WEBVTT - Thou Shalt Worship All Things Local 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:06.880 Hi, and welcome to everywhere. I am your host. Daniel 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:13.440 Scheffler Today's travel commandment thou shalt worship all things local. 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.280 The way I see it, travel is both a noun 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:23.200 and a verb. But for the most part, I think 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:25.720 we use it as a verb to travel, to explore, 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.920 to see, to escape, to lose yourself, to find yourself. 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:33.400 I think of it so much as a very busy 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:37.040 doing word. So perhaps that's why travel has a connotation 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:42.519 of leaving home for another place, another country, another city, upstate, wherever. 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.120 But I'm also the biggest fan of traveling in my 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.440 own city. Maybe that's why I travel for me as 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:51.880 a noun, the concept of travel more than the doing 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.720 of it. Necessarily, As a New Yorker, I've slept in 0:00:55.800 --> 0:01:00.040 roughly thefty hotels in Manhattan and a few in the 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:04.440 other borrows as staycations, because when you live somewhere, it's 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.600 so easy to forget all the beauty and excitement of 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.759 the actual place and why I chose to live there, 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.760 especially in a city like New York, because locals have 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.440 the joys of standing in line as a day trip 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:19.400 at the d m V somewhere in the Bronx to 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:23.080 get their driver's license, or having to do this crazy, 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:27.720 insane zig zag dance at the trade of Joe's and Chelsea, 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:32.560 which takes an entire afternoon, all fending off yet another 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:36.480 person accosting you to sign up for Dog Knows What. 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:42.600 Oh New York, The things you make me do. But 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.360 I have a serious love for a staycation. Let's call 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:50.240 that the noun of travel. And yes, staycation is a silly, 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:55.480 silly word, so let's rename it. Suggestions anyone, I'm taking 0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:01.080 them at our email address, please. This desire for staying 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.559 in hotels in my hometown and for experiencing home almost 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.360 as a tourist, actually started for me as a young 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.720 boy right in London, maybe the greatest city on Earth. 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.600 I mean, you've heard the saying, right, if you're tired 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.919 of London, you're tired of life. Well apparently I heard 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:19.680 that loud and clear, and I jumped right into it, 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:24.440 making sure that travel without travel Darling London was as 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:28.160 exciting as possible. This was my method at age eight, 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.200 and I haven't quit yet. As an eight year old, 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.880 my needs were centered around Zone one, which is truly 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.160 the center of London. By the time I was a teenager, 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.080 I was heading far east in the city, which in 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.280 the early two thousands was a place for Sunday afternoon 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.280 rave parties that's spilt onto the streets by Monday morning 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:51.919 as the city was heading to their respectable offices. Now 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.120 that I'm an adult, or sort of an adult, all 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.680 of London feels like a staycation to me, but almost 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.119 as if I can't help it. I've always given all 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.679 my loving to old London Town, celebrating it like it's 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.280 my greatest journey yet. Top of the morning to you. 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.400 The Sunday afternoons of my teenage years were spent with 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.440 fat Boy Slim and duft punk, but at age eight, 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.920 my obsessions were more on the lines of Agatha Christie, 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:24.799 Rudia Kipling, the great Oscar Wilde and the original vampire 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:29.720 storyteller Bram Stoker are the writers of my early youth, 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.919 and in fact writers all with a love for the 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:40.040 classic Brown's Hotel in London, discreet, understated and tipping into 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:44.640 this sort of Edwardian past. The hotels for the literary 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:49.920 minded lover of old England, forgotten Old England, perhaps ready 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:54.280 to take reservations for locals like us to come and sojourn. 