Hidden London - Hidden Gems to See

Arnold (00:00):
In this episode, we'll discover where in London is ground

(00:03):
zero for the Knights Templar?
Who was the famous King whoseresidence was the Banqueting Hall?
Where should you go to get thebest 360 degree view of London?
Are there free attractions in London?
And what is the location ofan old speakeasy style bar?
Here's a hint, it's hiding in the luggage.
Travel to Europe is off limits forthe time being, but we can still keep

(00:23):
the flame of wanderlust alive throughthe Virtual Vacation with Guidester,
the weekly podcast, where host JackBaumann, founder of Guidester and travel
enthusiast Arnold Stricker, dive intonew destinations, exploring their unique
history, culture and special vibe.
You will also get insider tipsabout these destinations you
won't get from other sources.
Now let's join our host, theGuidester himself, Jack Baumann.

(00:45):
Jack.
When I was traveling last year, westumbled upon a museum that wasn't
even on our radar and we walkedby it and we're like what is this?
It was very surprising because therewas nothing in any of the manuals.
You have a real good inclination to findthese hidden gems in cities and countries.
That's what we want to talkabout today is the Hidden London.

(01:07):
Where do you find thesethings about Hidden London?

Jack (01:09):
I love Europe.
Every city has something hidden about it.
Europe is built on layers and layersof culture and history over thousands
of years and London is no exception.
London was founded by the Romans;Londinium in the first century A.D.
so there's a lot tosee that's been packed.
So the short answer is you just gottado your research or you have to be lucky
enough to go back to London several times.

(01:31):
You got to see the major stuff ;you'vegot to see Buckingham and Tower of
London and Hyde Park, St Paul's,Westminster just goes on and on.
Once you get that out of the way,then you have time to explore.
That's why I do what I do.
These personal travel guidescut through all that noise.
So, if you're in London fouror five days, you don't have
to do all this extra research.
If you've got a day or two that you've,have allotted to go explore some of
these local areas, you can do that.

(01:52):
Just being able to know whereit is and how to get there.
One of the cool things about Londonis these hidden gems are often right
in the middle of the tourist areas.
You turn a block, you go through a littlestreet alleyway, and then there you go.
Saint Dunstan in the Eastis one of these examples.
It's in between Monument andTower Hill right in the middle

(02:12):
of London, hidden in plain view.
It's an old Gothic church, I believebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, who
built all these slew of churches in the1600 after the great fire of London.
So we should get into that, thegreat fire of London and how it
changed the landscape of London.
Anyway, it's like a secret gardenin the middle of touristy London,
and it's this garden built into thisold Gothic Cathedral and it's right

(02:33):
in the middle of central Londonand you'd never know it was there.
In fact, I was just reading an articleabout it recently, and this woman, this
Londoner had lived in London for yearsand she never even knew it was there.
So London, especially fullof this kind of stuff.

Arnold (02:44):
A Londoner didn't know that was in the middle of London?

Jack (02:47):
I don't know if she was born and raised in London, but
she's lived there for a decade.
Camden Passage is another one ofthese things, not Camden Town, which
is in the North, which is reallycool, hipster area; but Camden
Passage , it reminds me of Harry Potter.
You could walk right pastit and it's an alleyway.
It's basically a shopping streetand there's an alleyway that
leads to the shopping street.
So Portabello Road is another big road,huge shopping street, a lot of tourists

(03:09):
get there, but this is like a smalllittle road off another little road
that you would never know it was there.
London is full of that kind of good stuff.
There's just so many good, hiddenspots in London we'll have to get
through to the course of this podcast.

Arnold (03:22):
So are these things all historical in nature or they vary?
Are they musically related, arethey art-related, architecturally
related, or related to the Royals?

