2012 has been a landmark year for London thanks to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee, which celebrated 60 years of the Queen’s reign. And to top it all off, London’s newest skyscraper the Shard was inaugurated, transforming London’s skyline. Here are a few of our favourite images from an amazing and unforgettable year.

The Games might be over but there’s still plenty going on in the Olympic Park.

Free bus tours began this week, offering a great chance to witness the park’s £292 million transformation into a new cultural hub and green space for London, before it reopens in phases from summer 2013. Here are some top things to spot on the trip:

1. Dismantling the Venues

The park is currently a huge construction site – or, more correctly, a deconstruction site. The world’s largest McDonald’s has been dismantled, as has the Riverbank Arena where Olympic hockey was played. On the bus tours you’ll be able to spot temporary venues being removed as well as athletes’ training centres, security areas and temporary seating stands or “wings” being taken to pieces. 

2. South Park Plaza

The area around the distinctive red ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture is being transformed into an urban park the size of 16 football pitches. When it’s finished, the new South Park Plaza will boast fountains, a climbing wall, a 12-metre wide tree-lined boulevard and “garden rooms” created by planting designer Piet Oudolf. During the Games, this space was the first part of the park most visitors saw after entering through the Stratford entrance.

3. Planting the Park

It was already a park to begin with, but over the next year or so the amount of open space in the Park will be doubled to a whopping 252 acres. The planting project includes 4,300 semi-mature trees, over 100,000 new shrubs and almost one million bulbs, which will all be watered by a park-wide water system. Even today the park has plenty of wildlife – you could see swans, ducks, cormorants and coots.

4. The First Neighbourhood

The Basketball Arena is one of the largest temporary Olympic venues ever built, and will be deconstructed between now and next autumn. The entire building can be recycled – from the seating to the floor – and some parts will head over to Brazil to be used at the Rio 2016 Games. Once the area is cleared it will be the site for the first new housing neighbourhood in the park, Chobham Manor.

5. The Stadium

Of course, no trip to the park would be complete without a glimpse of the iconic Olympic Stadium where athletes like Usain Bolt sped to victory this summer.

Tours run on Wednesdays, Thursdays and some weekends, until the Park begins to open in phases from July 2013. To book, email parktours@springboard-marketing.co.uk or call 0800 023 2030.

The show opened with a set featuring iconic London landmarks. I spotted:

• The London Eye
• St Paul’s Cathedral
• The Gherkin
• Battersea Power Station
• Tower Bridge
• Royal Albert Hall
• And last and but not least Big Ben (out of which appeared Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill!)

This section was accompanied by artists from top West End show, Stomp.

We were then treated to a journey through British music with a focus on artists from the last 50 years including The Kinks, George Michael, Queen, Tinie Tempah, Jessie J, Kaiser Chiefs, Liam Gallagher, Take That and The Who. You can explore the rich tradition of British pop music at the British Music Experience or revel in Queen’s music at We Will Rock You!

The Spice Girls’ performance proved particularly popular and fans can look forward to a brand new musical – Viva Forever – premiering in London in November.

The ceremony also celebrated fashion with appearance of top British models including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. You can find many top British designers in London along with some of the world best shopping districts. Fashionistas should also head to the V&A and Fashion and Textile Museum.

There was an injection of comedy with Eric Idle’s rendition of ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’. You can enjoy this and other Monty Python classics in popular musical, Spamalot.

The Olympic flag was passed to Rio ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games and London’s Olympic Cauldron extinguished in a dance sequence starring Darcey Bussell. You can discover more about the cauldron at the current Thomas Heatherwick exhibition.

The athletes thoroughly enjoyed the show and Team GB were celebrating their success. I can’t wait to join them for the Our Greatest Team victory parade in London on 10 September.

Now eyes turn to the London 2012 Paralympic Games from 29 August until 9 September, which promise to be another impressive display of sporting prowess and courage. Beyond that I look forward to the legacy of London 2012.

What was your favourite moment of the London 2012 Olympic Games?

