Un Gran Dia a Los Juegos Olimpicos Este Verano - Gratis

Hola Amigos,
Típicamente yo escribo mi blog en inglese, pero quise a escribir solimente un post en
español para mi amigos neuvos de España y Hispano America. Lo siento si mi español no es
perfecto - espero que se divierten!
Nací en Ingalterra pero he estado viviendo en los Estados Unidos por mas o menos trienta años.
Cuando era joven vive y trabaje en Londres. Ahora voy a Londres cada ano por reunions con mis
amigos y familia. Pienso que Londres es un ciudad muy interestante y buena onda.
El año pasado yo empece a escribir este blog para amigos quienes van a Londres para vacaciones y estan interesados en los cosas que no se van en los libros para turistas. Por ejemplo el mejor boletos a comprar por el metro (el Underground), restaurantes agradables, pequenos museos y galarias  y bicicletas para alquilar...
Este post es sobre 'London 2012' - Los Juegos Olímpicos este verano. Los juegos empiezan en
27 de Julio y tienen lugar a trienta y cuatro sitos en Inglaterra. En realidad boletos para muchos
eventos son muy caros, y para eventos de carreras, natacion y gimnasia  no es posible
comprarlos ahora.
Pero si usted estara en Londres durante los juegos hay algunos eventos que son emocionante, y
pueden disfrutarlos gratis. Mi favarito es el Triatlón que es en Hyde Parque en el centro Londres. El trtiatlón para mujers es el Sábado 4 de Agosto (a las neuve) y el evento para hombres es en Martes 7 de Agosto (a las once y media). Noventa por cienta de el curso está abierto al publico y
es gratis!
Hay cursos diferente en triatlón, pero en Los Juegos Olímpicos el nadar es 1,500M, la bicicleta es 43K y el correr es 10K.
El carrera empezaré en el borde norteño de Lago Serpertine (por supuesto) con el nadar. El curso de bicicleta será de siete vueltas de Hyde Parque (y el calle a Buckingham Palace - la casa de la reina) y la carrera será cuatro vueltas alrededor el lago.
En el zona donde empieza y termina de  la carrera (a la notre borde del lago) habrá un areá con asientos solemente para personas con boletos. Pero en todas las otros áreas del curso será posible a ver algunos del mejor atletas del mundo muy cercano y personal.
El 4 de Agosto creo que habrá una gran multitud en el parque porque se espera que la atleta de Inglaterra, Helen Jenkins (tene veinte ocho años) gane el oro de 'Equipo Britannia'! Esta
atleta fabulosa ganó facilmente el Mundo Triatlon Evento en San Diego, California antes este
Mayo.
También hay un otro evento de Juego Olimpico gratis en Hyde Parque - el 10K nadar en 9 y 10 de Agosto. A este blogger le gusta mucho natación, y hace muchos años gane el Equipo de Serpentine  'Puente a Puente' carrera (mas o menos 1,100M),  pero pienso que mirar un 10K natación seria muy aburrido - lo siento.
Aquí hay mas información sobre Los Juegos Olimpicos en Hyde Parque - disfruten!
http://www.london2012.com/triathlon/

"I'm starving" - Some Great Places to Grab a Bite

Question: what's the most prolific restaurant-type in England today?
Answer: curry houses (no longer the much loved Brit. fish & chip shop!).
In my opinion Britain's reputation as an island inhabited by the culinary challenged is a thing of the past. I don't think that food was ever particularly bad in the U.K., but it certainly lacked any sense of adventure. Today that's all changed, particularly in London.
 I read somewhere that the capital has over 7,000 restaurants. I have no idea if that's true but it certainly seems that it could be - there are truly a massive amount of choices. Set out in this post is information regarding a cross-section of restaurants that I personally enjoy visiting when I'm in town; I'm hoping there will be something for all tastes and budgets.