Jack (03:31):
Good question.
Saint Dunstan in the East is bothhistorical because it was a cathedral or
a church and I would say it's culturaland natural because it's a garden now.
So in my personal experience, a lot ofthe cool, hidden gems that you'll go see
are going to be historical in one way oranother, like Saint Dunstan in the East.
There's a lot of hidden gems; ifyou're out looking for just local

(03:52):
bars, just go to the right area.
If you're out looking for somecool kind of natural areas, there's
some smaller, lesser known parks.
London, I think has a lot of reallycool gems that are historical in nature.
A couple of my favoritesare Temple Church.
Temple Church is off between FleetStreet and the River Thames, so
it's in that main central corridor.
It was built by the KnightsTemplar in the 12th century.

(04:13):
There's a rotunda, the great round rotundain the old sepulchre in Jerusalem.
They built their church based on that.
So part of the church is I think itwas the only, or one of the first
rounded churches, rounded knavesin London, so you've got that
really cool sort of Eastern effectand Knights Templar built there.

(04:34):
This is ground zero for the KnightsTemplar, and it's in this little corridor;
it's actually a little courtyard, cutestlittle courtyard it's off Fleet Street.
Fleet Street is a majorthoroughfare in London.
You walk down this little side streetkind of alleyway and then opens up
into this really pleasant littlesquare and then there's this church
from the 12th century, eight- 900year old church, just boom right in

(04:55):
the middle of the hustle and bustleof the commercial district of London.

Arnold (04:58):
I'm sure London just grew around it.
And that's why it's a little hidden.

Jack (05:02):
Exactly.
That's what happens is you've gotmajor sites like Westminster and St.
Paul's and the Tower of Londonthat the city is built around it,
but there's a lot of breathing roombecause those are major monuments.
Seriously, St Paul's and these otherones are much bigger than Temple
Church, but the sort of courtyardthat it sits in is not very big.
I think there's a couple littlebenches, it's basically kind of

(05:24):
commercial office space aroundit- bigger higher rise buildings.
You've got this little courtyardwith a couple little benches,
and then you've got Temple Church.
It's so cool.

Arnold (05:33):
So if you're a Knights Templar kind of follower,
this is a must see for you.

Jack (05:37):
Yes, it really is.
Even if you're just a hey, Iwant to do something that's not
on the top 10 list of London.
Again, Temple Church is a well-knownchurch if you're into history, but I bet
if you took a hundred American touriststhat had been to London, maybe one out
of a hundred would have been in Temple.

Arnold (05:52):
That's why we're talking about these hidden gems of London.
So if I have a specific interest inart or music or literature, where
are those hidden places that I wouldfind valuable on a trip to London?
And why would I find them valuable?

Jack (06:05):
London really does have just.
An abundance of history and amazingpieces of art all over the city,
both known, well-known, and hidden.
There really is just a lot to seethere's just music, art literature.
There's an abundance there in London.
The Banqueting House is a hidden gem forhistory, art and architecture, all in one.
It's the first to be built in theneoclassical style in Britain.

(06:27):
So that's point one.
It's the only complete surviving buildingof Whitehall Palace, which was the
principle Royal residence between 1530and 1698 when it's destroyed by fire.
So this was actually the palace that KingHenry VIII would have lived in London.

Arnold (06:42):
Wow.

Jack (06:43):
So a lot of monarchs lived there for almost 200 years, about 170
years before it was destroyed by fire.
So this is the only remainingbuilding of that palace and there's
beautiful reliefs painting thearchitecture, the neoclassical style.
Again, it's right there inthe central part of London.
So it's easy to get to.
One other note on this, this is whereKing Charles I was executed in 1649.

(07:05):
So King Charles was the only Kingto be executed, this is a big
deal executed by the people.
This was the civil war ofEngland when Oliver Cromwell
came, so this is a big deal.
This is the building, the roomthat he actually was executed in.
So pretty cool.

Arnold (07:19):
And it's not going to appear on basic tours.
Will it?

Jack (07:23):
No, the Banqueting House probably wouldn't.
I would bet you there's definitelytour guides that maybe add it to
their itinerary and may be on somehidden parts of London, but no.
If you do go to London, and you'regoing to see the typical stuff.
You're going to see Westminster,you're going to see the Tower of
London, probably gonna do the LondonEye which I think is a waste of time.
That big Ferris wheel.
I think it's a waste of time and money.

