OLYMPICS 2012: See Some Of London's Incredible New Attractions Built To Dazzle Summer Games VisitorsReported by Business Insider on Wednesday, 20 June 2012 (on June 20, 2012)
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 Emirates recently held a test flight over London, but it didn’t involve any planes. The Dubai-based airline is the primary sponsor of a new cable-car service suspended high across the Thames and capable of carrying 2,500 passengers.
*Click here to see London's coolest new attractions > *
As Western Europe’s most populated and dynamic city, the British capital isn’t short on diversions. London’s intoxicating world beat plays out across cobbled alleyways, leafy parks, and gilded avenues oozing with history. And the Thames already has its iconic landmarks, from Tower Bridge to the London Eye Ferris wheel.
But the city isn’t resting on its laurels. London, which just celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with great pomp, is already on to the next big things: new arts venues, parks, and thrill rides like the Emirates Air Line cable car. Even locals are taking notice. These cool attractions are all in the process of being unveiled as London welcomes the world for the Games of the XXX Olympiad.Â
Many sights are naturally in East London in proximity to the Olympics or make up part of the Games complex itself. Olympic Park, for starters, spreads over 247 acres of parkland in a feat of bioengineering that includes wildlife habitats, a riverside promenade, and trees planted as a hedge against climate change—proof that there’s literally room to grow in this chaotic city. Man-made attractions within the park will also vie for your attention, notably the ArcelorMittal Orbit, a twisting steel tower with a viewing platform.
But not all the buzzed-about attractions are in East London. Near Tower Bridge, in a development called More London, Renzo Piano’s 1,016-foot-high Shard skyscraper has taken shape and set a record as Western Europe’s tallest building. And about a mile to the west, just past the Globe Theatre, the first expansion phase of the Tate Modern—which receives more than 5 million annual visitors—is well under way. Architects Herzog & de Meuron’s addition is a striking latticework brick edifice with two former oil tanks repurposed as performance and exhibition space.
While 2012 is a seminal year for London, the new and improved Tate Modern, like the rest of these attractions, will keep the party going for visitors long after the Olympic Games’ closing ceremonies.
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-Thames RIB Experience-
An already popular outing on the River Thames has just gotten a whole lot cooler, especially if you’re a James Bond fan. The exhilarating 400-horsepower Thames RIB Experience, which speeds by some of London’s most iconic sights at 40mph, now features a stand-alone 80-minute James Bond–themed itinerary—with fascinating anecdotes about Ian Fleming and high-speed flybys past the headquarters of the MI5 and MI6 secret service.
-London Pleasure Gardens-
An overgrown 15-acre industrial site in the Royal Docks in East London is staging a comeback as a multipurpose arts venue that opens with a bang—a massive fireworks display—on June 30, 2012. Anchored by a restored concrete grain silo, the Silvertown Quays features a 1,000-capacity dome, a sculpture garden, a floating cocktail bar, and dance and theater arenas, amounting to entertainment space for as many as 35,000 people.
-Shark Reef Encounter At The London Aquarium-
One of the world’s most feared predators has a spiffy new home at Sea Life London Aquarium. At the Shark Reef Encounter, 16 creatures—from sand tiger sharks to bowmouths, grey reefs, and blacktips—sinisterly wend their way through a 65-foot tank dotted with shoals of other less harmful fish. Your encounter involves strolling a 15-foot section of glass walkway above the tank, peering down at the fins below, and interacting with exhibits that chronicle the 450-million-year evolution of the shark.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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