• Okay, let's start with an undisputed classic, Simpsons in the Strand (http://www.simpsonsinthestrand.co.uk/). If you're looking for the quintessential, formal roast beef dinner experience this is it served up in an exclusive, traditional British club-like setting. Simpsons first opened its doors in 1828 and I doubt that its tone has changed much since then, other than women are now admitted to all its rooms!. This will certainly not be an inexpensive dining choice, but if you want to do it up in vintage Brit. style while in London you can't go wrong at Simpsons. There is a definite dress code, and I assume that reservations would always be a good idea. The closest tube station is Charing Cross on the Northern and Bakerloo lines
• A fun, classy (dare I say trendy) fish restaurant is Geales in Notting Hill (http://www.geales.com/); a neighbourhood favorite since 1939. As their web site points out they have two restaurants in London, however I'm only familiar with the Notting Hill location. The restaurant is by no means large and is set back a block or two to the south of Notting Hill High Street which frankly is nothing to write home about. However, the moment one ventures off the High Street things get very cool very quickly. Geales is surrounded by quaint, undoubtedly expensive mews houses, some painted quite vivid colours. Geales is not cheap but not crazy expensive either. Lots of fish choices, including a classic fish & chips. For the younger crowd, it seems like a great place to take a date. The closest tube station is Notting Hill Gate on the Central line.
• My favorite Spaghetti House is located in Sicilian Avenue; it's a family run operation that opened its first restaurant in 1955 - they now have several around London (http://www.spaghettihouse.co.uk/). It's your basic warm, friendly, relatively inexpensive Italian restaurant that specializes in northern Italian cuisine. The lasagna is delicious. Sicilian Avenue is interesting in and of itself - it's a very short, pedestrian only thoroughfare demarcated by classic Italian pillars at either end. The closest tube station is Holborn on the Central line.
• Given that curry houses are so popular in England it would be a shame not to check-out at least one Indian restaurant while in London. The Bengal Clipper (http://www.bengalclipper.co.uk/) is a good call for a number of reasons: it's a great location in the heart of old Butler's Wharf and it's a fairly stylish linen tablecloth restaurant with a wide selection on the menu. The Bengal Clipper is a moderately large and expensive place. A simpler option (perfect for anyone staying up in Lancaster Gate) is Spice of India at 12 Bathurst Street, London W2. Spice of India is a small, neighborhood eatery but the food is excellent. For those that have been reading all posts in this blog will recall that Bathurst Street is perpendicular to the front entrance of The Lancaster Hotel.
• If you are a Gordon Ramsay fan, and I am, why not check-out one (or more) of his twelve London restaurants? (http://www.gordonramsay.com/). Ramsay is an interesting character; he comes from a very modest, somewhat troubled background. As a teenager his chosen career was professional soccer. He joined the Scottish club, Glasgow Rangers, but suffered a bad knee injury fairly early on. Apparently the knee did not heal perfectly and so he was confronted with the choice of either always being known a footballer with a bad knee (presumably affecting his play) or doing something else. He considered joining the Royal Air Force or the police before 'falling' into the restaurant business. He is now at the top of his profession with restaurants on four continents and a TV career. I've only eaten at one of his restaurants, Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, but I have to say it was a great experience and well worth the money. Again, I assume that reservations are always in order at any of his places, and it's probably a good idea to book on-line several weeks in advance if you want a 8.00pm or 9.00pm table. On my next trip to London I've promised myself that I'll be eating at his pub, The Narrow, located in Limehouse (a formerly very dodgy part of East London, but now somewhat gentrified - I hope). The Narrow is located on the banks of the Thames between Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf.  
• 'Eat' is a chain of inexpensive, high-quality, healthy food lunch places that are to be found all over London and in the food courts of shopping malls (http://www.eat.co.uk/). Each Eat prepares all of it's sandwiches, soup and salads etc. on-site and  the offerings have a self-life of no more than 24 hours. Eat is an impressive story: it was started by husband and wife team in 1996, and they now have over 100 locations. If nothing else, in my opinion, they deserve huge kudos for the coming up with the name and getting the web address.
• Marks & Spencers is a very highly regarded chain store with numerous locations throughout Britain; they are know for high-quality products at fair prices. Although they are primarily a clothing store, they have branched out with other product lines including food. Marks & Sparks, as it is affectionately known, is another good place to pick-up a nutritious, tasty sandwich or salad etc. without breaking the bank.