(07:43):
If you want better views forcheaper and a better experience,
go to the top top of St.
Paul's cathedral.
So you can climb the dome of St.
Paul's Cathedral and youget unobstructed view.
So in the London Eye you'rein a confined glass box.
In St.
Paul's you go up to the top, climbsome stairs, and then you're just
360 degree views of the top of thetower and you're in central London.

Arnold (08:04):
Now that's hidden information too.

Jack (08:05):
But it's hidden; this is what I love about it too.
Now again, if you had a good tourguide or a good personal travel
guide, it would tell you this.
But a lot of people just go and theyvisit St Paul's and they get in and out.
It's right there.
You buy tickets at the bottom of thelobby and you just go up and once you're
up there, it's a self-guided thing.
I think last time I was, there waslike eight pounds, eight, nine pounds.
Compare that to 35 or 40 pounds.

(08:27):
So you're talking, let's say15 bucks versus like $50.

Arnold (08:31):
Wow.

Jack (08:31):
And there's no line; there's people up there with
you, but it's not a huge wait.
Whereas the London Eyeyou'll be waiting in line.

Arnold (08:37):
So if you want to get a good view of London you go to the top of St.
Paul's.

Jack (08:42):
You go to the top of St.
Paul's.
That is the best view of London,best bang for your buck, best view
and you're climbing up through theinner workings of the cathedral.

Arnold (08:50):
That's why people should be listening to this podcast.
They're going to get allthis hidden information.

Jack (08:55):
That's exactly right.
Virtual Vacation with Guidester,that's what it's all about.
Apsley House is another one of these,which is a stately home, right in
the center of London where you cansee just unbelievable amount of
artwork from the neoclassical age.
Another one worth mentioning,which isn't hidden, but it's worth
mentioning because , London is soTower of London, Tower Bridge, St.

(09:16):
Paul's ,Westminster, Buckingham Palace.
A lot of people don't think of Londonfor art; they think of Rome, Paris.
The National Gallery is an artmuseum in Trafalgar Square.
Trafalgar Square is one ofthe major squares in London.
It houses a collection of over2300 paintings dating from the
mid 13th century to the 1900s.
You can experience the story ofEuropean art masterpiece by masterpiece.

(09:40):
Some of the most famous art inhistory from van Gogh, Monet.
It's spectacular.
It's right there in centralLondon and many of these museums
and galleries are actually free.
London is well-known forits free attractions.
I think the British museum isfree, almost positive it is and
a lot of these other galleriesare free too, which is fantastic.
So the other one I'll mention isthe National Portrait Gallery.
The National Portrait Gallery, whichis in London housing a collection

(10:03):
of portraits of historicallyimportant and famous British people.
So going back, stretching centuries, youhave these actual, authentic portraits of
monarchs and aristocrats and politicians.
The Portrait Gallery isnot very well visited.
I've been in there several timesand I've never waited in line.
People go there, but it's not oneof the top five or 10 things to see

(10:23):
in London on any normal itinerary.

Arnold (10:26):
What are some other ones Jack?

Jack (10:27):
We'll go through some other ones briefly cause there are a lot.
So one which seems minor, butit's actually really cool it's
called the Tulip Staircase.
It's located in 17th centuryQueen's House in Greenwich.
Greenwich is technically aseparate city East of London.
Greenwich is where weget Greenwich mean time.
So this is where time, aswe know, it was invented.
So zero latitude is Greenwich, England.

(10:48):
GMT Greenwich meantime, so we'reon GMT; most Western countries are.
There's a thing called Queen's Housethat has a sweeping Tulip Staircase,
which was the first geometricself-supporting spiral stair in Britain.
So it's really architecturally important.
It's also beautiful.
It's called the Tulip Staircase.
It's a blue wrought iron railing withflowers in it thought to be tulips, which

(11:12):
is where the staircase got its name.
It was built for Queen Anne of Denmark,who was the queen to King James I
or King James VI of Scotland, whowas the first to unite the crowns.
A lot of people think that the Englishwere the ones that took over in Scotland
and there was a lot of bloodshed anda lot of war for sure on both sides.
That's true.
But the first King of England andScotland was actually Scottish.

