2012 Olympic Countdown, Winning the Spectator Game

The Kazak Wrestling team are bringing their own horsemeat sausages and caviar to London for the 2012 Olympics. They want to be on top form. So do the spectators. I just got back from London where I checked out Olympic sites. Here are some tips and ideas from a Brit on how to win the 2012 Olympic Spectator Games.

Some Background on Stratford and London’s East End.

Most visitors will arrive at Stratford, the main games site. About five miles east of Tower Bridge, this is a different London for most, not the picture-book scene with changing of the guard or high tea. This is a diverse, working class area, evolving and edgy.

110 languages and dialects are spoken locally

Fifty years ago it was home to London’s docks and factories which proliferated during the industrial revolution. Think Dicken’s London, fog, dark narrow grimy streets and Jack the Ripper. It’s still home to London’s colorful cockney’s, but continues the melting pot tradition. French Huguenots came in 17th century followed by Irish fleeing famine, and Jews escaping Russian pogroms. Now its home to Bengalis, Africans, West Indians, Pakistanis, Indians, Turks, Chinese and Eastern Europeans. 110 languages and dialects are spoken locally.

Dickens’ London is gone, so is heavy manufacturing. The docks, severely bombed  in WW2, are now mostly downriver at Tilbury. The area became semi-derilect and ready for renaissance, so when London won the Olympic Games Bid it was overdrive time for developers and planners. First massive industrial contamination cleanup was needed. Over 4000 new trees were planted, hundreds of native frogs and newts, removed for cleanup, were repatriated and 51 miles of bike paths installed. Prognosis for prolonged urban renewal is good. The Westfield Center, Europe’s largest urban shopping, restaurant and entertainment complex, was built adjacent to the Stadium and London Aquatics Center.  It is connected via walkways to Stratford Station and buses stop in front.

Where and What to Eat

There are 82 restaurants in the Westfield Center. Like the games, food offerings are international. You can eat around the world. Try Carribean jerk chicken, Lebanese, Chicago Ribs and everything inbetween. John Lewis department store has a restaurant on the top floor where there is also a killer view of the London Orbit.

Marks and Spencers, known to Brits as Marks and Sparks has excellent take-out food which can be eaten in the spacious plazas of the center which have tables, seating areas and umbrellas for sun or rain. There is a Pret a Manger, one of a chain of restaurants all over London. Food is prepared from organic ingredients without chemicals. Think French baguette sandwiches, sushi, salads. Eat inside (free wifi) or take it with you.

The traditional food of London’s East enders was pies, mash, jellied eels and cockles, maybe an acquired taste. Change meant  a food cornucopia.  Not far from the Olympics, Brick Lane London’s curry capital, has more curry restaurants than anywhere else in the city. Also known as Banglatown, because of its large Bangladeshi community, the street is lined with curry houses.

Not far from the Olympics, Brick Lane is London’s curry capital

Try Tayyabs, Aladin, a fave of Prince Charles and claimed by the BBC to the the best curry house in England, Clifton, and nearby  Cafe Spice Namaste, written up in the New York Times.  As Brick Lane has become known it has also become somewhat touristy with touts outside some curry houses – it all adds color. Brick Lane was the name and subject of a book by Monica Ali, selected for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, made into a movie with first screening at the Telluride Festival. Best way to get to Banglatown is via Aldgate East Tube Station.

Round up: Fun and Families

Newly opened is Britain’s first urban cable car ferrying passengers high above the River Thames from North Greenwich near the O2 arena, (gymnastics and basketball), to the Royal Docks close to the ExCel center on the northbank, (martial arts and weightlifting).

The Emirates Air Line London Cable Car  takes about five minutes each way. Views of the Milennium dome, Canary Wharf, and River Thames are spectacular. The cost is around $5 if you pay with an Oyster Card, an electronic pay-as-you-go travel smart-card which all London visitors should get.  Good on buses, tube, tram and some national railroutes, it means cheapest fares and no fumbling for unaccustomed change.

Further west along the river, The London Eye on the South Bank continues to give great London vistas. It takes 20 minutes to go round. The South Bank is one of the best urban outdoor entertainment areas in the world. Hundreds of street artists from jugglers to singers stake out a place and do their thing. Close by is Borough Market, a mecca for foodies, or anyone with an appetite. The range of food is amazing, pans of paella, steaming mussels, warm chickens, pies of course, and wonderful English desserts. There are also cooking lessons and special demonstrations.

Vibrant new East End Art Scene

With shifts in manufacturing, large vacant industrial spaces and low rents lured artists. When Damien Hirst‘s agent Jay Jopling set up the White Cube gallery in Hoxton Square the area instantly became uber cool and hot for YBA’s (Young British Artists).  Now Shoreditch, Spitalfields and Banglatown are trendy with loft appartments, bars, clubs, and boutiques. There are over 25 art galleries.  As well as White Cube other popular galleries include, Whitechapel, Rivington Place, Barbican Art Gallery and Maureen Paley. Graffiti and street art are a vital part of the East London art scene. Banksy has done several Olympic pieces. In Hyde Park Yoko Ono has an exhibit at the newly completed Serpentine Gallery. Convenient for spectators watching rowing on the Serpentine in Hyde Park

What to Wear

Okay its going to rain.  So far its been the wettest summer on record.  Be prepared. Take an umbrella and fold-up rain coat with hood. Hoods are better for navigating crowds where umbrellas can become unintentional weapons. If you do go the umbrella route copy Her Majesty. The Queen’s favorite is a white “Birdcage” from Fulton. This transparent umbrella – gives protection from the elements, but you can been see and importantly see where you are headed.  Fulton umbrellas are also available on Amazon along with GustBusters.

Street fashion in London is currently skinny jeans, ballet flats and always a scarf.  Whatever the weather this year street fashion demands a long scarf looped around the neck. When it really pours Brits don Wellies, rubber boots named after the Duke of Wellington who wore them on muddy battlefields. TTFN

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