Hyde Park & Hard Rock and the Big Bus

 Yesterday it rained and everybody was late for lunch near Hard Rock at Hyde Park Corner. We took the bus, number 75, from outside Baker Street underground railway station, opposite the Sherlock Holmes Museum where you see crowds of people waiting, rain or shine, 

Looking back towards the station and Oxford Street, on the other side of the road is a fine art deco building with a lighthouse half way up, above the doorway.

Art Deco lighthouse above the arched doorway, Baker Street. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Some compete for taxis in the rain. We took the bus passing Marble Arch, along Hyde Park passing the Hilton and other big hotels. 

Oxford Street lights were not yet lit at lunch time but you could see what they would look like.

The statue of the horse, Hyde Park, London.

Taxis and red London buses in the rain at Hyde Park, London.

In Hyde Park I noticed the statue of the horse and a big wheel and fairground sights ready for the holidays. 

Despite the chilly, blowy, rainy weather, the flowers were bright on the window boxes and railing boxes along the streets, including below the windows of Hard Rock Cafe showing tableaux of rock stars in the windows.

Traditional red phone box, red flowers on railings of Hard Rock Cafe. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Red flowers and arched window of Hard Rock Cafe, Hyde Park, near Hyde Park and Green Park underground stations.

Venture inside the first hard Rock cafe, which started the worldwide chain in 1971, and see Eric Clapton's red guitar. We, my family and I, have been to Hard Rock cafe's in places as diverse as Prague, in Europe, and Malaysia, in Asia. There are 171 in 50 countries. 

Open top Buses

With the rain, I was not surprised that I could see nobody upstairs on the open top bus tour buses. I checked out their website and saw it cost a double digit sum, but with a choice of routes and combinations of tickets with other attractions such as a river cruise and the London Eye (the big wheel). All would be much better on a fine day.

However, even with intermittent rain, on a London bus, and walking in the rain, we had a great day out in London.

Useful Websites

https://cafe.hardrock.com/london/

Hard Rock, Malaysia

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/hard-rock-hotel-sentosa.html

https://www.bigbustours.com/en/london/london-bus-tours

https://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/

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