(11:35):
The offspring of Queen Mary, King James,who was the first King James of England,
but he was King James VI of Scotland.
He's the one that brought thecrowns together in the 1600s.
Then a century later, I think in 1707was the official union of the crown.
So we're getting off topic,but King James was really the one
that brought the crowns together.
Again, not English, Scottish.

(11:56):
I love to tell Scots that , becausethey feel independent; they feel a
little bit imposed upon by the English.
You got to remind themthat we'll look there
...Arnold: About the heritage
...and there were a lot of Scots, a lot of Scots today
are actually proud British.
Now a lot of Scots more andmore are proud, Scottish.
But the reality is it wasn't justthis country overtaking another.
The English and the Scottish reallycoexisted, especially their aristocratic

(12:18):
level for centuries and centuries goingback well before Bonnie Prince Charlie
and the Culloden Field and all that stuff.
Again, terrible atrocities did occur,I'm not taking away from any of that,
but even going back to before that EdwardI and William Wallace, there was a lot
of collaboration at the higher level.
Anyway, the Tulip Staircase,really cool piece of history
and beautiful architecturally.

Arnold (12:38):
What are some things that would be surprising to you or I, or other
people that would be going to London?

Jack (12:44):
There's actually quite a bit the first thing that comes to mind
is a place called Little Venice.
So you're thinking London, Venice,London doesn't have canals.
It sure does.

Arnold (12:54):
Seriously.

Jack (12:54):
It sure does.
No, so I've lived in...

Arnold (12:56):
Gondolas too?

Jack (12:58):
You don't have gondolas, but I guess maybe they could.
You got some kayaks, certainly gotthe kayakers in there and some I
wouldn't say swimmers, but yeah, yougot some boats and they're not nearly
as extensive as the canals in Venice.
But there is a place inLondon called Little Venice.
It's a tranquil neighborhood,not far from Paddington.
Really pretty canals with uniquenarrow boats, not what you typically

(13:18):
think of when you think of London.
It's possible to actually book anarrow boat cruise, they'll take
you all the way down at Camden Lock.
So there's one I want to mentionfor anybody that just wants to look
more into this, Jason's Trip .It'sthe original London canal tour and
it's the boat that used to carrycargo on Britain's canal network.
So the boat itself is a traditionalboat over a hundred years old

(13:40):
and now it's used for tours.
I think it's about 45 minutes oneway, but you can go and see this
and walk around if you want, but ifyou really want to get that authentic
experience, you get on Jason's Boat Tour.
Another kind of cool thing, which Ithink is worth mentioning that's become
more popular in London recently; secretbars it's really a growing trend.
So these are like underground bars orbars behind restaurants or bars within

(14:03):
department stores or things like this.
The one that really comes tomind, it's right off Oxford Street,
it's called the Luggage Room.
It's like an old 1930s stylespeakeasy cocktail bar hidden away
in the bottom of a Marriott Hotel.
If you stay at the Marriott, Ithink you can actually enter through
that but you don't know that.
The real kind of front entrance isat the foot of this hotel, it looks

(14:26):
like kind of a, not an alleyway,but like a corner, dark corner.
You don't even know there's a door thereand you approach it and you've got to
knock on the door and they open the doorand they're 1930s kind of apparel and you
go through like a corridor and throughanother corridor, and then you step down
and it's at the base level of the hotel.
So there are some windows, butyou don't know that's there
when you walk past the hotel.
You just think it's part of thehotel, but it's this little secret

(14:48):
they call it the Luggage Room, butit's this little secret cocktail bar.

Arnold (14:50):
Very cool.
Very cool.
Jack, did these particularhidden tours cost more than
regular tourist destinations?

Jack (14:58):
No, I'd say actually many of the hidden London gems are
free or a small admission fee.
So a small museum TempleChurch, for example, that we
mentioned is free to enter.
Saint Dunstan in the East isfree to just hang out and and go.
Banqueting House I thinkhas a small admission fee.
A lot of these areas arejust areas of London.
You need to know about free areas, freeattractions, cooler, more local parts.

