The print room
We pull out drawers of Rembrandt etchings and Hokusai prints at the British Museum's free study room. Anyone can book.
Xi'an Impression
We squeeze into a tiny Shaanxi spot near the Arsenal stadium for hand-pulled biang biang noodles and cumin lamb buns.
Boating lake
We rent a rowboat for an hour and figure out who's actually steering. Ducks judging us the whole time.
Across to Marylebone
We cut north out of the park and wander the back streets toward Marylebone, the long way, no map.
Koya counter
Udon at the counter, watching them pull noodles. Order the hot-cold one if you've never had it.
A roll of film
We pick up a cheap film camera and a roll each, then spend an hour shooting whatever catches our eye around Bethnal Green.
Vietnamese on Kingsland
We hand the film in to develop and walk up to Kingsland Road for bun cha and cold beers while the photos are processing.
Pick up the prints
We collect the developed prints and flip through them on a bench by the canal, seeing what the other person actually noticed.
Hand-written, real venues. Each one links to the writeup and opens in the builder.
London gives you a lot to work with on a date, and most of it gets missed. These plans are concept-first: two stops that earn their place, not a checklist of things to see.
Pick one, open it in the builder to see the route on a map, tweak the stops if you want. No signup. No scheduler. Just the idea.
Maltby Street
We graze our way down the market under the railway arches, splitting whatever looks best until we're full.
Along the Thames
We wander west along the river toward Tower Bridge, taking the long way and stopping wherever looks interesting.
The Rake
We end up at a tiny Borough beer bar where they'll happily pick something for us if we tell them what we like.
The City after dark
We walk the empty City after the suits have gone home, alleys and churchyards we'd never notice on a Tuesday lunch.
St Bride's crypt
We duck into one of the Wren churches still open late, sit in a pew, listen to how loud our breathing sounds in 300-year-old stone.
Bar Italia at 1am
Espresso and a toastie standing at the counter in Soho, where the night people end up. We eat with our coats still on.
A roll of film
We pick up a cheap film camera and a roll each, then spend an hour shooting whatever catches our eye around Bethnal Green.
Vietnamese on Kingsland
We hand the film in to develop and walk up to Kingsland Road for bun cha and cold beers while the photos are processing.
Pick up the prints
We collect the developed prints and flip through them on a bench by the canal, seeing what the other person actually noticed.
Low tide on the Thames
We climb down to the foreshore at low tide and pick through clay pipes, Victorian pottery, and bits of bone the river keeps coughing up.
The Anchor & Hope
We wash the river off and go straight into a long, loud pub lunch where the menu is chalked up and changes by the hour.
A nightcap at Three Sheets
We end up in a tiny Soho cocktail bar where the menu is two pages and every drink reads like a short story.
The Thames foreshore
We climb down to the river at low tide and comb the mud for clay pipes, Victorian tile, bits of bone older than us.
Show and tell
We take our weirdest finds to the front desk at the Museum of London Docklands and ask someone what we actually picked up.
The Grapes
We end up at a 500-year-old riverside pub with a tiny back deck over the water, eating fish pie and comparing pockets.
Beigel Bake
Salt beef bagels at the 24-hour counter on Brick Lane. We eat standing up, mustard on our sleeves.
The N29 upstairs
We climb to the front seats of a night bus heading somewhere neither of us knows well. Ride it until something looks interesting.
Wherever we got off
We get off at a stop on instinct and walk the empty streets until we find a 24-hour caff or a bench with a view.
