Boris Bikes, originally uploaded by kdt.

Cycling in a big city can be exciting. London is pretty calm compared with Beijing and Shanghai the traffic is slow and generally respects bikes and the road rules. Perhaps, the hardest thing isn’t the environment around you but the inner compass.

We had plans to cycle to the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was “close” and Boris Bikes were just around the corner from our hotel. After some very slow credit card transactions we got ourselves a 7 day pass and got our first bikes from the racks.

We arrived at our first turn, we had a choice of going left or right at the Strand. I was convinced that right was right and Helen was convinced that left was right. I’ve been known to be disoriented in cities before, so we followed Helen’s conviction.

We cycled along the Strand and took some turns in the “correct” general direction. I could see any signs or monuments, but Helen was convinced. As we cycled along she said “Look St James we must be getting close”. All I can say is that St James is quite popular. We kept going. I was feeling increasingly out of the way. Finally I demanded the iPhone and noticed that we had gone the wrong direction!!

Right was Right.

We ended up cycling past Kings Cross, along Euston Road, then down Bloomsbury Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, Picadilly Circus, Pall Mall.

We then arrived in front of Buckingham Palace. There seemed to be 10 million people there. Asking a local bobby we found out that it was changing of the guard. Here is a random holiday tip. The best time to cycle around Buckingham Palace is at about 11:00. No traffic!

Oh, btw, we did manage to the V&A eventually.