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AUGUST 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
J NE
WITH THE OLYMPIC GAMES STARTING
up later this month, the world’s eyes will turn to
London. That is, if they ever turned away to begin
with. The biggest city in Europe and the former
capital of a vast empire, London offers in equal
measure cu ing-edge culture and a history so
pervasive it’s almost impossible to comprehend.
Founded by the Romans nearly 2,000 years
ago, London (née Londinium) endured plagues,
invasions, wars, fires and other forms of upheaval
and unpleasantness on its journey to become
the capital of England, the center of the British
Empire and, more recently, a global trendse er in
literature, music and fashion.
Today the city is vibrant, a financial powerhouse
even amid an economically shaken European
Union—but from the stately parks of Kensington
to the bohemian haunts of the East End, the wide
and lowmegalopolis affectionately known as “The
Smoke” has lost none of the inimitable contrasts
that have long defined it. It remains, as ever, London.
POPULATION
(2010 ESTIMATE)
7,825,200
VOLUNTEERS
NEEDED TO STAFF
THE OLYMPIC GAMES
70,000
AREA,
IN SQUARE MILES
607
STREETS
≈5,000
YEARS IT TAKES
TOMASTER “THE
KNOWLEDGE” AND
BECOME A LONDON
TAXI DRIVER
2–4
FEE FOR DRIVING
INTO CENTRAL
LONDON DURING
RUSH HOUR
£10
PEOPLE ENTERING
WATERLOO STATION
EACH DAY
DURINGMORNING
RUSH HOUR
≈46,000
BASE TUBE FARE,
ONE WAY
(LESS IF YOU BUY A
TRAVEL CARD)
£4.30
LONDON, BY THE NUMBERS
DAY ONE
| The first thing you
notice, waking up on a pleasantly
foggy Saturday morning in London,
is that the bathroom in your suite at
the storiedandnewly renovated local
institution,
The Savoy
,
is bigger than
most people’s yards. This isn’t just
any suite: It’s theNoel Coward Suite,
named for the legendary playwright,
composer and bon vivant who lived
in this very hotel a er his flat was
destroyed by German bombs in
1941. In addition to said bathroom,
the suite has a large bedroom and
THREE PERFECT DAYS
||
LONDON