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Published: July 29th 2012
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Something in the air
The Olympic rings on Tower Bridge, just the start of the party I know, no blogs for ages then two come along at once, just like London Buses.
Speaking of which, I'm not sure if you have noticed but something is happening in London for the next two weeks, nothing too interesting but I thought I'd do a quick blog on what's been going on.
So one day in July in 2005, I happened to be in Trafalgar Square and they had just announced that London had won the Olympics, I remember the great atmosphere and the Red Arrows flying past that afternoon, I was excited, it was going to be amazing.
However, seven years down the line, numerous news articles, programmes, hype, no tickets and a vast amount of delays on the Jubilee line, my initial enthusiasm seemed to died and I was bored and fed up of hearing about the Olympic games, yawn. However in the last month the atmosphere in London has been changing, charging even ready for the 2012 spectacular happening all around. Pink signs appearing everywhere, 2012 volunteers visible on the tube and then the Olympic rings displayed from Tower Bridge, suddenly you realise it is once in a lifetime and something unique is about
Where are my skis??
The new cable car across the Thames, it felt really strange not to be getting aboard without skis. to happen.
One of the best things about London is its continual ability to change and surprise you, you may find you haven't been to an area for a year or so and when you go back everything has changed. With all the Olympic preparations London has been given a facelift and cleaned up and strange new things have been appearing on the horizon.
To begin my Olympic countdown I decided it was time to investigate the new cable car across the Thames which goes from the Excel centre (north) to the Millennium dome on the south. I'm not sure why they decided to build a cable car but it was quite a fun trip and gave great views down the Thames and over the Olympic park although it did feel very strange to be on a cable car without a pair of skis or a snowboard, maybe I'll take mine next time.
After the cable car, I headed down to Greenwich to take a look at what they were building for the horse events behind the Navel collage. The stand they have built look amazing and with the newly renovated Cutty Sark now open, it is
Korfball venue
Er, I mean basketball venue, the millennium dome. a spectacular area to watch the sports. There were a vast amount of soldiers on the street of Greenwich though, which is never a bad thing and as I looked down the river there was a huge helicopter carrier ship which I hadn't noticed before, so no one better misbehave! I finished the evening by taking a boat down the river to London Bridge, it really felt like I was on holiday which is never a bad thing.
Then the excitement of the opening ceremony on the Friday night, a group of us had gathered together to watch it and also Swan spot for a friend of ours was taking part in the ceremony which did amuse me as I had the idea he might be prancing round in lycra of something, luckily though he was part of the industrial revolution section and no lycra was involved, but it made it even more entertaining as they showed him on TV and everyone let out a big scream of delight. But of course the Queen and James Bond was one of my favourite bits, how cool was she!
Saturday morning and it was time for my first Olympic event
Greenwich park
The stadium is ready for all the horseys. watching and so I headed down to Richmond park to try and watch the cycling road race. With Bradley Wiggins' just having beaten the French at their own game by winning the Tour de France the week before at least I knew the name of one person in the race. Cycling isn't really something I normally watch, but this was a chance to see something without a ticket and the weather was good as well, so it made for a fun trip. The entire route was lined by fans and when waiting for the cyclists to turn up the main pass time was waving at the police riders going up and down the route, they all seemed very happy and were enjoying the attention. Then you could tell the cyclists were approaching by the large amount of police then Olympic cars ahead of them, then you got a quick rush of the peloton and then an incredible number of cycling support cars. Who says cycling is environmentally friendly?
Back in to town in the evening and the South Bank was buzzing, bridges are lit up, the London Eye has strange light shows and the Olympic rings are everywhere, sometimes
Cutty Sark
Newly renovated and gleaming in the London sunshine London is the best place in the world.
Right, clearly it's worked as I've forgotten all those extra taxes and tube delays and I am suddenly Ms Patriotic, I guess it is a good thing really and I even have a ticket now, going to see basketball, should be a lot of fun.
Go Team GB!
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Roberta
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Girl on the street
Great to get the "girl on the street" perspective for those of us in the U.S. Have fun at the basketball game. Looking forward to your next post!