Place of the Day · City Series

London

Two thousand years of history. One canal-side neighborhood. Seven episodes.

We stayed in Maida Vale — a canal-side neighborhood in northwest London that most tourists never find — and used it as our base to explore a city that rewards the person willing to get off the main drag.

The British Museum. The Tower of London. The South Bank. The West End. Kensington Gardens and Abbey Road. And two NFL games at the most extraordinary venues we’ve ever watched American football in.

This is London from the inside out.

Pillars: Architecture · History · Art · Local Life

The Seven Episodes

EPISODE 1 — MAIDA VALE + LITTLE VENICE
“Home Base”
The neighborhood we stayed in. The canal. The pub named for a Lewis Carroll poem. Every episode in this series starts and ends here.
Pillars: Local Life · Architecture
[Read →] [Listen →] [Watch →]
Companion drink: The Particular → [LINK]

EPISODE 2 — THE BRITISH MUSEUM
“Two Thousand Years of Loot”
8 million objects. The Rosetta Stone. The Elgin Marbles. And the Reading Room where Marx wrote Das Kapital and Bram Stoker researched Dracula.
Pillars: History · Art · Architecture

EPISODE 3 — TOWER OF LONDON + THE MONUMENT
“The Tower and the Fire”
Six ravens. The Crown Jewels. Anne Boleyn’s ghost. And a column 202 feet tall, placed exactly 202 feet from where the Great Fire of London started.
Pillars: History · Architecture

EPISODE 4 — SOUTH BANK + ST PAUL’S + THE CITY
“The View from the Bridge”
The National Theatre. The Tate Modern. The Millennium Bridge walk. And the City of London on a Saturday morning when the bankers have gone home.
Pillars: Architecture · History · Local Life

EPISODE 5 — THE WEST END
“The Postcard and What’s Behind It”
Trafalgar Square. Carnaby Street. Westminster. Buckingham Palace. And the royal park with no flowers because of a story stranger than it sounds.
Pillars: History · Architecture · Local Life

EPISODE 6 — KENSINGTON GARDENS + ABBEY ROAD
“The Secret Statue and the Famous Crossing”
The Peter Pan statue installed overnight by a man who refused to take credit. And the zebra crossing four men walked across on a Wednesday morning in 1969.
Pillars: History · Local Life · Art

EPISODE 7 — TOTTENHAM + WEMBLEY
“Americans Abroad” · Bonus Episode
Two NFL games. Two extraordinary venues. What happens to your relationship with a sport you grew up watching when you see it through foreign eyes.
Pillars: Local Life

The Walking Tour