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.880 With no great big staircase to dazzle or giant ballrooms 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.640 with crystal chandeliers. This property is just a couple of 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.720 silly old London town houses posing up to form an 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.520 intimate hotel. So it's a young lad, the bookworm, as 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.720 they called me. I easily found my nook ride at 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:19.000 the fireplace in the front room. For the next twenty 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.440 plus years. The rooms decor changed every few years, but 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:29.039 the fireplace stayed in my nook remained mine. Mother appreciated 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.600 a staycation as much as I did, and where better 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.960 than a hotel where writers came, spent nights and wrote 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:40.200 their overtures. As an English major, she approved. In the 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.080 early years, I was so overwhelmed by the Jungle Book 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.160 and would stay awake many a night just imagining myself 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.640 as Mowgli in the forests of India, embarking on these 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.440 tree swinging adventures, all the while staying in the what 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:58.320 they now call Kipling Suite, named after yours truly because 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.120 this is exactly where Mr Bling was when he was 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:05.680 letting his mind travel to magical lands like I did. 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:10.320 But really, to be serious, it was Agatha Christie's character 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.359 Miss Marple, who in my mind was more of like 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:17.400 a Betty Davis than the scowling Margaret Rutherford. And I 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.880 guess we have to include bothersome Hercule Poirot, who taught 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:25.919 me about crafting interesting stories. I was mesmerized and followed 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.640 these two characters in the worlds that Dame Agatha Christie 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:33.560 created to solver who done it. I was, and I 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:39.279 still am, the proverbial amateur sleuth. It's annoying to most 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.080 of my friends when we traveled, because I'm always Nancy 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:45.279 Drewing or being a hardy boy and trying to uncover 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:49.800 something that may or may not have happened. I'll sidetrack 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.640 you for a minute to tell you a funny little story. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.479 Just the other day, we were staying at this giant, 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:02.080 fancy hotel in Disney, Florida, were shipping all things local Orlando, 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:06.320 of course, like that blazing sun, when it became clear 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.240 to us that something was amiss. Deep in the night, 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.640 a woman was sitting at a little little desk with 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:18.960 an iPad. She was dressed in nothing memorable, and she 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.719 was handling the iPad in a normal Ipadian way. What 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.080 was odd was that she was sitting outside one of 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:31.880 the hotel rooms, right in the hallway. We walked by 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.479 a number of times in that I'm pretending to not look, 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:39.760 but I'm looking kind of way, mumbling your room number one, 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:44.560 sixteen one sixteen, over and over. Right, we've all done that. 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:52.040 Sex trafficking, said one friend another. Drugs, definitely drugs. I 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:56.279 know drugs when I see drugs. I felt more Nancy 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.440 Drewish at this point, so I was going with something wilder, 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.880 like she was checking people in for a gambling ring, 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.400 like Molly Bloom would. Of course, this was hours of 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:11.600 speculation and fun for everyone. Well, my friends found out 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.440 what was really going on the next morning, and it 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:19.000 was good. Even Miss Marple would have never suspected this. 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.800 A royal family from Africa was staying in a villain nearby. 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.680 The staff happened to be staying at our hotel. Of course, 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.120 what would royal families from African countries do when in Florida. 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.320 They would shop, So our lady behind the desk was 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:42.920 cataloging all their many, many purchases. Miss Marple would have 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.880 been flummixed. But back to London and Agatha Christie, who 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.240 in her novel At Bertram's Hotel, which is said to 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:54.160 take place at the Very Brown's Hotel, had Miss Marple 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:58.600 calling it the perfect mix of Edwardian and Victorian atmosphere. 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.040 Just think about but that even means if you're even 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:05.880 a slight anglophile. She was commenting on the prim staff 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.400 and elderly guests, and I am sure so many other things. 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.280 So here I am in my nook uttering similar sentiments 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.840 from my nook. I transported myself to Bertram's and I 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.720 played the part of Miss Marple, thinking I could solve 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.320 this murder mystery. In the very hotel I was staying. 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:29.480 The creaky staircase, the gaunderous hallways, secret passages between the 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:33.040 town houses, even the back entrances became movie sets in 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:38.720 my mind, all this fun without really going anywhere. See, 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.520 this is what I'm telling you. Travel is whatever you 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.520 decided should be. And to this day, this is still 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.600 my tradition. As I returned to the hotel every year, 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.839 I stealthily watch every guest who enters the tea room. 