London's Olympic Park strikes gold as sports and shopping hub

Before London snagged the 2012 Olympic Games, Stratford was among the poorest areas of the capital, renowned mostly for its industrial pylons and an imposing fortress of discarded appliances known as "fridge mountain". More than nine years and about $13 billion later, these wetlands east of Hackney have been transformed into a gleaming sports and shopping hub.

The centerpiece of Stratford's regeneration is the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the 560-acre tract where the Games took place. With refashioned venues and family-friendly activities, the park has attracted more than four million visitors since it opened a year and a half ago.

The park, nearly the size of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens combined, is free to enter and there are various paid attractions. Day-trippers can take a guided walking tour free of charge or, for $12 per adult, drift along the park's narrow waterways on a boat tour. They can stroll inside the striking wooden parabola of the Velodrome, now called the Lee Valley VeloPark, an indoor cycling track where visitors can rent a bike and learn the basics of track cycling. Just behind the Velodrome are the BMX Track's dirt bumps and mounds, also open to the public.