We featured a rough cut of this video on the blog way back in December 2008, and are now pleased to show it in its finished entirity.

Safari London by Rick Symonds and Roddy Macintyre is a beautiful, trippy journey through a night time London. It was shot on a Nikon D300, which most of the time was mounted on a precarious home made tripod attached to a bike, and the results are astounding. You need to watch things like this every so often to remind yourself that despite all the tales of dirt and decay, London can indeed be a beautiful city.

Safari London from Rick Symonds on Vimeo.

Aye. Ol’ Saint Patrick’s Day is here again. So bring out the bagpipes, the stout and that one Gaelic phrase you know for some ye ol’ hard partying. This fateful day, as those accustomed to living in New York City know, makes for overflowing bars, sold-out Guinness supplies and the famed Saint Paddy’s Day Parade down 5th Avenue. See the route and best viewing here.

As a veteran New Yorker, I offer you two options on this Irish day of drink.  One highbrow, one low, it’s yours for the taking.  First, I suggest a quaint treck downtown to the origins of New York Irish.  Visit the historic, and truly impressive, Merchant’s House Museum. It is the only surviving intact home, and has been standing since about 3 decades prior to the Civil War.  This Wednesday, the museum invites you to take a tour of what is “arguably the oldest intact site of Irish habitation in New York City.”

If you’d rather lose some braincells than harness some, find your way to the Top Secret St. Patrick’s Day Dance Party! Click the link to buy tickets in advance.  The place and DJ line up won’t be told till the day of…but seems like a green old time for sure.

As ever, Metrotwin is on hand with a helpful list to make sure you get the most from your annual day of pretending you have some tenuous ancestral link to the Emerald Isle – Friends of St Patrick contains our top ten recommended Irish pubs in NYC.

Of course, if you truly do have Irish blood running in your veins you will be greatly moved by this video of an Irish dancing tutorial… and not find the spectacle of a girl hopping around her living room with a scarf tucked into her knickers unintentionally hilarious. Just sayin’.

Photo by sonicsquirtgun and video by expertvillage used under a Creative Commons License

We posted this on our twitter feed on Friday, but it was such a fascinating video, I thought it deserved a bigger write up.

A visual tour around London’s most quirky ‘hidden’ landmarks by Youtuber ChrisCLondon, it’s full of incredible facts and quirks and features locations that even most lifelong Londoners won’t know about. My Londonphile geeky brother only got 8 out of 10, failing on his knowledge of the Victorian Pet Cemetery and the minature bronze St Paul’s Cathedral…

My personal favourite story is the one about the tank – A property developer was denied planning permission by the council to build a block of flats on the Old Kent Road. Infuriated, he reapplies, but this time with plans for a tank. Thinking he means septic tank, the council grant permission, only for the man to install a genuine T34 tank from the First World War on the patch of land. Painted bright pink. With the gun tower pointing towards the council offices.

We found this video on the VisitLondon blog. Aside from posting cool videos, VisitLondon have helped Metrotwin considerably by adding loads of great places and lists to our site. These are some of the best:

Toy Shops – There is more to London than Hamley’s y’know..

Arts and Craft Shops in London – To help you stand out from the Primarni crowd.

City Farms – Escape from the rat race and pet a pig.

Eco-Friendly London – Glorious ways to go green.

Unique Cinemas – For when you want to see something that didn’t cost billions and doesn’t feature Adam Sandler, a talking monkey and a highly implausible series of events.

We’ve been busy bees on Metrotwin this week and there is loads of new places to share with you.

New Lists

Mothers’ Day Must Haves – It’s not too late to redeem yourself, you terrible excuse for a child.

Members Only – A sad gap on this list as the East Room burnt down this Thursday, but there are plenty more places in London and NYC where you can avoid the alcopop drinking riff raff.

New Places

Tillman’s – Soul with a side of grilled cheese.

Japas55 – An ever-so-slightly elusive karaoke bar.

Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes – The run down bag and shoe shops are (quite literally) a front for a hipster heaven.

ICA – Large London arts complex, currently under threat of closure.

Balham Bowls Club - Pretend you’re a right Royal Tenenbaum in this quirky South London bar.

Peep – Thai restaurant with one-way mirrored toilets. Fascinating with a side of terrifying to go please…

The Little Bay – It’s hard to define the cuisine, but you can definitely tick the ‘good value’ box for price.

The Museum of Art and Design – MAD by name….different by nature, this museum of American craftwork is one to check out.

The Rye Hotel - There is, apparently, a posh part of Peckham after all.

Blue Smoke - Give me a B! B! And a cuuuuuuue.

Paolina – This Thai cafe in Kings Cross is a bit of a secret gem.

Quirinale – Another lesser-known spot, this time an Italian in Westminster.

The Vortex Jazz Club – Ambient noodles (musical ones) seven nights a week.

The Met Opera House - A powerhouse of classical music/

Pies ‘n’ Thighs – You have to love the variety of Metrotwin! This is a recently re-opened Southern cooking cafe in Williamsburg, not (sadly) a dessert themed stripclub.

Read more…

It was a true transatlantic meeting of editors’ brains that came up with this twin. The Faltering Fullback is my local secret – tucked away on a residential street in Finsbury Park and cunningly disguised as a giant ivy bush, the Fullback is, in my opinion, the perfect local drinking hole. It fulfills the holy trinity of Good Pubbiness – a third is cosy, trinket strewn cubby holes, a third is a large seating area with a pool table and football (or, recently curling) on the tv, and a heated outdoors/roof terrace area completes the picture.

The Brooklyn Inn in Boreum Hill is Harper’s favourite local boozer. An ex-hotel set on a beautiful brownstone lined street, it feels local while still being but a stone’s throw away from the F and G train.  Aside from the locality, its winning combination of a juke box, pool table and cosy cubby holes means it has been the site of Reitkopf birthday celebrations for the last three years. And if that ain’t sufficient praise, then I don’t know what is….

And if you are going to make the trip to check out these fine establishments, you could also visit these places:

London

Pizza Papagone - You wanna a pizza as big as a table but costing less thanna travelcard? You cometa the right place!

Rowan’s Bowl – A slightly shabby-but-fun venue with ten pin bowling, arcade games, snooker tables and DJ’s at the weekend.

Happening Bagels – Super cheap bagels and huge slices of cake. Just don’t go in wearing your Spurs football shirt.

Brooklyn

Building on Bond – Daytime wi fi cafe, nighttime cocktail bar. Best of both worlds.

Bird – A lovely fashion boutique that doubles as an art gallery. Brooklynites are just so functional!

The Victory - For those who fancy some imported European goodies with their coffee and bagel.