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.840 I pay careful attention to how they stir their cups 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.840 of tea. I even lean in to overhear their conversations. 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.400 At night, I peek through the curtains and look down 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:08.439 on the abandoned London street, wondering who's coming in and 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.760 who's leaving through the doors of this grand old hotel. 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.520 Over twenty years, it's here that I developed a taste 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.280 for murder mystery and for meticulously using clues to solve 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:24.520 my puzzle. I was taught just how to observe human behavior. 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.839 Why is that lady with the oversized handbag looking at 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.800 her watch? Was that Bellhart pocketing something he received from 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:38.600 a guest who left the hotel in such a rush. 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.160 Maybe life is all just a murder mystery. But there 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.640 are other ways to worship all things local too, like 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.640 traveling to a place and making it your mission to 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:52.360 find something so niche and appropriately of the place that 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.360 you can become a little expert. Like going to Japan 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.920 and learning anything you can possibly learn about much at 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.960 tea culture or incredible denim. What if you go to 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:09.679 Argentina and become this tango expert, exploring different styles, outfits 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:13.199 drinks to go with your dancing. You're getting my drift right. 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.760 While I chose something I knew nothing about. That's usually 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.360 how I choose my niche activities, not something obvious or 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.720 something I've been interested in before, but rather something totally 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.320 of my usual course of interest, And so I hopped 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:32.360 south to Madeira, Portugal's southern island, where the tradition of 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:37.319 embroidery is not only continuing for centuries, but is constantly improving. 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:42.199 Who would have thought that the home of Christiano Ronaldo 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:47.680 would open up embroidery to me during my quest for embroidery, linen, 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.160 and all things lazy. I also found a place quite 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:55.240 like no other. The world has fewer and fewer grand 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:59.320 dumb hotels left, but here on the cliffs of Madeira's capital, 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:04.920 form shall, I found Red's Palace, a hotel that withstood 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:09.120 two wars and the crush of social media, offering a 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:14.160 gig like me, an entire collection of all things embroidery. Okay, 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:17.600 so picture this a whole room with glass cabinets filled 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:22.160 with special embroidery. The hotel did for visiting dignitaries, every 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:28.240 possible royal family member from Europe, Hollywood starlets, and scary politicians. 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.240 I just settled in at a little table with a 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:36.040 handy magnifying glass and my little gloves when I noticed 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.560 an elegant lady dressed in navy and a little heel, 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:43.640 walking over to the notice board near me. She seemed 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.200 to pin something on and off she marched with a 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.960 gleaming smile, throwing my way. Of course. Within seconds I 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:54.360 was up and scrutinizing the notice born seeking card player 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:59.360 of excellent skill, willing to play bridge, canaster and rummy 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:06.800 Games Room, five pm sharp. Sincerely miss edith Ainslie. Of 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.359 course for my show, I changed her name out of deference. 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:18.240 I cleared my busy embroidery schedule immediately. At moments to five, 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:21.280 I rolled up at the games room, dressed in a blazer. 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:27.040 At least, the softly lit, carpeted room was overly quiet, 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.880 and there was this cool breeze coming off the ocean. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.680 The balcony doors were flung open, and there was this 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.800 mystery woman seated at a four seater card table facing 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.400 the sea. I miss edith Ainslie, and I hope you've 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.880 come to play cards with me this evening. She rung 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.200 a small buzzer on the table and informed me that 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:51.560 someone will be by shortly to offer me provisions her advice, 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.040 a pink gin, of course, and no cell phones please, 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.320 She added, Oh, and now since we're card companions, she 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.880 offered that I'm I call her Edith. So Edith no 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.000 longer placed any orders. Every staff member knew exactly what 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.480 she'd have and went precisely to deliver it to her 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:15.200 part of the furniture, as only I could wish. Her 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:18.079 hands rolled like she had worked casinos her whole life. 