London (Fodor's 2012) - Fodor's [6]
GETTING AROUND
More than £17 billion has been earmarked for transport development in the run-up to the 2012 Games in this city that sees 20 million trips daily on the transport system. Served by five airports, London has the world’s second largest (and oldest) underground system, but pre-Olympics development saw the extension of the East London line (May 2010) and the Docklands Light Railway, the upgrading and modernization of all underground stations, investment on the Jubilee Line (serving Olympic facilities) to handle extra capacity, and a high-rail link between St Pancras International and Stratford International for the Olympic Park, shuttling spectators to the Games in seven minutes from central London. New cycle and walking lanes are also planned to encourage healthier modes of transportation. London, however, remains one of the most congested cities in Europe, with an average vehicle speed of just under 12 mph.
BUYING TICKETS
Tickets for the London Olympics 2012 go on sale in 2011 and will generally be available until the start of each event unless sold out. Advance tickets start to go on sale beginning March 15 to April 26, 2011, through the Authorized Ticket Reseller, Cosport (cosport.com), or through the various offices of the National Olympic Committees of the International Olympic Committee (www.olympic.org). Tickets will include free public transport on the day of the event.
NEW LONDON?
The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing further marked the long-heralded shift eastward of the world economic axis. Back in London for the first time since 1948, the Olympic Games return to a nation increasingly at ease with its decreased global stature but just as eager to put on a show. Drawing on impressive reserves of cosmopolitan verve, creativity, and sheer élan, London aims to host the Olympic Games in striking fashion. While the Beijing Olympics purposefully declared the arrival of a new superpower, the 2012 Olympics will be about showing why London remains one of the world’s most-loved and cosmopolitan cities.
The jigsaw-style logo for the London Olympics may have polarized opinion, but the Games have been applauded for their promise to revitalize areas of East London and swing the spotlight of global attention back to town. The Games are also an occasion to showcase some dramatic new architecture. And, Olympic visitors are expected to bring as much as £2.2 billion to the local economy in 2012, fueling the London feel-good factor.
LONDON UNDER CONSTRUCTION
London has focused its Olympic energies on transforming the deprived East London, where the Olympic Park is under construction, but the occasion has been seized on to overhaul public transport, to showcase some sparkling new architecture, and to convert some well-known landmarks into Olympic venues.
With the exceptions of Canary Wharf, the Swiss Re Headquarters (the “Gherkin”), the Lloyd’s of London building, and the London Eye, London’s skyline is typically low-key with little of the brash swagger of, say, Shanghai or Manhattan. But a spectacular crop of new architecture—the 945-foot (288-meter) “Helter-Skelter” Bishopsgate Tower, 740-foot (228-meter) Leadenhall Building “Cheese Grater,” and 1,020 foot (310 meters) “Shard of Glass”—is set to inject fresh adrenaline into London’s otherwise staid streetscapes and revitalize its skyline.
A curvilinear £303-million piece of eye candy due for completion in 2011, the gorgeous Aquatics Centre will be a centerpiece of London’s Olympics display. Designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, the center’s wavelike form has been scaled back from original designs, but it remains an impressive and inspirational building.
The Olympic Stadium’s design has divided opinion, with critics making unfavorable comparisons with Beijing’s iconic Bird’s Nest, but supporters have pointed to the 80,000-capacity stadium’s ability to be dismantled as a major plus point.
OLYMPIC VENUES
Most big-ticket events will take place in the Olympic Park but some medals will be vied for in more unusual settings, many of which are open to the public