East London's Olympic Prep | World's Best Islands | Iraq Road Trip

Tuesday, May 15, 2012 PHOTOS: An Olympic Legacy In East London London is bracing itself. The 2012 Summer Olympics officially begin on July 27 and the capital of a country known for bumbling self-consciousness is about to have the eyes of the world upon it. Eager to get a sense of the preparations, I headed toward the area of the city where the games will take place, setting off toward Stratford on the underground via the Bromley-by-Bow station. When I emerged from the Tube, I was south of Olympic Park, facing a series of row houses, a highway and a decrepit apartment building. My first thought: "Really?" PHOTOS: The World's Best Islands Illegal Immigrant Worked At Newark Airport For 20 Years PHOTOS: America's Happiest Waterside Towns WATCH: 'Inside Edition' Visits Abandoned Town Kissinger Given 'Full Monty' By TSA Agents BLOG POSTS Gretchen Berg: A Road Trip Through Northern Iraq (PHOTOS) Karwan pointed at the prison and laughingly crowed: "Hotel five star! For terrorists! Ha ha ha! Eat, sleeping, hotel!" James Franco: Haunted Tour in New Orleans At a carnival, inside a fun house or around a campfire, the recitation of disturbing information serves to create a certain mood. Basically, New Orleans is an amusement park where you can get killed. Richard Wiese: Meeting A Survivor On Everest (PHOTOS) There were yak traffic-jams, forests of flowers and children playing with tires around yak-dung fires. At night the sky opened, a ceiling punctured by the brightest stars I had ever seen. Fathom: Bourbon And Books In Charleston, South Carolina If you were writing a math equation, the coastal city of Charleston would sit on the other side of the equality sign from the culture, food, festival and history of the Lowcountry. Necee Regis: Get Unplugged At These 5 Luxury Escapes (PHOTOS) All our high-tech gadgets are wonderful but they often keep us tethered to the world when what we really want -- and need -- is a great escape.

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