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:22.960 Please grace me with your presence, she smiled. I sat 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.160 down and I didn't get up for three hours. We 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.200 worked our way through most serious canaster of my life. 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:32.280 She killed me every round. I was a mere jack 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:37.360 in her game of aces. Baby. So Edith had been 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:41.600 a guest of Red's Palace since n and this was 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.080 not her first rodeo on some young one on the cards. 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:49.000 At nearly a hundred, she spends the majority of a 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.679 year at the hotel. As she says, when the English 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:57.200 weather turns miserable, I swooped down to the island. Her 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.720 mind was filled with the past. Yes, of us, I 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:05.160 appreciate embroidery, Edith kept telling me. In fact, I have 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.880 my very own set of linen here at the hotel. 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.800 They hand embroidered it for me, not too much, just 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:16.439 simple patterns that I could tolerate. She told me about 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.560 her childhood and her husband who passed away many years ago, 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.360 her love for little dogs and gin. And then she 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:27.360 told me how many years ago Sir Winston Churchill arrived 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:31.400 at the hotel slightly unannounced. If you could believe that, well, 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.920 she said, I offered him my sweet after all, this 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.560 feels like my home, and it's awful queen and country, 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.800 isn't it, And so we quickly had special linen hand 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.080 embroidered for him here in town. Of course, it was 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:50.320 the talk of funchal even Edith was worshiping all things 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.520 local in every possible way. As I said this to her, 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:58.000 she said, why, yes, that is what you do when 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:02.680 you travel. You smoke locals cigarettes, drink local wine, even 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.040 if they are both terrible, and you never hobnobbed with 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.680 other tourists. I of course invited Edith to join me 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.640 for dinner, which was this lavish affair under a cloudy, 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:18.720 frescoed ceiling sky. Can you say the words snazzy. I 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.240 had a dinner jacket, she had a divine dress, and 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:26.960 we had this appetite for twirling. Edith was still the 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:31.040 gem on the shiny sea of dancing and my dream 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:35.800 hotel guest. As we whilst we romanced all things from 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.720 the past in our simple movement, we could trip the 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:44.120 light fantastic as I worshiped the now local herself. I 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:48.640 dressed for both myself and the atmosphere, Edith said, And 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.920 with that, Edith's cup overfloweth offering just a peep into 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:56.880 the bygones. The ocean was her company with simply the 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:00.120 quiet lull of afternoon teas served on the very the 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.680 and the mountains slightly covered with mist was the entertainment. 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:09.000 Days were unnamed and unnumbered evenings all wobbling into one. 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.120 Smoking wasn't banned for anyone yet, and drinking before noon 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:19.040 wasn't even beheld. Problems were Atlantic oceans away, and attention 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:24.360 spans stretched into eternal summers of loving. Meeting someone like 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.440 Edith is the very reason anyone should travel. There's an 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.800 Edith at every old world hotel. She's to be found 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:34.680 on the dance floor, at the dinner dance, or at 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:38.080 the card table in the game's room. And it's exactly 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.280 there over a chop chop game of bridge, where you'll 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.640 be in the moment without having to think about it 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.920 too much. She'll talk and you'll actually want to listen, 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:52.040 not way to speak. She'll remind you to make time 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:56.560 for beauty and laughter. She's the original hostess to a 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.840 good time. Her wit will ensure it in every hand. 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:06.080 Who knew Madeira the hidden middle sister of Portugal? Home 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:11.000 to Edith. It's in fact where the literati British delightfulness 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:17.480 came to elude Europe's glitzy sets in London's pell Mell Pace. Today, 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.600 Maderia holds exactly the same charm beyond the afternoon tea 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:27.199 and fancy silverware. So leave your technology, behave like a local, 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:32.439 dress like you care, and come waltz through the past. 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:42.840 So fair. Let's take a break to hear from our 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:46.679 sponsors and we'll be right back with more travel from everywhere. 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:56.080 Thanks for sticking around. Here's more of everywhere. I'm here 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.840 with Harlly Fry, who I tripped the light fantastic with 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:04.520 two all the time. I've yet to waltz with her, 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.879 but the days could happen. It could happen at any moment. