South of Hyde Park

11-30-2008

I had so much fun alone with London, I decided to call her up for a second date. Now, I was just looking for a one day stand with her when I started my day in Greenwich yesterday. But I just could resist her. Beckoning me the way she was, with all she had to offer. 

My goal today was to get to second base with London. How was I going to do that? Go some places I had never gone before and also go some places I have been, but try something new there. First on the list was the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, a little carnival set up with rides, fun houses, little vendors, and a slew of German fare. There was also a creepy animatronic Santa Claus there. If I were a kid, there's no way I'd want to sit on that lap. 

Next stop was a straight shot through Hyde to Exhibition Road. My first stop there was the science museum where I saw the future Japanese automobile, complete with a little computerized companion who's job is to keep the driver happy and awake. You can see his little eyes on the drivers left, as the driver sits in the blue chair in the middle.

Following the oddities of the future, I took in the differences of the past at the Victoria Albert Museum. The highlight for me here was a gallery devoted to musical instruments of the baroque, renaissance, and classical periods.  While they all looked quite familiar and were obviously the precursors to the instruments today, there were some oddballs that looked like they'd be more than fun to play. The care they took in decorating their early pianos and other instruments made them interesting to take a look at, but I would have loved to get behind those cases and try my luck at the strings snapping in my face.

I had seen all the exhibits I wanted to at Victoria Albert, went down the street to the Paper Tiger Chinese Restaurant. Which according to their signage is London's first Szechuan Chinese restaurant.... so there's a fun fact for ya. 

After my eat-as-much-as-you-like for £4 lunch, I ventured back to the science museum because I was much in the mood to take in an Imax film. It was about the ocean and the alien like animals that inhabit our planet in it's depths. Quite an entertaining bit of cinematography. It was narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, and if it weren't for all the screaming children it would have been a perfectly end to my day.