[engine purrs] ♪ ♪ It's a mad combination of adventure boating and historic sights-- just another example of a cutting-edge concept in the capital that's been leading the world for centuries.

I'm here on the River Thames in the great city of London.

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(Rudy) London, famed capital of the vast British Empire, the city that held the world in the palm of its hand.

For all its tradition, pomp and circumstance, and prim and proper reputation, London's always been a city on the move, vital, doggeded, and endlessly entrepreneurial.

Londoners may hold the past dear, but they always embrace the future.

London today is at the forefront of world finance and sets global trends for the cities of the future.

London is a brilliant combination of big city life and dozens of villages with familiar names like Soho, Chelsea, and Camden.

The bottom line, cutting edge, bit charming, on the move, but oh so polite.

Leave it to London to take a traditional boat tour and shift it into high gear.

As I speed along the Thames, new London and old London flash by, Tower Bridge and the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral and City Hall.

Like the waves of immigrants who come to seek work in this global city, the new and the traditional coexist in harmony.

London is a collection of neighborhoods, each with a different mood.

I crisscross town, from the West End in Soho to the East End, from Borough Market in the south to Camden Town in North London.

Jet boats on the Thames are just one example of creativity in today's London.

Perhaps it's the mix of peoples, perhaps a tradition of tolerance, perhaps it's simply what happens when you give opportunity to ambitious newcomers, London is anything but fussy these days.

People are taking risks in everything from business to fashion to art and music.

Take the London Eye, a huge observation wheel built to mark the turning of the century in the year 2000, it was only supposed to stand for 5 years, but today the Eyes of London icon, it's here to stay.

The London Eye is the brainchild of husband and wife architecture team David Marks and Julia Barfield.

They entered their towering concept in a contest for a millennium landmark in London, but lost.

Undeterred, they forged ahead, incurring massive debt and facing endless opposition, technical problems, and bureaucracy.

"We had this ridiculous, unshakable belief in our dream," David Marks explained.

The wheel weighs 1600 tons and stands 443 feet high.

The size of the passenger capsules is based on the proportions of the architect's kitchen.

(woman) So coming up on our left hand side, we've got... (Rudy) For a cheery flight over the streets of London, double-decker buses offer splendid views and a quick orientation to the sights.

Ride the sweeping curve of Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus, or enter the wide embrace of Tower Bridge and land like one of the last remaining pigeons in Trafalgar Square, London's ode to Britain's naval power.

London feels very relaxed, very in order, a city of 8 million people.

I know cities half the size that don't feel this way.

How do you manage to maintain that?

The interesting thing about London is it's very much broken up into neighborhoods, and every neighborhood has got a very unique feeling, which makes it feel almost like a little city amongst many others, just in one place.

So, here in Chelsea, it's very relaxed.

It's almost got quite a suburban feel even though it's quite central.

But then you can go out to East London where it's a bit more hip, a bit more trendy.

There's a lot going on.

But because the neighborhoods are quite small for themselves, it creates quite a relaxed atmosphere.

(Rudy) This area across the Thames from the London Eye is the West End, known for it's theatre district and the Soho neighborhood.

Every day, Soho overflows with the after-work crowd anxious for a pint.

Soho has always been London's Bohemian beat, the place where upscale eateries and sex shops run shoulders.

Here are some of the pubs, or public houses, London is famous for.

Beer is nothing new here.

In 1870, there were 20,000 pubs and beer shops in London, with 1/2 million customers a day.

When the Romans settled here in 43 A.D., they walled the city and called it Londinium.

Today the square mile inside those former walls is one of the great financial hubs of the world.

This area of town is known simply as The City.

Dickens and Shakespeare frequented these streets.

Medieval buildings hug modern skyscrapers, barristers and journalists haunt the old pubs, and St. Paul's famous dome rises above the Thames.

Like all of London, the city evokes characters in stories from the past, while still keeping pace with the present.

A devastating fire blazed through London in 1666 devouring the wooden buildings and destroying some 80% of homes.

Afterwards, the city was rebuilt in brick and stone.

