Hyde Park

Sunday was "sunny" and "warm" by London standards, so after repotting my coriander (it's still not dead!) Rhys and I hit the park. Hyde Park has bicycles that you can rent for 30 minutes free- known as Boris Bikes after the mayor who initiated the scheme. It was so warm and pretty out that the bike stand was clogged by people trying to figure out how to use their credit card in the machine. You can rent a Boris Bike for 30 minutes for free, and then pay by the hour. But they need your credit card details so you can't just run off and steal it. They did a similar scheme in Paris and people just stole all the bikes, so they are carefully rolling out the London scheme to try to discourage that sort of thing.

After nixing the bikes we had a pleasant stroll to the Serpentine Lake which dominates the centre of the park. After wandering the park for a few hours in the sun and enjoying the flowers and the feel of grass between our toes, we headed to the science museum. There were...lots of sciency things like steam and turbines and tiny mechanical models there. And enormous rockets, model T fords, and mini coopers cut in half. Not really my favorite museum in London so far, but good to get a taste. At least now I know where to direct all those chemical engineers who love steam!

On of the funny things about London parks is that you can rent sun chairs (See below). That's right, you can't just go and sit down and enjoy the rays, or what tiny fraction of sunlight might happen to glance off your skin. Instead you must go to a booth and pay by the hour to enjoy the chair- or if you are extra interested, you can buy a season's pass for £40! Or for those thrifty people, choose to instead enjoy the ground, or a nearby park bench. Like we did! And we did choose the best patch of grass- overlooking the lake and a bunch of daffodils.

Another interesting thing about the park was that it had paths with 3 rows: a bike lane, a people lane (Shared with multiple roller skaters doing some smooth moves), and weirdly, a horse lane. Where do they keep their horses in the middle of central London?

London Eye and tennis courts