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.320 One of the things that I think is interesting. You know, 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.680 I know you spent time living in London. How much 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.000 did you engage with its history while you were there, Like, 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.880 do you have a favorite historical spot? I have a few. 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.399 What are they? Well, I have this thing that I 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:32.280 really love, Jack the RiPP Um, as do many. I've 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.600 gone on these like crazy historical walks where you can 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:40.240 like seeing all the places that Jack the Ripper killed people, 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:44.959 which is so macombon amazing. But that's London Town well 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:49.120 because it's so old, right, I mean it's literally hundreds 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.439 and hundreds and thousands really if you want to go 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.760 back to like its earliest foundings of years old. So 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.520 almost any human experience you can imagine has happened there 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.040 at some point in time. That's why there's been plenty 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.080 of maccab things to explore if that's your jam. So 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:08.880 I have that, And then the Victorian Albert Museum so good, 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:13.160 so good. And then there's stupid little things that I love, 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:17.080 Like there's like a Princess Diana plaque in one of 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.280 the parks and I walked by, and I think she 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:25.080 was such a beautiful representation of grace and good manners 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.080 that it's like a lovely reminder to walk past the 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.800 park and see this kind of historic like new historic thing. Yea, 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:34.439 so there's that. And then did you know that London 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:37.480 has these underground tunnels? Oh yes, of course that you 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.560 can go and tour and all of London used to 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:46.159 be one surface lower, so it's been raised over time. 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:49.200 Even the Mona Lisa is falling apart. We're all thinking 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:56.200 in some way or another, Right, I love fight Club. Um, 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:58.359 here's the thing that I think is interesting is you 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:02.600 can find almost anything in London, like I said, to 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.879 represent some part of some human experience. That might be 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:08.159 your thing. I know you do not like lists, but 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:10.600 I have not a list, but just a few things 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.160 that are examples of the kinds of things that people 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.200 could explore should they want to. Did you know that 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.719 you there is a service online that will show you 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:23.359 where all of the plague pits of London words, and 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:25.560 you can just walk around and find them based on 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:30.359 a plague pit. Right, It's quite fantastic. Like they even 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.640 have a full social media representation, so you can go 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.720 check out Historic UK on Twitter and they will show 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:40.760 you where plague pits are. I mean, in many cases, 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.480 what you're going to go see is obviously not an 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:45.440 active plague pit, Like it's not gonna be a hole 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:47.080 in the ground, things have been built up over it. 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.720 As you said, the city has shifted in many ways. 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:54.080 But for me it's always important because I like history, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:58.879 even if they're not necessarily visible examples immediately available to 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:01.879 my eye. Just to take a quiet moment and stand 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.879 in a place like this and recognize that you are 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:07.840 in the same place where something significant happened is can 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:11.600 be sometimes very humbling, very moving, but also there's just 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:13.560 like a part of it to me that it's like 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:16.920 this isn't to diminish the sadness of something like a 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:19.520 plague pit, but like it's really neat that we have 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.080 the information available to us that we can travel the 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:27.439 world historically as well as just geographically. Well close to 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.360 where I spend a lot of time in Permlico Road 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:35.200 is where the original Chelsea Bun House, where Chelsea Buns 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.320 were invented, and that you can go and find in London, 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.720 like so things that are seemingly silly, it's all part 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.560 of like London history. Yeah, I mean you can also 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:50.400 go visit, uh the place where the execution doc used 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:53.840 to be located, where pirates were hung. Also another fascinating 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:56.399 thing and the thing that I love about these is 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.119 like there's there's no cost to it. You can just 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:03.359 looking up online and you're often running do you know 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:08.800 about the blue plaque thing? So you've probably seen them 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:10.439 because you lived there and they've been there for a 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:14.600 long time. The Blue Plaques of London are like historical markers. 