A professor of Astronomy turned architect named Christopher Wren was commissioned to rebuild St. Paul's Cathedral after the fire.

Much influenced by Italian architecture, Wren rejected the Gothic style in favor of a late Renaissance style.

His decision to build a dome rather than a traditional English steeple stunned many of his contemporaries.

Today it stands as an iconic symbol of London.

How did this cathedral survive the firebombing, the carpet bombing of London in World War II?

People think it's quite astonishing because every single church on this site has been destroyed by fire over the years.

The reason that this church didn't follow the same page as all the other churches on this site was because of a group of people like you and me, members of the St. Paul's Watch.

They went onto the roof of St. Paul's night after night during the blackout, during the Blitz, a dangerous enough exercise even in broad daylight.

They were armed with a bucket of sand and a shovel, and they dealt with all the incendiary bombs, thousands of them.

They pushed them off the roof?

They would lift them up with a shovel and push them over the end, or they would put sand on them and put them out.

(Rudy) It's estimated that more than 30% of Londoners were born outside of Britain, and this vast wave of immigrants over the last few decades has helped energize this city both economically and artistically.

♪ ♪ They came seeking opportunity from Asia, Africa, from India, and the Middle East, and while Britain has long been a society of classes, it also is one of tolerance.

Immigrants are welcome; there's no pressure for newcomers to abandon their traditions.

Many of the city's boroughs are little countries.

The result is a melting pot with neighborhoods that preserve a distinct culture.

London is by far Europe's most diverse city, and in many ways, it's the city of the future, a city without borders, a global city.

Over 100 different languages are spoken in London's East End alone.

No other section of London has changed more in recent years than the East End.

Once a working class district with Cockney roots, the East End today mixes up ethnic neighborhoods, art galleries, and boutique shopping.

Spitalfields, an East End neighborhood with attitude, is a quirky mix of old and new, tradition, and deconstructed tradition.

Kurt, what's the concept behind your store Junky?

Well, at Junky, we recycle clothing and make new garments.

The business was started by 2 women about 13 years ago.

We have a design team of the 2 women and 2 men.

So this is obviously a men's jacket, and it has been... Repurposed.

...repurposed, if you will, or upcycled is the new word that's happening right now.

And so sically, we've redesigned it, if you will.

We've done this lovely structure in here, which adds a lot of just new kind of ideas to the jacket.

Sculpts the body very well.

We've nipped it in the back here.

(Rudy) Very nice.

Do you do women's clothing as well?

(Kurt) We do some really wicked women's clothing.

viously, because the business was started by women, it all began with women's wear.

This is a beautiful piece, and a very, very popular piece we have.

It's a bit of a corset, beautiful, great for any woman, and we do these made to order, everybody's sizes.

(Rudy) Just down the lane is the bespoke shop that sells fine gentlemen's clothing before it gets deconstructed.

Bespoke refers to custom made clothes, and Alexander Boyd has been in the shirt making business for 100 years.

The East End's most famous street is called Brick Lane.

Irish and Jewish immigrants first came to Brick Lane, but in the last century, it's turned into a Bangladeshy neighborhood.

Here you can order curry and chips, pick up some bagels from London's best bagel shop, or tilt back a cocktail at one of Madonna's hangouts.

Typical, eclectic, London.

[marching band plays] While some traditions vanish, others have not changed in centuries.

Buckingham Palace is the residence of the Queen.

When the flag's flying on the palace and 4 soldiers guard the entrance, the queen's at home.

♪ ♪ With the exception of a few years under Oliver Cromwell, the English have been ruled by a monarch since the year 937, and while the monarchy no longer takes a direct role in governing, the royal family continues to receive popular support and financial backing from the English people.

The world's second great experiment in democracy took place here at Westminster.

Unlike the ancient Greek's direct democracy, the English created a parliamentary democracy that's lasted some 700 years.

The Palace of Westminster holds the Parliament, the seat of the English government, the clock tower houses the Famous Big Ben bell, and the church that gave the area its name is Gothic Westminster Abbey, the coronation site and final resting place of royalty.