(15:20):
You simply have to know aboutthem and how to get there.
Areas like Bishop Gatein London, Camden Town.
My favorite area, Southwarkwhich is in the Southern part
of London is a really cool area.
So in addition to those attractionsthat we talked about, which were
tucked away in the major areas, there'sother more local areas that you can
go to; Southwark and Bishop Gates.
Southwark actually has another coollittle piece it's called Borough

(15:41):
Market and it's from the 19th century.
It's a 150 year old original marketwhere you can go and get stall food.
The whole little areaaround there is super cool.
So that area is actually cheaper, muchcheaper than getting a pint or a
meal in the central areas of London.
So not only knowing what the attractionsare in the major areas, but then
going to these other areas that arereally cool; like I said, Bishop
Gates, Southwark Borough Markets

(16:02):
...Arnold: Because those aren't in London proper.
So they are in London proper; this is good context is you've got
greater London, which is made up of32 boroughs plus the city of London
which is its separate little entity.
So the borough is like alittle district, maybe like we
call like in Soho in New York.
So you've got these bouroughsand that's all greater London.
So everything I'm describingis in greater London.

Arnold (16:23):
Okay.

Jack (16:23):
But then you've got what you might call the central corridor or just
the tourist areas like Westminster,Piccadilly, Covet Garden, Lester
Square, the city of London itself.
These are where the major touristyareas are, but getting outside
those areas is quite easy.
Going to Camden Town, which islike North London, still in greater
London, but it's not as nearly ascrowded with tourists as Westminster.

(16:47):
Piccadilly Circus is probably one ofthe most visited sort of squares in
London famous with all the screensand that statue in the middle.
It's a really cool area.
Soho's near there too.
And Soho actually used to be, I'mnot going to use the word dodgy,
but it used to be a little bit more,let's say local; artsy and maybe
dodgy at midnight, but it's beengentrified in the last few years.

(17:08):
Soho is a great area of London, but slowlythese sort of more local artsy areas have
been gentrified, but you can still go.
Like I said, Camden Town is likethat, Southard is a cool little area.
So London is still was just ripe withthe local and the and the hidden gems
within the major tourist areas as well.
One other spot that I'll mention that'sI think very affordable is Sky Pod

(17:30):
Bar which is a cafe by day cocktailbar by night offering some of the
best views of the city from above.
So you can hang out to have a littletea, coffee, light snacks and then,
in the evening have a little cocktail.
So it's not necessarily a hidden gembecause it's well-known to Londoners.
But it's a gem that has largelyalluded tourists; a lot of

(17:51):
tourists just don't go there.
My first couple of trips to London,I didn't even know it existed.
And it's a great way to see anotherperspective of the city of London
without having to, again, do like theLondon Eye or something, super touristy.

Arnold (18:02):
Now we've talked about some things here on the podcast that are really
related to adults, but if I'm takingthe kids along and I want to go to some
hidden gems in London are there thoseavailable, that children are allowed?

Jack (18:16):
Yes.
London is a very kid friendlycity; there's plenty of amenities.
There's easy ways to get around;public transportation is phenomenal.
The Tube, but if you have to take acabbie, there's black cabbies everywhere.
Getting around it's safe,especially during the day.
There's probably some areas that Iwould avoid at dark, I wouldn't equate
it to certain cities here that, mightbe more kid-friendly because London is

(18:38):
one of the capital cities of the world.
So this is going to draw all kindsof people at all kinds of times.
But just like with any big city, Iwouldn't let my kid run around at
night in New York city either.
So that's the only thing I'dsee, treat it like a big city,
but yes it's very, kid-friendly.

Arnold (18:52):
So the kids they'd obviously like maybe the Knights
Templar place we talked about.

Jack (18:56):
Oh, there is a lot of museums and things that could bore kids, but
there are a lot of interactive things.
So like the British museum is anexample; it's a museum that has
a lot of artifacts from around theworld, but they are doing a better job
setting, setting up interactive things.
Sometimes they go a little too far andit can be boring for the adults cause
it's almost geared towards kids, butlargely speaking they've done a good
job at making it sort of family friendly.