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:18.160 It was started in the eighteen sixties actually like this 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.080 idea of having these particular plaques that will mark historically 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:26.080 significant places where particularly historically significant people did things. And 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:28.240 the fun thing is you can just walk around London 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:30.520 and if you have an eye out for them, you'll 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:33.960 see them on various buildings and it it might give 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.400 you, you you know, an interesting point of reference. Like I said, 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:39.600 they're more than nine hundred of them around London, so 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:41.959 odds are good. No matter what neighborhood you're going, you're 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:45.199 gonna spy one. The group English Heritage actually runs it 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:47.560 now and they have even made an app so that 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:50.080 it's kind of interactive and you can one. It will 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:53.439 help you find things if you're looking for particular types 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:56.280 of historical places, um like if you want to look 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.119 at the plaques that mark women who are involved in 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:01.560 the suffrage movement, you can literally make your own tour 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:05.399 that way or you know, literary people or any number 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:07.600 of other things. But also you get like a little 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:11.160 free education basically along the way. And again it costs nothing. 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:13.560 You just go run around the city. You don't have 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:15.520 to pay for a tour. It's all self guided. You 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:18.440 stop and have lunch when you want. But you can 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:22.320 get like this way deeper understanding of the area, even 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:24.000 if you just want to keep it like the neighborhood 0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:26.679 or your hotel is there were going to be plaques 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:29.800 there almost definitely, and it just again it gives you 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:32.680 that sense of like we're all part of something bigger. 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:35.080 We talked about that all the time, that our place 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:38.399 in the world, our place in the world is that 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:41.040 we're all making history in some way or another. We 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:42.880 we don't have to sit in a seat of government 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:46.200 or be you know, part of a royal family. Everyone 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:47.920 is part of the story of history and this is 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:50.320 kind of a nice way to engage with that. And 0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:52.520 that's what I really love about it. It makes history 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:54.560 way more real when you're standing in the place where 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:59.879 it happened. I have to sweet London stories to tell you. 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:02.600 One of the things that I love most about London 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:04.520 is that did you know as much as I'm in 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:12.200 uber slash lift person, black cabby drivers do a rigorous test. 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:16.399 When you want to become the famed black cab driver, 0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:20.360 you have to do a test called the Knowledge and 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:26.200 it involves memorizing every single street in the entire capital. 0:24:27.760 --> 0:24:30.480 Believe it, you cannot make a mistake. So their knowledge 0:24:30.640 --> 0:24:32.920 is when you get into a black cab, you can 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:35.000 give them any street and they would be able to 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:37.720 find it. Love it. The other amazing thing I have 0:24:37.760 --> 0:24:39.560 to tell you is I used to spend a lot 0:24:39.600 --> 0:24:43.240 of time in Permlico and Warwick Square and one day 0:24:43.400 --> 0:24:47.720 I saw this man and he had falcons on his 0:24:48.000 --> 0:24:50.919 arm in the park and he told me that he 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:55.879 runs the Falcon Society off London, like these are just 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:58.520 random people in the city. And I was like, how 0:24:58.520 --> 0:25:01.159 many falcons are about to arrive on your arm? And 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:05.520 he was like three and three falcons like swooped down 0:25:05.680 --> 0:25:07.840 and like sat on his arm, and he was like, 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:11.800 I am here to train anyone who would like to 0:25:11.880 --> 0:25:16.679 learn about falconry. They live in the Tower of London, 0:25:17.000 --> 0:25:19.440 which there's other birds that live there too, but these 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:22.439 particular falcons live there. And he told me this like 0:25:22.800 --> 0:25:25.480 insane story about what he does with the falcons. He 0:25:25.560 --> 0:25:29.560 trains them to send messages. That's fantastic. That's like old 0:25:29.680 --> 0:25:31.960 world London and you can go and experience that. But 0:25:32.000 --> 0:25:33.800 that's the stuff that I really love about London, Like 0:25:34.080 --> 0:25:37.320 it has a little something local for everyone. It's like 0:25:37.359 --> 0:25:41.280 the obvious Bangers and Mash wonderful pub on the corner, 0:25:41.480 --> 0:25:45.560