London's Smallest Museum

The Sir John Soane Museum is London's smallest museum and is centrally located in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the Holborn area.
Sir John Soane was a distinguished architect, his most famous commission being the Bank of England building in Threadneedle Street. Soane actually designed 3 row houses in Lincoln's Inn Fields in the latter part of the 18th century and lived in one; it is now the museum.
The museum houses a surprisingly wide array of exhibits including 30,000 architectural drawings, 3 Canaletto's and the famous series of paintings by William Hogarth: 'A Rake's Progress'. This is an eight painting piece chronicling the slow but unstoppable downfall of Tom through a series of  poor life choices - a salutary tale.
The name Lincoln's Inn Fields perhaps does not evoke quite accurately what one will see there today. It's actually a formal square (the largest public square in London) with the centre being a good-sized rectangular park. I assume that originally the majority of structures that were built around the perimeter were houses, like Sir John Soane's. Today, however, many are used as professional offices, particularly law offices.
One nice feature is that Lincoln's Inn Fields is a very peaceful place, relatively speaking, and as such it's pleasant to stroll around, even though only one block to the west is the busy thoroughfare of Kingsway. I recommend taking the time to walk around the square. If you do, when you're at the south west corner, you'll run into Portsmouth Street. Walk down a few yards and you'll find 'The Olde Curiosity Shoppe', purported to be the inspiration for Charles Dickens' novel of the same name. Upon seeing it it's easy to see why.
To get to Lincoln's Inn Fields go to Holborn tube station on the Central line. Head south out of the station and stay on the east side of the street. After a few blocks you'll encounter Remnant Street; walk down it a short way and you'll be there.
FYI while in the neighborhood it's an easy, quick & interesting walk to Covent Garden. Go back to Remnant Street, cross over Kingsway, continue going west on Great Queen Street which morphs into Long Arce, then go south on Bow Street and you'll be right there. It'll take less than 10 minutes.
http://www.soane.org/

A Foot in the City - an urban trek

Okay, let's set out on an urban trek to check out several interesting things, some of which may not be on your London travel radar.
Our starting point is St. Paul's tube station (central line - straight shot from Lancaster Gate for those of you following a previous suggestion, only seven stops!).
Depending on whether you're interested in this sort of thing perhaps check out St. Paul's cathedral - obviously it's right there. St. Paul's is architect Christopher Wren's crowning achievement; Wren was commissioned to re-build the cathedral after the original burned down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It has historically been used for royal weddings, including Princess Diana's. Unlike the vast majority of museums and galleries in London there is an admission fee. As a quick side point London actually has two cathedrals, St. Paul's in the City of London (a one square mile incorporated area) and Westminster Abbey technically in the City of Westminster to the immediate west. Westminster Abbey houses the royal coronations. If you're not super into checking out old cathedrals, but feel that you ought to do one, I'd say Westminster Abbey is definitely the better call. Lots of fascinating and quirky things of interest inside, tremendous 'flying butresses' outside, and in fact, in my opinion, it's a must.
So either you go into St. Paul's or you don't, but any which way make your way to the south side of the cathedral and you'll see a street leading right down to the River Thames, perhaps two or three blocks away.
Stroll down this street.On the left hand side is a quite impressive building that houses the world headquarters of the Salvation Army; inside is a simple restaurant on the ground floor that's open to the public that's actually a great place for healthy, very well-priced meals or snacks.
This street funnels you onto the stylish, pedestrian Millennium Bridge (pictured above) over the Thames. It's impressive being on the bridge because of the landmarks within clear view: the Tate Modern Gallery directly on the south side of the bridge, the Globe Theatre just to the east of the Tate and the iconic Tower Bridge also spanning the Thames perhaps one mile on the left.
The Tate Modern is super cool and is absolutely worth visiting disregardless of one's interest in modern art. The building is massive, it used to be a power station that fell into dis-use. The gallery houses a wide variety of art from the 20th and 21st centuries. It's an example of 'adaptive re-use' at its best.
Having marvelled at what passes for art in the Tate Modern (perhaps I'm being a bit harsh), walk along the pedestrian path on the south bank of the Thames to the Globe Theatre. Take the tour - it's great. The Globe was quite recently built to commemorate Shakespeare's original Globe Theatre (no longer standing) in the immediate vicinity, and is a stunningly faithful reproduction (in fact no metal was used in its construction and all the nails are wooden pegs, like in the original). It is, of course, an open air theatre with productions of Shakepeare's work in the summer. The tour takes perhaps one hour and offers much insight into Elizabethan life and theatre.
Continue walking on the river path towards Tower Bridge, and you'll get a great view of  The Tower of London on the north side of the Thames. Stay on the south bank and walk past Tower Bridge and you'll soon find yourself at Butler's Wharf. This whole area is also super cool. As the name suggests back in the day it housed many wharehouses along the river whose purpose was to store tea and other products bought back from the India and the Orient on the big clipper ships. The wharehouses also fell into dis-use for many years and the area essentially became an industrial wasteland. Over the past twenty years or so, however, the wharehouses have been converted into lofts, restaurants and bars. Today it covers a quite large area and it's fun to walk through it's streets, alleys and lanes that hug the banks of the Thames. At dusk it is easy to imagine one's back in the London of Charles Dickens or Jack the Ripper, in fact Dicken's villainous character Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist meets his end in a muddy tributary off the Thames in Butler's Wharf!
Let's keep going. Back to Tower Bridge and walk across it to the north bank. The bridge opens mid span to allow ships to go up or down river, and if you're fortunate you may actually see it open. Given the familiarity we all have of the image of Tower Bridge it's fun to walk across it - a real London experience and great memory.
The Tower of London is located right on the north side of the bridge. Although almost always crowded with tourists The Tower of London is an absolute must-see, and in my opinion if one were to visit only one attraction in London the Tower should be it. The Beefeaters (all former British military personnel who served with distinction) conduct the tours and are exceedingly informative and usually a hoot. Enjoy!