Fancy a bit of goat cheese or a wild boar pie?

On the south side of the Thames in Southwark, Borough Market is London's paradisiacal food market.

♪ ♪ Celia, what's the history of the Borough Market?

Well, it's got an amazing history, in fact, nobody is entirely sure how long the market has been here, but the first record is actually from Roman times.

When the Romans conquered London, which was 43 AD, 4th-century AD, they came across a market here.

This is called Shell Seekers, and Steve spent the entire week diving for these fabulous scallops.

Rudy Maxa.

Rudy, how are ya?

You personally brought these up?

From where?

Every single one, up Dorset, we're diving at the moment in Lower Cove, just off the south coast between Portland and Poole.

(Rudy) That is incredible.

What do we got here?

We got scallops, squid.

(Steve) Lovely squid, yeah (Rudy) What are some of the other fish here?

(Steve) We've got some mackerel there, rubber line caught mackerel, you can see where they've ripped the hooks out the mouths, john dory.

(Rudy) Oh boy.

Oh boy, I'd go broke here.

(Celia) Yeah, doesn't get better than that.

(Rudy) That is an ostrich egg?

(Celia) Yes.

They weigh about 1-1/2 kilos.

(Rudy) Oh my, it's like a small bowling ball.

(Celia) It is.

It is.

It's equivalent to about 2 dozen chicken eggs.

This one ostrich egg; 2 dozen chicken eggs?

(Celia) That's right.

(Rudy) It's very heavy.

And I see you have it priced at like $25!

Oh my goodness!

So you could make one huge omelette for $25.

That's right, you can feed the family with one egg.

What is proper English cider exactly?

What's in America is what you know as hard cider.

So it's alcoholic?

Yes, it's soda that we press in the autumn, it's fermented over the winter, the natural sugar will have turned to alcohol, roughly you'll get about 6 to 7% We have dry, medium, or sweet.

Tell me about this hat you're wearing here.

Well, I call this my corporate identity.

It's a hat I got on a steam fair many years ago.

It's nearly wore out as you can see.

I like the corporate identity.

Well cheers!

Many Borough merchas make, grow, or rear what they sell, same as they did when a young William Shakespeare strolled through this market.

Shakespeare lived and worked in the neighborhood.

His brother Edmund is buried in adjacent Suffolk Cathedral.

"This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."

So says the Bard of London William Shakespeare.

On summer nights, his words take flight at historic venues in intimate productions by the Oxford Shakespeare Company.

For women are as roses whose fair flower being once displayed doth fall that very hour.

And so they are.

Alas that they are so to die even when they to perfection grow.

Fellow, come, the song we had last night.

(Rudy) This staging of "Twelfth Night" in the park at Kensington Palace included originals songs by Nicholas Lloyd Webber, son of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

♪ ♪ Now, English may be spoken widely around the world, [with British accent] but I'd be telling you a porkie if I said everything was tickety-boo here when it comes to local speak.

In fact, I'm positively gobsmacked at all the cracking ways people can waffle on here.

English is spoken and shouted at Speakers' Corner in Hyde park.

(man) I'll give you one thing.

Nothing.

There is no person.

I want you to hear this lie.

(Rudy) In the 1700's when the area was a sight of public execution, the condemned were allowed one last speech, and that tradition stuck.

There's lots of ranting and raving, but the tradition of virulent free speech is one worth celebrating.

Because you are a hypocrite.

You stand up here... From the Tower of London to the London Eye, the hodgepodge of city landmarks keeps changing.

Architect Sir Norman Foster, who's left his mark all over the world, livened up London's skyline in 2003 with the whimsical home foa Swiss insurance company, a building that's pickle-shaped and known as the Gherkin.

He also had a hand in the Millennium Bridge that links the city with the Tate Modern Museum.

The bridge and the spiffy new city hall, also by Foster, helped rejuvenate the South Bank and adjacent Suffolk.

London upstages New York for the sheer number of up-and-coming artists.

That's partly because of the people who are willing to come out and take a look or give a listen to something new.

♪ ♪ A former power station houses a staggering collection of modern art at the Tate Modern.

