Touring Olympic Redevelopment in London

Tour companies are bringing visitors up close to the site of the Olympics in London, where massive amounts of construction and urban development are underway.

"The majority of the games will take place in the massive 500-acre Olympic Park, which is currently a flurry of fenced-in construction in progress on the site of the extensive Rail Lands in East London. Small portions of the site are accessible to the public, and if guided tours are your thing, Blue Badge - that is, professional and registered - tour guides with organizations like Guided Tours of 2012 Sites and Go East London offer two-hour long walk-throughs and bus tours, crammed with details about what's gone into readying the area to host the thousands of expected daily visitors.

A recent walking tour with Tim Martin, a registered guide, was filled with a dizzying list of facts and tidbits about what the plot of land was like before it became a cluster of cement trucks and cranes."