A Walk in the Park

One of London's most delightful things that doesn't get a lot of coverage in the visitor's guides is its many Royal Parks. Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Green Park and St. James Park are among them and these particular ancient parks are located in the very heart of the city; they are beautifully maintained, full of interesting things and very safe.
Hyde Park covers about 350 acres and was originally a royal hunting ground. Kensington Gardens, which abuts Hyde Park to the west and for all intent and purposes is a part of it, is quite heavily treed - when they are in full leaf one can be in the middle of it and not see any of the surrounding city.
The parks essentially interconnect. Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park form one large rectangle, at the south east corner of Hyde Park (across Park Lane) is Green Park, and across The Mall at the end of Green Park is Saint James Park. If you walk to the southern entrance of Green Park guess what you'll see directly opposite? OMG - Buckingham Palace!
Okay, let's say you just happen to be staying in Lancaster Gate and you feel like taking a stroll, here's what you might want to consider. Enter Kensington Gardens at the traffic light on Bayswater Road just by The Swan pub (it's just to the west of Lancaster Gate tube station). You'll be at the area known as the Italian Garden - this is at the head of the Serpentine lake which is quite a large body of water that stretches down into Hyde Park. Head off in a south westerly direction to The Round Pond (quite a nice pond for ducks and model boaters) and from there you'll see Princess Diana's former residence, Kensington Palace, to the west, now the home of William and Kate. (Palace seems like a bit of an overstatement - it's more like a very impressive house). Take a tour if you like or perhaps just check out the gardens and orangery. Close to Kensington Palace is a children's playground, and here you'll find the old Elfin Oak. This is a very curious thing that I really like. Those of you who are Pink Floyd fans and had their LP Ummagumma will have seen this on the inside sleeve artwork (too obscure? - probably).
Okay back on the trail; lots of places to go from here. Perhaps walk to the southern boundary of Kensington Gardens to see the Prince Albert Memorial statute - nothing understated about that - and the Royal Albert Hall directly opposite. Conversely kinda re-trace your steps to the Italian Garden and then walk along the west side of the Serpentine to check out the famous statute of Peter Pan. Keep going and you'll go through a small arch under the road and then you'll enter Hyde Park. The Serpentine stretches out in front of you.
The first thing you'll encounter is Princess Diana's Memorial which is an interactive water feature that children and adults can play in. The attractive rectangular building opposite the lake is the old changing rooms for members of the Serpentine Swim Club; it's now a very pleasant small restaurant (The Lido) great for coffee, tea or sandwiches etc. As a former member of the Serpentine Swim Club I am amazed at how well the building has been restored. There are still some historic photos of the "nutters" jumping into the lake in winter. Maybe keep strolling by the lake (or along Rotten Row - the horse path that runs roughly parallel) to Hyde Park Corner and continue the walk through Green Park and then Saint James. Alternative, head to the southern boundary of Hyde Park, cross over the road, cut through a couple of lanes and you'll end up on the Brompton Road - oh my, there's Harrods.
Speaker's Corner is at the very north east corner of Hyde Park by Marble Arch - this gets going on Sunday afternoon. Marble Arch is at the western end of Oxford Street, and perhaps a quarter of mile along Oxford Street is Marks and Spencer's flagship store. In addition to being a great clothes store the food at Marks and Spencers in the form of sandwiches etc. is excellent and well priced. Finally, Kensington Gardens closes at night but Hyde Park doesn't. It's lit by very old gas lights and as such a stroll along the banks of Serpentine at night can be delightful. Enjoy!
http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/Hyde-Park.aspx