We took a Black-cab up to meet Mike and Deb from Chelsea where the Flower Show was. From the Royal Lancaster, where they were staying, is was a short walk to lunch. We all got traditional English dishes and then decided to walk around instead of hopping on to the HOHO. We were already on the edge of Hyde Park and the Shackleton statue was directly across the park. So we strolled along, picked up a few new birds for the list, saw the Princess Diana fountain and watched multiple dogs go by. We sat on a few benches along the way to soak up some of the English springtime. From one of these benches we watched a raven fly into the trash bin, pull out fast food bags to get to its favorite, chips bags. A nice couple stopped, put all the trash back into the bin and shooed the raven away. Any guesses how long this worked for? The Shackleton statue was on the outside of the Royal Geographical Society as was the Dr Livingston statue. This was also just a block from the Royal Albert Hall. This is when we decided to take an Uber to Abbey Road Studios. The classic street crossing was very busy with people that actually need to cross and people waiting for a clear picture. We tried to do the walk but the guy I asked to photograph it was not so good. We stopped in the shop, stood next to some folks from Ft Lauderdale and then walked to a pub. It was even more busy because it was right next to the cricket stadium. We scored a four top but the cooking gas ran out so they closed the kitchen. We needed some food if we were going to drink so we looked up another pub. As we were leaving I saw a bloke looking at a picture on his phone with his mate. I glanced at the picture and it was of me! It was a bad shot so I posed for them properly. Our walk took us past the cricket stadium where there were several folks trying to help us find our seats. We did not even make it to the next pub because we could see it was overflowing with people from a block away. Luckily for us, our deliberations took place in front of a Greek restaurant. We turned around, entered and dinner was served!
Here they are at the Hotel
A spot for lunch
Outdoor seating for four
The classic fish and chips
A steak and mushroom pie with a crusty lid
The Swan was had fine eats
Fuzzy buddy the fox terrier
We are getting fancy now!
The Rolls Royce of ice cream trucks
Two bears and a wood pigeon walk into a fountain...
Staffordshire Terrier busting through the crowd
Great Blue Heron
The peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park
Rats
Fairies
Peter pan, what you wearing up there/
We saw a similar duck in Christchurch but this one is a Greater Scaup
Great Cormorant
Iceland Gulls
New bird, the Gadwall
Big fish or seaweed?
The Great Crested Grebe is a big bird
Two are even bigger still
The biggest bird of all
Princess Diana fountain
It is a ring of flowing water
The most unique fountain we have ever seen
We are here!
The Prince Albert Memorial
This Common Raven is a bruiser
He flew into the trash can and pulled out the trash, after a good Samaritan had picked up all the trash and stuffed it way down into the bin
Do not mess with the raven
Mike had researched the location of the Royal Geographical Society to see the Shackleton statue
Dr Livingston I presume
Shackleton himself
More of our exploratory party
Exploring all of London for a stiff drink and a tasty bite to eat
Hounslow the other way
Lovely brick buildings in this district
The Royal Albert Hall
The dog walkers are out
Prince Albert Memorial
We take an uber to Abbey Road
It is busy outside the studios
Even more so in the shop
The famous walkway
Coo-coo-ka-chew
The smallest of guitar cases
We tried to recreate the walk but random guy as the camera operator was an error
The magnet sums it up nicely
There were many frustrated drivers that had to wait for folks to get the best picture
Off we go for a drink
This place was hopping but we got lucky and found an open four top. We then got unlucky as they ran out of gas to cook with and the kitchen was shut down
Off we go past the cricket stadium
In search of liquids
This is not appealing but Mike and Deb are quickly dehydrating
Life giving water is so threatening
We were headed to this pub but it was standing room only
So we picked this restaurant instead, Greek Food
Fine indoor and outdoor seating
The crowds for the cricket match are parading by the windows
Cricket attire
The sun is setting and we head back to Windsor