It's a parade of superstars, from Miro to Warhol, Matisse to Picasso.

Henry Tate, inventor of the sugar cube in the late 19th century, acquired a collection of 65 contemporary paintings and donated them to the government.

And so the Tate Gallery was born.

One of the glories of London is that most of the museums like the Tate have free admission.

The free entry policy was adopted in 2001 and instantly bumped attendance figures up by 70%.

The Tate houses a permanent collection as well as rotating exhibits.

♪ ♪ London's neighborhoods are constantly changing.

What was hip yesterday is dowdy today, and what was once rough-and-tumble now is chic.

In days of yore, Camden was an outpost of London and a pit stop for thirsty highway men.

Today it's one of London's best pub and club neighborhoods with lots of live music and a great place to sample the local brew.

I'm beginning my Camden pub crawl at the World's End.

There's been a pub on this site since 1690.

The neighborhood pub in London is more than a spot to go when you merely fancy a pint.

It's a community center, a place to relax and see neighbors, a place to watch some footy on the telly.

Camden Town, alternatively gritty and posh, attracts 100,000 visitors every weekend with its shopping and eateries.

You gotta travel parts of London, south of the river maybe, and you're not accepted really.

You don't come from around...

Here, in Camden, you can come from almost anywhere in the world, and it's like, "Hello mate, welcome, and there's your beer-- very friendly.

(Rudy) While London seems to have a multitude of independent pubs, the truth is most are owned by huge breweries.

Pubs have been closing at a rate of 4 per day due to rising rent, high taxes, and competition from trendy new bars and restaurants.

Yet, there's hardly a shortage of pubs in London, and their signs are an artform onto themselves.

Professionals, they're professionals.

I can't handle that-- those days are over.

[fast-paced dance music plays] ♪ ♪ For clubbers, London is one of the world's best night spots.

Camden and Soho rock all night long.

♪ ♪ In the Victorian age when steam trains puffed into London, guests stayed in magnificent luxury hotels near the stations.

Across from Marylebone Station, the Landmark Hotel is the reincarnation of the Great Central Hotel built in 1899.

The hotel is fashioned around a central courtyard, where guests once arrived in horse-drawn carriages.

Today the central atrium hosts the Landmark's famous afternoon tea.

Pinkies up for afternoon tea.

Now, before the 1700s porcelain cups imported from China had no handles, so the pinky was essential for balancing your cup.

Today the extended pinky is still the proper way to have your tea.

♪ ♪ If you fancy a stay in an historic London home, Landmark Trust offers many such spots for travelers in and around the city.

♪ ♪ The rent goes toward maintaining these historic properties.

Katherine, what is the Landmark Trust?

The Landmark Trust, we're a building preservation foundation, and we take on historic buildings and restore them and then let them for holidays.

So anyone can stay here, from 3 nights to 3 weeks.

Wow, so a traveling American coming over... (Katherine) Absolutely, you can stay in a castle or a fort... (Rudy) Or here.

(Katherine) ...or here.

(Rudy) Well, I noticed the building has shifted dramatically.

These have to be the original floors.

(Katherine) Yes, they are.

The building was built in the 1700s, partly as a kind of regeneration after the Great Fire of London, which s only 40 years previously, and a lot of the original floor plans are here, so you can really stay here and appreciate the character and historic nature of the building.

How many people can sleep in this house?

Six people.

I notice there's a washer and dryer.

There's 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, and 3 floors.

(Katherine) Although the building might be historic, we make sure that it's very comfortable for our guests.

You can come and stay somewhere like this in the middle of London and have the whole of London on your doorstep.

(Rudy) London is mad for shopping.

The shopping streets of Oxford and Regent Street make up the largest concentration of shops in all of Europe.

On the west side of town, London's most famous shopping destination is Harrods.

Traditionally the grocer to the Royals, Harrods changed hands most recently in 2010.

Mohamed Al Fayed, the store's colorful, outspoken former owner, remains honorary chairman here.

he's decorated the store with an homage to his native Egypt.

