London: Yesterday and Today

Parkrun

Parkrun organizes 5K runs on Saturday mornings at 9:00 with about 60 different sites around London where people run or walk and generally socialize. Registration is free, easy, and required.

Natural History Museum

This mammoth museum is housed in a giant and wonderful Victorian, Neo-Romanesque building. Its huge collection (50 million specimens) delightfully captures the 19th-century penchant for accumulating one of everything. Exhibits are wonderfully explained, with lots of creative, interactive displays. It covers everything from life ("creepy crawlies," human biology, our place in evolution, and awe-inspiring dinosaurs) to earth science (meteors, volcanoes, and earthquakes).

Victoria and Albert Museum

The world's top collection of decorative arts encompasses 2,000 years of art and design (ceramics, stained glass, fine furniture, clothing, jewelry, carpets, and more) is a surprisingly interesting and diverse assortment of crafts from the West, as well as Asian and Islamic cultures. There's much to see, including Raphael's tapestry cartoons, five of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, the huge Islamic Ardabil Carpet, a cast of Trajan's Column that depicts the emperor's conquests, and pop culture memoriabilia, including the catsuit Mick Jagger wore for the Rolling Stones' 1972 world tour.

Spitalfields Market

Spitalfields is one of London's most thriving new/old market halls. A marketplace was first established in its spot — just outside the walls of The City — in 1638, licensed by King Charles I for the sale of "flesh, fowl, and roots." The market halls went up in 1893, were modernized in the late 19th century, then renovated again in the early 21st century.

Picadilly Circus

London's most touristy square got its name from the fancy ruffled shirts — picadils — made in the neighborhood long ago. Until several years ago, Piccadilly was a famously busy traffic circle, with cars and big red buses spinning around the statue. Though still busy with cars, now it's also a packed people zone. At night it's as bright as day, with neon lights pulsing and the 20-foot-high video ads painting the classic Georgian facades in a rainbow of colors. Black cabs honk, tourists crowd the attractions, and Piccadilly — once a glitzy center of razzle-dazzle — is now just commercial and low-brow with the volume cranked way up.

Katherine Alcock

Katie is a prize-winning Blue Badge guide.

Bates Hatters

Bates has sold bowlers and top hats for a century. It's located inside Hilditch & Key, one of several dapper shops along the West End's venerable Jermyn Street.

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a large square, teeming with street performers, surrounding an iron-and-glass arcaded covered marketplace. The area is a people-watcher's delight, with cigarette eaters, Punch-and-Judy acts, food that's not good for you (or your wallet), trendy crafts, and row after row of boutique shops and market stalls. The Actors' Church of St. Paul, Royal Opera House, and London Transport Museum all border the square, and theaters are nearby.

The Orangery at Number Sixteen

Taking afternoon tea in the leafy garden or conservatory of Number Sixteen, a recommended small luxury hotel, is delightful in every way, including its price.

British Library

Here, in one gangly room, are the literary treasures of Western civilization, from early Bibles to Shakespeare's Hamlet to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to the Magna Carta. You can see the Lindisfarne Gospels transcribed on an illuminated manuscript, Beatles lyrics scrawled on the back of a greeting card, and Leonardo da Vinci's genius sketched into his notebooks. The British Empire built its greatest monuments out of paper; it's through literature that England made her most lasting and significant contribution to civilization and the arts.

Battersea Power Station

Inside the converted power plant, along with its shops and eateries, you'll find a small museum, remains of a turbine and control room, and Lift 109, an elevator that rides up and down inside a chimney. It slides up and waits at the top for 10 minutes while you enjoy the city view through the glass.

Coal Drops Yard and Granary Square

Once a symbol of blight and urban decay, with derelict buildings and contaminated land, this area is now a success story: The neighborhood is cleaned up, and a thriving commercial center and shopping complex bustles upon the foundation of its Industrial Age predecessor. A towering and circular frame of an old gas works survives, now incorporated into luxury apartments. Nearby, eye-catching condos and apartment towers peer over Regent's Canal.