(19:17):
So then this is where you wouldhang out; Piccadilly Circus.
That's very touristy area, butthat's more of the family area.

Arnold (19:23):
Gotcha.

Jack (19:23):
You're going to have your shopping areas, you're going to have
a lot of Ripley's Believe It orNot Wax Museum type of things, if
you want to do games and whatever.
So there's a lot more kid kind ofthings that might be interesting
in those tourist areas, likePiccadilly Circus and Oxford Street.

Arnold (19:38):
Okay.
What was the one hidden gem inLondon that surprised you the most?

Jack (19:42):
Good question.
So for me personally, because I'm ahistory guy All Hallows is a church,
I think it's the oldest church inLondon that really blew me away.
Not a lot of people get to.
But I'd say because of the wholeencompassing area Southwark.
We'd say South work is howis it would be spelled.
Southwark Cathedral, it'scertainly not hidden, but not a
lot of tourists get there becausethis is South of the river Thames.

(20:05):
This is outside of the majortourist areas, not in the
city of London or Westminster.
So depending on who's listening, it mayor may not be considered a hidden gem,
but it's definitely off the beaten pathenough that it's not going to be in your
normal repertoire, Southard Cathedral Ithink it's the oldest cathedral in London.
It's like stepping back in time.
It's not in the city of London, surroundedby skyscrapers it's off to its own little

(20:26):
area and nearby is Borough Market, whichis that old market from the 19th century.
So it's this old market nearby, surroundedby some really old school pubs, like
some real London pubs and the cathedralitself is unbelievably beautiful.
It's a Gothic style cathedral; there'sartifacts in there, a museum inside

(20:47):
the cathedral an operating cathedral.
You can attend mass if you want,but you can also do an evening song.
They do these evening songs at around5:00 PM and I walked in there for
one it's actually so beautiful.
It was a long day of sightseeing,but I fell asleep and I was holding
up a pamphlet and how it gets justdead silent in between the hoow
and the hoow, right in between themiddle of that I dropped my pamphlet.

(21:10):
Everybody could hear it.
It was like this dong, and hit the cornerof the little evening song booklet.
And it just reverberatedand it woke me up.
I was in the front seat.
So it was a funny, embarrassing moment,but the evening song in Southard Cathedral
and then after that going and having alittle pint near Borough Market for me,
it was just a great London experience.
I've been to London maybe 20 times now.

(21:30):
I live just in Cardiff, East of,or West of London, rather about
two and a half, three hours.
So I was able to go for these littleweekend trips, but every time I go
to London after that evening andBorough Market, one, two punch I
try to do that every time I go.

Arnold (21:42):
That's is really experiencing London.

Jack (21:45):
I think so.
It depends what you're into, but that'sthe cool thing about London is everything,

there's an old saying Arnold (21:49):
if you get bored of London, you're bored of life.
That's an old saying going back.
I don't know how long, but I thinkthat's quite true about London.
If you get bored of London, you'vegotten bored of life because
it really is something, whetherit's history or art or music.
The live music scenes inLondon are fantastic, natural
beauty- Hyde Park and St.

(22:09):
James these other parks, Saint Dunstanin the East like we had mentioned.
These kinds of little cool overgrowngardens and these old buildings.
The nightlife scene, ifthat's your scene, good food.
Actually, London, England doesn'thave the best rap for its cuisine,
but fantastic restaurants if youknow where to look and reasonably
priced, if you know really where tolook so it has something for everyone

Arnold (22:31):
We've thrown back the covering on some of these hidden items here
in London, and you really describeda lot of things that I would really
like to see when I go to London.
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Virtual Vacation with Guidester.
If you enjoy this episode,please check out our website,
Guidester.com/virtual-vacation.

(22:51):
That's guidester.com/virtual-vacation.
Virtual Vacation with Guidesteris produced by Motif Media Group.
For Jack Baumann and Virtual Vacationwith Guidester I'm Arnold Stricker.