♪ ♪ Al Fayed's son Dodi died with Princess Diana in that 1997 Paris car crash, and their Harrods' memorial attracts millions.

You can buy almost anything at Harrods.

The food hall sells everything from fresh oysters to foie gras.

♪ ♪ Katharine, how has the name Harrods become synonymous with the phrase "London shopping?"

Well, Charles Henry Harrod founded the store on this site in 1849, and it's the only store in the UK, which started out as a grocer, which is why the food halls that we're in now are still the main body of the store, and it's still so fantastic, and it's still something that we take great pride in showing to people.

There were also some firsts, like the first moving staircase.

What was that like?

(Katharine) It was 1898 and Harrods decided to put in a moving staircase.

(Rudy) Which we know as an escalator.

(Katharine) As an escalator, and this caused a great deal of concern to people because these ladies with these long dresses and hats, how were they going to move up these staircases without falling over and fainting?

We were so concerned we put staff at the top of the escalators there with brandy and smelling salts because people fainted on the escalators.

(Rudy) Which is so incredible.

(Katharine) It was so incredible.

(Rudy) Thank you, Katharine.

(Katharine) Thank you.

Sometimes I just want to feel like a member of a world empire.

London has a tradition of private clubs.

Many began as political associations; others as places to exchange ideas and literature.

Shakespeare and Ben Johnson traded thoughts in a smokey men's club.

Gentlemen could join a club while working class stiffs like I am were usually deemed unclubable.

Today many clubs like Boisdale have a diverse membership of men and women, but Boisdale is also a restaurant open to the public.

This restaurant seems more like a men's club than a traditional restaurant.

There's an emphasis on cigars and single malt.

Has that scene prospered as the times have changed.

or is it beginning to wane a bit?

Well, we've never followed fashion, and as a result, we can't really go out of fashion.

But all the pillars of what we're about are essentially what I really enjoy, which is cigars, jazz, whiskey, and a particular style of ambiance.

I like eclectic range of generations and types of people.

I like jeans and T-shirts and suits.

I like people in their 20s, and even in their 80s, and that creates a mix, which is exciting and generates an atmosphere.

♪ ♪ Today London is a whole new world empire.

The old boy's club has been replaced by women and men of every race, creed, and color.

Nothing is impossible in this global city.

And while tradition and the Old World make up much of London's charm, it's the New World that drives it forward.

♪ ♪ All that to say this city has always had an eye on the future.

Reporting from London, I'm Rudy Maxa.

Cheerio!

Reproductions of British pub signs are popular everywhere, and we can thank King Richard II for that.

In 1393, he ordered that public drinking houses, or pubs, erect signs so that local ale tasters could easily find the establishments.

William Shakespeare's dad was one such inspector.

And the pictures on the pub signs?

Those were originally designed because many citizens were illiterate and couldn't read the names of the pubs.

So an easily recognizable symbol such as a star or a sun allowed anyone to let a friend know where to meet.

Nightlife has always thrived in London, and clubs in Soho rock all night.

Madonna has partied the velvet curtains at Loungelover in the East End, where the decor is over-the-top Versailles.

After clubbing as the sun comes up, head to my favorite market, Borough Market, for coffee and sustenance.

Few things beat lunch at Roast, an upscale restaurant perched above the market affording you a bird's-eye view.

(woman) For links and photos of the places featured in "Rudy Maxa's World," and other savvy traveling tips, visit maxa.t To order DVDs of "Rudy Maxa's World," visit maxa.tv.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ CC--Armour Captioning & TPT (woman) Funding for "Rudy Maxa's World" is provided by the following... (woman) Orbitz salutes the neverending spirit of adventure and as a proud sponsor of "Rudy Maxa's World" Orbitz offers comprehensive information on the world's great destinations.

From custom vacation packages to in-depth mobile tools your trip begins on Orbitz.

Take vacation back!

[Korean janggu drums play in bright rhythm] (man) Korea, be one with earth and sky.

(woman) And by Delta, serving hundreds of destinations worldwide.

Information to plan your next trip available at delta.com.

[orchestral fanfare] ♪ ♪