St. Pancras Station

St. Pancras is the most impressive of London's train station makeovers. Starting in 1996, a massive £800 million investment project re-energized this station (and its surrounding rust-belt neighborhood) with the sleek Eurostar terminal.

The Garden at 120

This 15th-floor garden makes a free, easy, and memorable side trip while exploring The City. From this lofty perch — which feels like a lovely, picnic-friendly public garden, redolent of rose and jasmine — you can see old and new London.

Leadenhall Market

Initially the site of Londinium's Roman Forum, this spot has hosted 2,000 years of commerce. It was named for the new-fangled lead roof of the medieval market hall. Today's hall — a classic 19th-century Victorian structure, still sporting its evocative iron meat hooks — is a getaway for office workers, with taverns, shops, and sometimes even an old-fashioned shoeshine station. The creaky old market's juxtaposition against high-rises is thought to have inspired J. K. Rowling to create Diagon Alley; in the Harry Potter movies, the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron was filmed here.

Gordon's Wine Bar

Gordon's is a candlelit 15th-century wine cellar filled with dusty old bottles, faded British memorabilia, and nine-to-fivers. At the bar, order one of their cheese-and-meat platters and consider the many varieties of wine and port available by the glass. The low, carbon-crusted vaulting deeper in the back, which shakes as Tube trains pass, intensifies the Hogarth-painting atmosphere. Although it's crowded — often downright packed with people sitting at shared tables — you can probably find a spot. When sunny, the crowd spills out onto the tight park-side patio, where they have table service, but the atmosphere inside makes it worth going indoors.

See the Travel Details above for recommendations highlighted in bold, excerpted from Rick's guidebooks.

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Hey, I'm Rick Steves back with more of the best of Europe, and right now it's tea time as we're exploring a city that for 2,000 years has been an exciting work in progress. It's "London: Yesterday and Today." Thanks for joining us!

Yesterday's London ruled a quarter of the planet — and we'll see the galleries, the museums, and souvenirs of empire. And today's London celebrates that heritage while embracing change. It's about the people. We'll eat, drink, and laugh with Londoners as they embrace their city with a uniquely British love of life.

Sure, there's the Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and the Houses of Parliament with iconic Big Ben — plenty for another episode. But this time we'll experience London by running with the locals. We'll get fancy at an afternoon tea, try on a bowler, or — blimey! — maybe even a top hat. We'll sleuth out street art and sample London's tasty diversity on a food tour. And we'll be inspired by how its industrial past is now a foundation for a promising future, from rejuvenated industrial canals to gardens in the sky.

London's a world-class sightseeing destination, but enjoying its charming parks, like St. James's, is a great reminder that for literally millions of people it's simply home. These inviting green spaces, once the hunting grounds of kings and nobles, are now the domain of commoners embracing life, just enjoying a break from the urban intensity of this city.

Anywhere in our travels, the experience is carbonated by meeting the locals. And here in London, that's particularly easy. It's Saturday morning and across town, people gather for a 5k run.

Running leader: Three…two…one…
Group: Yay! Woohoo!

This run is hosted by an international organization called Parkrun. There are dozens of these in London alone and we're jogging through Hyde Park — green, beautiful, and lots of fun.

These parks, while a nature lover's delight, also help to tell the city's story. Enjoying a place of honor here in Hyde Park is a statue of Prince Albert.

Much of the London we enjoy today was shaped during Britain's glorious Victorian Age. This was the age of Queen Victoria, who ruled for 64 years, until 1901.

The Victorian Age was an exuberant time. The Neo-Gothic Albert Memorial reminds London how Victoria's beloved husband, Albert — the only one who called her "Vicky" — did so much to promote technology and culture during that industrial boom time. The statues at the base herald the great accomplishments of Britain's 19th-century glory days.

Albert died in 1861. His wife, Queen Victoria, was possibly the world's most determined mourner. She wore black for the standard two years — and then tacked on 38 more for good measure.

Taking mourning to new heights, she required that the city's once colorful finials be painted black — as they remain to this day. The queen built grand monuments to her Albert, like the Royal Albert Hall, still a thriving venue for concerts, from classical to pop.

