shared my favourite raspberry and almond slice. I had a tall hot chocolate. The city centre had white lights for the winter-Xmas holiday season. In Singapore lights come down the day after Xmas, sometimes on new Year's Day, but it the UK they usually stay up until the 12th day of Xmas, January 6th. I sat reading the newspaper and could have stayed all day if the wine tasting hadn't beckoned. the toilets were upstairs, good for me to get exercise. I wonder whether they have a downstairs toilet for wheelchair users. But I had other things on my mind, wine tasting ahead, as we diverted down country roads to avoid the jams. I wrote a little ditty:
Jag-ged Journey
by Angela Lansbury

On winter days I love to drive
And hear old winter tales re-told
Where bright lights bring windows alive
I buy red hats, I leave, all's sold

As autumn nights grow short and cold
Out in the dark countryside
The driver is too late, too bold
Headlights' white glare, I duck and hide

We fly past every dark, deep ditch
The ghostly clouds and dead black trees
I dream of cities where the rich
Enjoy silver and gold cream teas

I dream of log fires, mulled red wine
Of singing by the Yuletide tree
The joy of crowds at Christmas time
Where friends and strangers smile at me.














At the Wine Society the entrance had white winter lights on fir trees.

Xmas gifts in the Wine Society shop included damson, fig, gooseberry, lime or quince chutney.