July Tour News
Hi from Rick: London "Yesterday and Today"
I just spent two weeks in London, updating my guidebooks and filming a new public television special. While yesterday's London — with its Beefeaters, red buses, and Big Ben — is still a sightseers' delight, today's London features skyscrapers with attitude and the regeneration of once churning then abandoned industrial sights — like the Battersea Power Station.
A century ago, this brick beast was a symbol of London's coal-fired might, producing one-fifth of the city's energy needs. But its 300-foot-tall smokestacks also pumped out terrible pollution that turned lungs black and helped London earn its nickname, "the Big Smoke" — and as coal fell out of favor, Battersea fell silent… Read more
