Summer Pavillions in Hyde Park

The British Summer has yet to show it's true colours so armed with a mac and an umbrella just in case OH and I set off to Hyde Park on a grey Sunday to view the Serpentine's  Pavilion and Summer Houses. Both the Pavilion and Summer Houses were specially commissioned by the Serpentine and it was essentially an exhibition of architecture. First up the Pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). It's described on the website as an unzipped wall which also houses the cafe. It was a great building as it changed (often  dramatically) depending on where you were stood. The downside was that it wasn't water tight which wasn't great if you wanted to sit down to drink your coffee in the cafe during the numerous summer showers London is experiencing at present! Anyway here are a few pictures of the Pavilion to start with.

There were then three other summer houses which were inspired by Queen Caroline's Temple close by. I must admit that having seen the Pavilion we weren't blown away by these but you can't like everything can you! 

Above is a view of Queen Caroline's Temple, and below is a view inside it to give you an idea of the inspiration

By the time we finished admiring the architecture the sun had started to come out so we went for a little wander around Hyde Park before heading back home. Now you can often hear parakeets in London but I have never seen them this close up before. They normally stay high up in the tree tops. 

However we stumbled across someone who was feeding the birds which was attracting hoards of parakeets (as well as pigeons) and they were very low in the branches. Both of these photos were taken without zoom as I only had my 33mm camera. The only zoom was raising my arms up so the camera was a little closer to the bird.

And just to prove the sun was out here is a reflection of the blue skies on the Serpentine

Never wanting to miss a free exhibition OH and I popped into the Royal Geographic Society which was showing this year's Britain from the Air images.  There were some stunning images from across the country and was well popping into on the way back to the tube.