London International Arts Festival
Nearly 2,000 international music acts applied to perform at the first ever London International Arts Festival, but only 14 were selected to play at Grade II listed Redbridge Town Hall in Ilford this weekend. They hail from countries as varied as Cyprus and Serbia and include Dhruv Ensemble, a London-based South Indian youth orchestra and Latin-Balkan beat band La Internacional Sonora Balkanera. Workshops in nearby Vine Church Hall on Saturday mean you could come away schooled in Indian drumming or Mexican traditional music. Concert tickets start from £8 and workshops are £5.
10-12 Aug

London Live
It’s the last few days of the Olympics and there’s a good chance Team GB medallists will drop into the two London Live sites at Hyde Park and Victoria Park. Both are great spots to catch the final events on big screens in a festival atmosphere: Hyde Park is home to the interactive chocolate experience that is Cadbury House, while Victoria Park boasts a 55m-high observation wheel, bungee trampolines and the zip wire that Boris Johnson recently got stuck on. The sites are free but book online for guaranteed entry before 2pm.
Until 12 Aug

Great British Beer Festival
It’s big, it’s British, and it’s full of beer. The Olympia Exhibition Centre becomes one enormous pub for this annual celebration of the good old pint. More than 800 British real ales, ciders, perries, and foreign beers will be available to sample – though we don’t suggest you try them all. You can learn about the brewing industry from producers, or just choose a glass (a third, half or a full pint) and get tasting.
Until 11 Aug

Dance Al Fresco in Regent’s Park
Head to Regent’s Park for a spot of outdoor dancing at Dance Al Fresco. DJ Jacky Logan will lead “The Broadwalk Ballroom” on Saturday, taking visitors through some Latin, salsa, line dancing and more, while Sunday’s session is dedicated to the Argentinean tango. Both days kick off at 1pm with a class for beginners, followed by a demonstration at 4.30pm and dancing until 6pm. Tickets are £10 and proceeds go to the Royal Parks Foundation charity.
11-12 Aug

Where will you be this weekend? Let us know by commenting below.

With one week to go to the London 2012 Olympic Women’s Marathon on 5 August, we thought we’d share this fab video of the route with you. This will be the same course for the Men’s race on 12 August.

Are you going to watch the race? Let us know where you’re planning to stand. And if you take any great photos, don’t forget to share them in our flickrpool!

Over the last few nights Southbank strollers have been treated to a series of dazzling light displays on seven of London’s most famous bridges.

To celebrate the 50 nights of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the road and pedestrian crossings have been fitted with thousands of LEDs, lasers, and searchlights that bring the bridges to life like never before.

The lights are on from 9.30pm until 5am each night, with special moments at each bridge every hour on the hour.

From east to west, the bridges taking part are:

• Tower Bridge
• London Bridge
• Southwark Bridge
• Millennium Bridge
• Blackfriars Bridge
• Waterloo Bridge
• Golden Jubilee Footbridge

Dazzle: Bridge Illumination runs until 10 September and is part of the Mayor of London Presents series of events.

Have you seen the bridges lit up? Let us know which is your favourite – Millennium and London Bridges are the frontrunners!

How close can you get to the Olympic Park without a ticket? A guaranteed way to see the Orbit, Olympic Stadium and Athletes Village is to take the daily Olympic walking tour around the edge of the park. In spite of tightened security and crowds, the tours are continuing twice a day throughout the Games.

The altered tour route for the Olympics visits the film studio where Danny Boyle is preparing the Opening Ceremony. It takes in the Stadium and the distinctive Aquatics Centre from a pedestrian gate and finishes up at Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, overlooking the Athletes Village.

The real highlights of taking a tour in Games-time are the unplanned encounters with Olympic stars, explains guide Victoria Herriott, who has bumped into the likes of Steve Redgrave, American sprinter Michael Johnson and legendary British Athlete Mary Peters on her tours.

“The atmosphere is great because there are athletes wandering around everywhere,” she says. “The athletes have all been moving in recently and they’ve hung their flags on their balconies so you know where different teams are staying. Last week, we met the American equestrian team with their trainer Mark Phillips, who is Zara Phillip’s father. My group were mainly American so they got the meet their own equestrian team and the father of the Queen’s granddaughter.”

The tours are led by professional Blue Badge tourist guides who tell the story of east London’s industrial past and regeneration, winning the bid and the build up to the Games.

