I'm staying in a lovely old building right off Hyde Park, near Notting Hill. After checking in on monday I took a walk through the park to the Prince Albert monument and then down to the Victoria and Albert museum. It is about 40 degrees and raining (all week) just like CA in winter. The park is full of fat swans, geese, ducks feeding on sweeping lawns spotted with huge elm trees. The swans are tame, begging for tidbits just like the pidgeons, but huge! I've never been so close to a swan before. I almost did the "Dying Swan" in amongst them on the wet grass.