And this neighborhood, nicknamed Albertopolis, remains a collection of grand cultural centers and museums.

The Natural History Museum — complete with a dinosaur's welcome in its Evolution Garden was purpose-built in the 1870s to showcase a vast collection of wonders from the natural world. Charles Darwin holds court as the bones of a massive whale named Hope — who washed ashore in Ireland a century ago — greet visitors. The museum's a hit for families and students, especially with its animatronic T-Rex.

Next door, the immense Victoria and Albert Museum is named for the royal couple who did so much to support the many triumphs of their day. Like so many of London's top attractions, it's free. The V&A grew out of the Great Exhibition of 1851. This first World's Fair, housed in a temporary glass and steel "people's palace," celebrated the Industrial Revolution and the greatness of Britain. The theme of the museum's Britain Galleries is style, taste, and design from 1500 through 1900.

Four hundred years of English fashion history are corseted into a series of exquisite display cases. This painting, from around 1600, is of a woman wearing this actual garment. It was typical formal daywear: linen and silk embroidered with silver thread. Nightcaps were fashionable among aristocratic men. This tortoiseshell and silver toiletries kit shows that in 1640, careful grooming was as important as dressing magnificently.

In the 1670s shoes were called "straights," and there was no difference between right and left. Whalebone and lacing kept torsos flat and long. Fans were a tool for flirting. It was said, while a man's weapon was a sword, a woman's weapon was a fan…and the fan did more damage. In the 1740s a rich woman's court dress was an extravagant display of wealth — even if it meant she entered rooms sideways. And the huge collection illustrates the far reach of the British Empire, from its exquisite Indian art to its sumptuous hall of Chinese artifacts.

The Hall of Casts is filled with plaster copies of Europe's greatest statuary, ideal for London's 19th-century art students who couldn't afford to travel. They could compare the Renaissance genius of Donatello, whose David was Europe's first male nude since Roman times, and that of Michelangelo a century later, with his more heroic David. And, around the back, you'll find that this David came with an accessory.

As this was the famously prudish Victorian Age, when aristocratic ladies would come to visit they'd hang this fig leaf on the statue for modesty.

Well, times have changed and there's not a fig leaf in sight in London's trendy East End. Once a rough and tumble immigrants' neighborhood, today it's a creative playground for artists and chefs alike. London's looming skyscrapers tower above the East End like a tsunami wave ready to crash this party, but life here seems more focused in the present.

We're joining a food tour for a tasty education.

Max: Hey, guys. I'm Max with Eating Europe. We're going to go on a food tour today in Spitalfields Market and the East End. This is where culture, immigration, and food all meet. Spitalfields Market was a fruit and vegetable market for over 300 years. Today, Spitalfields Market is just filled with these incredible food stops. It doesn't matter what it is — as long as it's good, it will find itself here.

First up, a cheese plate appetizer.

Max: Alright. We have got a lovely creamy blue cheese, then we've got a really light French cheese here, Comté. This is a Swiss Alpine cheese, nutty, creamy, delicious. Help yourselves, guys. We love cheese over here. We — we — we love it!

Max: OK. Curry sauce: Big in this country. We've got three here. Butter chicken, black lentil dal Maharani, railway lamb. That will be the spiciest, but it's all pretty English-spicy . Curry in the last 20, 30 years has become the UK's national dish. There are 5,000 more curry houses in this country than there are fish-and-chip stands. The East End is by far and away the best place to have a curry in London. This street alone has more than 30 curry houses on it. It's the spiritual home of the Bangladeshi community. You will notice, though, every curry house on Brick Lane says it's the best on Brick Lane.

Max: The East End has centuries of layers of cultural history. The French were here, then the Jewish were here, then the Bangladeshi community, and now the hipsters are here.

Max: If you wanna come and see street art in London, you come to the East End. This is not just graffiti; this is art. This is a way of people — the voiceless — expressing their voice with their spray cans, and every one of these pictures tells a unique story. If you come back here this time next year, all of this will have changed. All of it will be different. New stories for new people in a neighborhood that is ever-changing. Everywhere you go around the East End, every street you turn, there is always something new and something beautiful.