Many guides have led tours of the park for years, from site visits for architects to trips for local schools. They launched the tours in 2010 when they realised the limited bus tours of the Olympic Park weren’t satisfying curiosity about the Olympic site. “We could see there wasn’t going to be much chance for people to be let into the park,” says Herriott. “There used to be bus tours but they were always sold out. It didn’t even begin to scrape the surface of the demand to learn about the Olympics.”

Guided walks take place every day at 11am and 2pm, starting at Bromley-by-Bow Underground station. Booking in advance is necessary in Games time. Have you been on a walking tour of the Olympic Park? Let us know your experience in the comments below.

Sheep, a huge bell, a miniature Stonehenge, David Beckham and some NHS nurses. This much we know will be in the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony on Friday evening. A global audience of four billion people are expected to tune into the show which is called Isles of Wonder, inspired by a line in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Artistic director Danny Boyle has kept most details under wraps, but we can say with certainty that it starts at 9pm, and that you’d be mad not to watch it.

London Live
Friday is the opening night for the Olympic London Live sites at Hyde Park and Victoria Park. In Hyde Park, the ceremony will be shown on screens alongside a celebration concert with acts representing each part of the UK – Snow Patrol from Northern Ireland, Stereophonics for Wales, Duran Duran representing England and Paolo Nutini waving the flag for Scotland. Tickets are £60 and are still available. If you just want to watch the ceremony in a crowd, you can head to the Victoria Park site which is free entry.

Tower of London
If you’re feeling flush, you could pay for an exciting Opening Ceremony dinner at the Tower of London House of Nations for just £139. Hosted by four-time record breaking swimmer and Strictly Come Dancing star, Mark Foster, you’ll enjoy a champagne and Pimm’s reception in the Tower of London’s moat, an exclusive private tour of the Crown Jewels, a delicious three-course meal with all inclusive drinks, footage of the Opening Ceremony and live entertainment.

Greenwich
You can also catch all the Opening Ceremony action at Greenwich Summer Festival’s Gala Weekend. As well as the big screens, there’ll be live entertainment, starting with music on the bandstand at 6pm. Greenwich’s very own Hangar Arts Trust will then perform a cabaret of aerial circus in a high-impact, thrilling show full of beautiful and apparently impossible human feats, before the Opening Ceremony kicks off at 9pm.

General Gordon Square, Woolwich
General Gordon Square in Woolwich is hosting one of two big screens set up by the BBC in London for outdoor summer screenings. It will show the ceremony outside for free in the newly landscaped square, which offers bench seating and food stalls and street performers to get you in the party mood.

Walthamstow Town Square
Another BBC big screen will be beaming the ceremony to Walthamstow Town Square in North London. Seating will be set up so crowds can watch in comfort.

Broadgate
The Broadgate development in the Square Mile is home to some of the world’s biggest companies, and this summer it is also the base for three big screens which will all show the Opening Ceremony. Take your pick from Exchange Square, Broadgate Circle and Finsbury Avenue.

Novikov’s Beach Party at Waterside House
Top Mayfair restaurant Novikov is heading east this Friday to set up an all-day Opening Ceremony beach party – complete with sand and beach loungers – at Waterside House in Royal Victoria Dock. You can watch the show while sipping cocktails and listening to DJ sets. Tickets are £25.

In The Pub
Hundreds of top London pubs will be showing the all action on big screens, so have a look at the watering holes near you. We suggest The Hanbury Arms in Islington, The Lauriston in Hackney, the Water Poet in Spitalfields and the Clapham Grand in Clapham Junction, all of which will be putting on amazing parties.

Where will you be watching? Let us know below.

Cadbury is set to make all your chocolate-infused dreams come true this summer in London.

For the duration of the Olympic Games, the chocolate manufacturer is bringing the magical, mythical world of Joyville to Hyde Park. And guess what – it’s free and there’s chocolate!

Joyville invites visitors to enjoy a tasting zone, chocolate-themed-experiences, and the chance to take part in a virtual race against Rebecca Adlington to win a chocolate medal. There’s also a Great Games Hall where visitors can have a go at “sports with a Cadbury twist”.

Cadbury House is part of the BT London Live site at Hyde Park, a free event offering open air screenings of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, plus on site attractions and entertainment.

Cadbury House is open from 27 July to 12 August.