Letter from London: cycling capital of the world?

“I believe that the cyclised city is the civilised city”, declares ebullient Boris Johnson. Love him or hate him, London’s mayor is – not so quietly –revolutionising cycling in the capital.

Explore Shandong

Heading to China in the year of the Dragon? Seek out Shangdong – steeped as it is in myth and supernatural allure

Foreign Office

From the website:

“What we do

This is where you’ll find information on all our key roles from supporting British nationals overseas to promoting British business to legalising documents. ”

Giving Trains Tourist Appeal

As I was talking to some people from Amtrak, the American railway company, a week or so ago, I was left thinking about the names of rail journeys. They still have the Coast Starlight which runs from Seattle to Los Angeles conjuring up a rather romantic moonlight journey and services like the Texas Eagle, Pacific Surfliner and The Silver Meteor. The 20th Century Ltd doesn’t run any more apart from in re-runs of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest and the Orient Express ended just running from Strasbourg to Vienna till that ended last December. In Australia, the Indian-Pacific does exactly what it’s name suggests, linking two oceans and the Trans-Siberian also does just what it says..
What do we have?

Ski you on the slopes?

Yesterday we reported that Brits were feeling pessimistic about 2012 travel prospects. If you’re one of the 25 percent who plan to spend less on travel next year, may we suggest a skiing holiday?

Britain’s Attractions in 2009

The figures for what we visited last year have been released by ALVA, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. Between their 42 members, they are responsible for nearly 1,600 different attractions. But not every attraction is a member and not every member provides figures so there could be more popular places around.
Last year more of us visited their attractions than ever before. The figures were up by nearly 11% over 2009 which may not be that surprising given that 2009 was a year when more of us holidayed at home.
Rather obviously, those that didn’t make an entry charge filled the top 5 positions with the British Museum being the leading attraction in the country with over 5.5 million visits.

Westfield Stratford City, in pictures

Westfield Stratford City – a shiny, supersized £1.45 billion shopping mall next to the 2012 Olympic Village– opened its doors yesterday, with the help of Nicole Scherzinger (the hit singer/songwriter and squeeze of Lewis Hamilton).