LONDON - Taylor Swift is in love again, ladies and gentlemen, and this time it’s with a nation.
“God, I love the English,” the American pop legend sings on “London Boy,” a track from her seventh studio album, “Lover,” released August 23.
Like a lot of visitors to London, Swift starts in the video by walking through “Camden Market in the afternoon.”
This is a bad idea.
Even if you’re not a global megastar avoiding being mobbed, it’s still a tourist trap thronged with backpack-wearing teens from across the globe -- although some of the street food is pretty good.
To escape the crowds on land, take one of the regular boat tours along Regent’s Canal from Camden to Little Venice, taking in sights including London Zoo. Jason’s Trip and London Waterbus Company are two of the main operators.
Swift’s paramour Alwyn was raised in the North London neighbourhoods of Tufnell Park and Crouch End, so it’s no surprise Swift references affluent locales within hopping distance of his home ‘hoods.
Leafy Highgate is best known for its cemetery, where Swift can visit the final resting places of music industry legends George Michael and Malcolm McLaren.
Highgate is where London Boy brings our heroine to meet “all of his best mates.”
Historic 17th-century pub The Flask is more than up to this task: It has an open fire, charming beamed ceilings and a romantic past involving highwayman Dick Turpin.
The glorious, green open spaces of Hampstead Heath are a short distance away, where Swift can blow off the cobwebs on a post-pub stroll.