Max: It's time for an East End classic: fish and chips.

Max: And here are our fish and chips. Fish and chips was made — invented — in the East End in the 1850s. It is still an absolute icon of this area. So: We have curry sauce here — quintessentially British. You can slather it on. You can dip. Same with the mushy peas. It's like a thick split-pea soup; it goes perfectly with chips. Tartar sauce there. You've got your pickle or "gherkin" or "wally" — if you're from the East End, it's a "wally." Salt and vinegar is crucial. It's mandatory. Vinegar first, then the salt so the salt sticks. Oh, yeah.
Rick: Health food!

And just when it feels like you couldn't eat another bite, we head back to Spitalfields Market for one final British delight.

Max: Crumble is the quintessential British dessert. Stewed apple in sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon. On top of that, you've got your shortbread layer, kind of crumbled shortbread. On top of that, you have your warm vanilla custard. On top of that, you have our non-traditional crumble ingredient: pink piped marshmallow, which is then lightly blowtorched and then sprinkled with some rose petals. Perhaps the most hipster crumble you will ever see possibly in your lifetime. The trick is: Dig right the way to the bottom — get every single layer on that spoon. Not so humble anymore.

Back downtown, Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of London, has a magnetic attraction all its own. With its tipsy, yet somehow balanced statue of Eros (the Greek god of love) in the center, this is where tourists gather and where worlds of temptations fan out in all directions.

London is a great city for shopping, or — depending on your budget — window shopping. You'll find everything from venerable departments stores to high-fashion boutiques, to traditional clothiers. There's funky street markets and food halls and ever-popular toy stores — always a hit with children.

For some local expertise on this scene, I'm joined by my friend and fellow tour guide, Katherine Alcock.

Katie: These kind of shopping arcades became enormously popular in the Victorian period, when fine Victorian gentlemen and ladies could do their shopping, but out of the effects of the inclement English weather.
Rick: The London rain.
Katie: Absolutely, yeah. Gotta keep dry while shopping.

And all over London you'll find inviting little shops for whatever treasure you fancy.

Katie: This is the street where you can buy anything that a gentleman needs, really. I mean, traditional shaving brushes, historically made of badger hair…
Rick: Badger hair!
Katie: Yeah, absolutely.

And many of London's finer traditions are wearable [as seen in Bates Hatters]. Try on the classics. A panama hat.

Katie: Oh, yeah. Very nice. Yeah. I could see you at the cricket in that.
Rick: Cricket tomorrow?
Katie: Yeah.
Rick: I'll fit right — I'll fit right in.
Katie: Yeah.

A top hat.

Katie: Oh, nice.
Rick: And people wear these?
Salesman: Yeah, at Ascot, certainly.
Rick: Ascot, yeah.
Salesman: Garden parties…
Rick: Everybody — every —
Katie: A proper English gentleman.
Rick: Every proper Englishman needs one.
Katie: Absolutely. Absolutely — one in every wardrobe.

And how about a bowler?

Rick: Oh, that feels better. Yeah?
Katie: Yeah.
Rick: So this is my go-to-work. I got my briefcase, my umbrella…
Katie: Your workaday hat. Yeah.
Salesman: Newspaper. See what's happening.
Rick: Go local.

Touristy Covent Garden, once a produce market and now a thriving shopping scene, is a never-ending carnival of people enjoying life, with the help of enchanting buskers.

Afternoon tea is a great British tradition, and London does it with style. While often taken in a fancy department store, I prefer the experience in an intimate garden [as at the Orangery at Number Sixteen].

