The most awaited, illustrious and esteemed sporting spectacle started on July 27, 2012. The spectacular sporting event concludes on August 12, 2012 at the Olympic Park, in one of the iconic cities of the world – London. The spirit of rivalry is boasted through 36 varied sports where over 10,000 athletes compete for 204 nations. The spectators count in the stadium was 80,000 plus to witness the sight of the ignition of the Olympic torch burning with the fire of true sportsmanship, enthusiasm, and pure and integrated emotions.

Special Arrangements

To add to the sparks of the Olympics, this year, its host city London has embellished itself with both sumptuousness and aristocracy, along with its princely attitude. The classy and magnificent beauty of the city enhances when it’s luxury hotels, lounges and restaurants blaze brilliantly under the awe-inspiring fireworks on the opening ceremony of Olympics. The luxury hotels have come up with several vivacious offers and arrangements with the desire to provide comfort, opulence and also to furnish gratification to the senses.

Transport

The transports for the visitors as well as the sportspersons have seen a major change in guard. All the athletes and many spectators have arrived at the Heathrow airport. Especially for the Olympic viewers, an additional part of Heathrow has been inaugurated in the summer of 2011 – The Terminal 5’s C Satellite (or, the T5C). This additional facility provided eight extra gates to enter London. Among the eight, 5 of the gates are capable of managing the landings of A380 “Superjumbo” Airbuses.

In London’s inner conveyance scenario, special trains in the Tube lines have been allotted during the Games. The previous poorly connected East End of London is now connected by a cable car. The cable cars of The Emirates Air Line carry about 2500 passengers every hour across the Thames River. The cable car, while connecting the O2 Tower with the Excel Centre, helps the Olympic viewers who want to go the Basketball and the Gymnastics events by reaching them to their respective venues in over five minutes.

Not only for the commoners the host city has also arranged for multi-purpose conveyance system to receive the “150 heads of states”. They are aiding these celebrities, VIPs and foreign dignitaries to their destination with the help of helicopters. These flying-giants will be shuttling the privileged all the way to the heliport in Battersea. For the improved results they are interlining the private jet users along with them. The slots for the private jets at the small airports in London, such as Farnborough, Oxford or Biggin Hill have already started to buzz. This is one of the sophisticated means to reach the stadiums without any troubles, which on top have added more luxurious offers to make the journey even more impressive and impulsive for the esteemed guests.

Lodging

Nothing comes above the prestige of the nation. In London’s prime holiday season too this same essence of pride seems to have come alive. Hotel owners all around London have cut down their room prices drastically in anticipation of the Games. The normal rooms in an average cost around 133 pounds at this time of the year, but only for the Games, the prices have been brought down to approximately 112 pounds.

Additionally, rooms of different renowned hotels have been customised for the spectators of the Olympics. New hotels have been opened in the past few months in Eastern London (like the Belgraves and The Ampersand Hotel) for proximal lodging near the venues. Old hotels like The Savoy have renewed itself for the occasion of the Games. With 38 new guestrooms and luxurious suites, it is ready to welcome the guests. Keeping their different tastes in mind, the American Bar and the Savoy Grill, once a speciality of The Savoy, have been resurrected. Meanwhile, Starwood’s W London at the Leicester Square and the 45 Park Lane also had an early opening prior to the Games.

Eateries

Carrying food inside the Olympic Parks has been banned. So, you may find yourself hanging out in one of the nearby restaurants enjoying an exotic cuisine. Numerous areas close to the East End of London, like the Kingston Road, Victoria Park, Roach Road have seen a surge in the numbers of restaurants and pubs. The hoteliers here have experimented on their culinary skills to tingle the taste buds of the visitors in the little time they will be able to serve them. A few of the restaurants here like the Counter Café (just beside the Olympic Stadium), Jimmy’s special Supper Club (open only for the Games), Turkish food stall Mangal and many more deserve special mention.

Though having no connection directly during the Games, other high class and regular eateries situated in the heart of the city have been decorated duly in the charm of the Games. To make the dining experience in London more magical, two special dining carts have been launched among the cable cars of The London Eye. Past 8:30 pm, these cable cars become operational when all the passengers have departed from the other cars. With their fanciful dining tables and seating arrangement for eight people, exquisite cuisines like gently cooked lamb racks, beef carpaccio, lobster salad et cetera are served here in every round of the trip. You can watch the ever changing landscapes of the city lights, which have been customised specially for the Games while having your dinner. Pocket pinch of each of these magical rides is about $5000.

Other Attractions

Not only that England and London is proud to host the Olympics for the third time, but the people here have gone completely crazy about it. Special tours of the stadium does not only include sneak peeks of the England Olympic team’s changing rooms and the Royal Box of the stadium, but also a zip wire trip across the stadium. You will be hung from wires on one side of the Wembley Stadium, and then zoomed across the stadium on a 200 meter long wire about 30 meter high above the ground at a speed of 25 miles per hour.

While the Olympic is going inside the stadium, Victoria Park in East London is hosting a different sort of games. Gentleman (and Ladies) clad in the most ethnic English clothes are coming up to each other and hurling fruits, vegetables and hitting each other without dropping the pipes from their mouths. Olympic frenzy could not get any better!

If you have missed to have your own Games tickets, do not forget to catch the direct telecast of the Games on the giant screens all around London and in front of the stadium too.

Famous museums like the Albert’s are hosting exhibitions from the years when the Olympics were previously held in London in 1908 and 1948.

It is one thing to play a game, and an entirely different experience to host it. When playing, a nation’s pride is at the one player’s stake while when a game is hosted by a nation, the whole country has to work together to earn that pride. London has had to cut on its budgets for maintaining its promise of spending 9.3 million pounds on the Olympic Games and given a fruitful outcome to its seven years of hard work. Time shall only tell that whether the preparations have reflected the expectations of the nation itself. So come here to feel the beat and heat now!

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