Katie: Traditionally, you start with the sandwiches. Got egg mayonnaise, cucumber, and mint here. You've got cheddar and caramelized onion and smoked salmon and cream cheese. So this is a very traditional selection. You should never be afraid of making a little bit of a mess with afternoon tea. I mean, the point — the point is to enjoy it, yeah. And it's very much finger food.
Rick: So when I think of tea in England, I think of…empire.
Katie: Umm. The two are inextricably linked, that's for sure. And, I mean, really, for the past 300 years, Britain has been obsessed with tea, the drink. It's driven wars. It's driven innovation. I mean, some of the fastest ships in the world, the great tea clippers — which would race across the oceans to bring the first harvest of tea into Britain for the highest price — fueled a whole industry and a whole world around it.
Rick: Here's to tea!
Katie: Here's to tea!
Rick: I'm liking this tea. And everything is just exquisite. It's artful.
Katie: Afternoon tea must always present well.
Rick: So there's two different kinds of scones?
Katie: Right. You've got fruit scones, which I'm gonna have, and plain scones as well. So the sign of a good scone is that you don't need to use a knife. You should just be able to pull apart with your bare hands. There we go.
Rick: So that's a good scone.
Katie: That's a very good scone. Yep. On the scone, you put a little bit of jam — I like to do the jam first — then I follow it up with a little bit of clotted cream.
Rick: Oh, that looks low-calorie.
Katie: Hmm.

Katie: Definitely a decadent treat.
Rick: Yes.

Rick: Tea and scones with clotted cream. It doesn't get much more British than that.
Katie: It certainly doesn't.
Rick: Mmm…exquisite.

London's subway — fondly known as the Tube — is one of this planet's great people movers, and easy to master. You just tap in and tap out with your credit card, then, follow signs to the right platform. And always…

Recorded announcement: Mind the gap.

And in a few minutes, we're at the British Library.

The British Library is the national archive. The statue of Isaac Newton measuring the immensity of the universe symbolizes the library's ambitious purpose: to preserve the record of man's endless search for knowledge. This massive building fills 180 miles of shelving with over 12 million books.

For sightseers, only one room matters: the Treasures Room. It showcases early gospels on papyrus, the first complete New Testament — written in Greek from the fourth century, illuminated manuscripts with pages lovingly illustrated by monks — creating some of the finest art of the Middle Ages, and the Gutenberg Bible from 1455 — printed with revolutionary movable type. The Magna Carta, from 1215, documents the first steps toward government by people rather than kings…and the king was forced to hang his seal on it.

Cases are dedicated to the titans of English literature, showing, for instance, early editions of Shakespeare's plays. You'll see precious musical manuscripts: a hand-written score of Handel's Messiah, a Beethoven work tracing his stormy creative process, and handwritten Beatles lyrics. And you can ponder the evolution of maps. In 1350 this view came with Jerusalem at the center of the world. By 1550, with this, you could plan your next trip to England.

London's a work in progress — always changing, always growing. Since the Middle Ages, its kings, queens, armies, and navies have played a leading role in the story of Europe. In the 19th century, it was shaped by the Industrial Age. And today, London has become a leader in regeneration — incorporating its rich and rusty industrial heritage as it builds for the future.

Katie: So this is the Docklands. And it is a great example of regeneration. But at one point, this was the busiest port in the world — until the advent of container shipping, when the port moved out and this became an industrial wasteland. But just look at it today. It's a landscape of skyscrapers. In fact, when constructed, it had the tallest skyscraper in Britain. And today, it's a place where workers have fantastic infrastructure. There are beautiful, green open spaces. It's a wonderful place to live and work.

Just up the River Thames, the Battersea Power Station is another great example of regeneration, with its four iconic stacks no longer billowing smoke but still standing tall.

Rick: This must have been a big deal in its day.
Katie: I mean, it produced a fifth of the city's energy, so it was pretty vast, and it was burning coal. So, of course, the problem with that is that it's filling up everybody's lungs with soot and smoke, and the city in those days was not a pleasant place to be. In 1983, they shut it down, and it was derelict for decades.
Rick: It's not derelict now.
Katie: No. It certainly isn't — certainly isn't. Rather than a sort of urban blight, it's surrounded by modern condos, really expensive and well-designed for good living.
Rick: And they sure take advantage of this riverside setting.
Katie: Right! I mean, this park-like landscaping stretches right to the river. It's only June — and this kind of heat is becoming the new norm. And those piers that once received coal now receive tourists.

Today, what was a power plant is now an upscale mall with over a hundred shops and eateries. Upstairs a small exhibit celebrates its gritty past. And visitors can ride a glass pod up the inside of a chimney! It goes up, up, up…until it pops into the sunlight. The reward? A commanding 360-degree view of London.

Over the river, Coal Drops Yard and Granary Square is yet another impressive regeneration project. Here, in the 19th century, this canal connected London with England's industrial heartland in the north. Today the canal, with its barges and towpaths, is used not for hauling coal or grain, but for recreation.

Rick: I can feel the industrial foundation, and at the same time, it's so livable.
Katie: Right, yeah. I mean, this is where bargeloads of coal were loaded and unloaded to power the Industrial Revolution.
Rick: I remember when I came here as a kid, broken glass…
Katie: Oh, yeah.
Rick: …drug addicts, prostitutes, everywhere.
Katie: Yeah. And it's been the subject of an incredible rejuvenation. Smart policies, bold investments — it's really transformed the area.
Rick: Condos — beautiful condos built into industrial frames.
Katie: Right?
Rick: I just love that.
Katie: It's amazing how they've decided to keep these things. They've kept that sort of sense of history, and yet it's an amazing place now for people to come out and enjoy themselves.

The adjacent St. Pancras train station is a reminder that transportation infrastructure has always been a foundation of prosperity. Thanks to an expensive project, now recognized as a great investment, it's been transformed from sooty to sleek. The slick Eurostar terminal, with bullet-train service under the English Channel Tunnel, connects Londoners and Parisians in just over two hours. And with its dramatic canopy of iron and glass, the station stands like a palace remembering the Industrial Age.

Rick: This is quite a statue.
Katie: Isn't it just? And this is "The Lovers," and it's here in St. Pancras where people have been meeting and parting for 150 years. What I love is it's quite ambiguous. I mean, don't know if this is hello or goodbye.
Rick: You really don't!
Katie: No. And along the bottom, we've got this amazing frieze of different scenes of meeting and parting. Here, we've got the First World War. You've got people here returning from war, wounded servicemen, and then families waving goodbye to their loved ones. What I find particularly moving is how people have touched these hands — they're worn, as people have sort of wanted to take part in this moment themselves, which I think is rather sweet.

The most noticeable change in London for visitors in the last generation has been the advent of a modern skyline. Until 1963 the tallest building in London was St Paul's Cathedral. Today, its dome is dwarfed by a commotion of gleaming and showy skyscrapers.

Walking below what feels like a forest of skyscrapers, you can't help but crane your neck to admire the sleek and creative architecture.

Developers are obligated to provide the public with a lofty viewing space for the privilege to build. And a quick and easy elevator ride takes us to "sky gardens" like these…a popular new sightseeing thrill with visitors. This beautifully landscaped roof garden [The Garden at 120] offers grand views of The City's towering buildings.

Katie: And we here in England love to nickname our skyscrapers as well. So over here we've got The Shard, the shard of glass.
Rick: Oh, yeah.
Katie: And this one's known as the Walkie Talkie just over here. Yeah — yeah. Very, very evocative. And, of course, last but not least, we have the Gherkin, which I think in American, you call a pickle.
Rick: It does look like a pickle!
Katie: It does. It does.

And, dwarfed by it all, buried deep in the shadows, a delightful reminder of London's 19th-century industrial heritage survives: the very-impressive-in-its-day Leadenhall Market. As they have for 200 years, traders still labor hard to make their money and enjoy their beer after a long day of work.

Simply wandering around London as evening approaches and people come out to play is an experience in itself.

Katie: Soho is the real center of nightlife in London. And this is Shaftesbury Avenue. There must be 20 theaters within a couple of blocks of here, catering for everything: comedy, tragedy, Shakespeare. It's something that visitors love and locals love. I mean, there's something for everybody.

And buried below all this action, you can find an unforgettable escape: Gordon's Wine Bar. Here, you can join the timeless parade of Londoners who, through the generations, have enjoyed their own medieval cellar. They're capping their day, and we're capping our visit, by savoring a tasty selection of English cheese and a nice glass of port.

London. I've been coming here all my life. It's an exhilarating city. And like an old friend, it may change but it's still "London town." Thanks for joining us. I'm Rick Steves. Until next time, keep on travelin'!