Olympic stay-cation

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This 'summer' we had a stay-cation to attend the 2012 Olympics here in London. The games kicked off with an unexpected ticket to the final dress rehearsal from Adam. It was an amazing night and I managed to save the surprise until Friday. We had a wee gathering to mark the opening occasion that included union jack everything, Team GB support and lots of bubbles. The opening ceremony was brilliant and lots of fun. It was great to experience this with the family and also Adam who has worked on the games for the last 5yrs, so even more special. The next morning, getting up to go to out first event, was a bit of a struggle. However we made it in plenty of time as the tubes were running smoothly and there were no queues. In fact the transport during the entire 2wks was excellent, no waiting and on most occasions we had seats. The men's gymnastics was excellent, and although we didn't know before hand GB was competing as was China the team that ended up winning. I found every sport we went to see we ended up following more keenly on the TV post event. Our next event was Wednesday, and it started with Fencing at the Excel. We followed the TLF instruction of which station to get off at and ended up having to walk for 25mins to get anywhere near the stadium. The high point of this event was a flamboyant Dutch man with a double barrel name who celebrated each point in his competitors face or to the crowd. After a couple of rounds we decided to head to the Park, as we wanted to see Wiggins in the time trial. Again some dud advice was followed and we walked a long way via the pleasure gardens, which was a deserted spooky carnival site. I imagine it came to lift during the evening? No queues awaited us and we were quickly in the Park to hear the news after a long wait Team GB had their first gold medal! We managed to get into the Park due to some last minuted tickets for the Handball at the Copper Box. That afternoon we settled into the Live Park and watched an amazing time trial won by Wiggins. The crowd was buzzing so it was really good fun. Later on we met up with some friends for some Olympic wine, much of which was consumed over the course of the week. We did pop into watch some handball and good lord it is vicious. The funniest thing was a Norwegian lady throwing what can only be described as a hissy fit. After missing a penalty she stamped her feet, pulled her shirt over her head and screamed ... Excellent. After one day back at work we were off again. On the Thursday evening we went to the Beach Volleyball at Horse Guards Parade with Kara and Jonson. Again the atmosphere was fantastic, there was a real party feel with music, dancers and of course Mexican waves. The next day we started with brunch at Roast, Borough Markets and then quickly on to the Park. Even though athletics and track cycling started, again there were no queues. We meet up with Kara, Jonson and Romey for some lunch and Live Park action before heading to the basketball. The stadium itself is temporary but still very iconic, huge white meringue like structure. At half time the crowd hypers got us to do a slow motion Mexican wave, which looked great. After some family time in the Park we headed off for our first night in the Stadium with Mum and Dad who managed to secure us three evenings at the athletics via NZ IOC. We were like excited school children! We saw Jessica Ennis do the shot put and the 200m, plus the big units in the men's shotput final. Then came Super Saturday, we were at home watching the action unfold 3 gold medals within 45mins at the track ... Amazing. But even more amazing was the following day as we had tickets to the 100m final. Yes, the 100m final. After a quick trip up the Orbit we got into the stadium and settled in to watch the semi finals, plus a few other things like the Rutherford and Mo medal ceremony. The excitement in the stadium was unreal and the race was too. Bolt was phenomenal!! It was then back to work for a few days. Weightlifting was the next event on the agenda Tuesday evening. It was the final event so it was the big boys, +105kg. Shockingly the first thing we saw was a German dropping 198kg on his neck, unbelievably he walked away. The event was very fast paced and all over within 40mins with Iran securing gold and bronze. The Iran supporters were fanatic, chanting and flag waving on the way out of the Excel. After a down pour of rain, Wednesday dawned clear and sunny ... yahoo. We had a big day ahead. We started with a coffee down by Tower Bridge before heading to the Excel. But this time we went to the tube stop next to the Excel. First up was Taekwando and it was rather a good spectator sport with lots of screeching and flying head kicks. Next up was women's boxing which was packed fill of Irish supporters. They raised the roof when their girl Katie fought. We also were lucky enough to see Nicola Adams who ended up winning Gold. Plus old David Cameron was there as well. We then took a flight on the new cable car between Excel to the O2, the views were great! Next stop was Hyde Park live site which was absolutely packed, again the atmosphere was brilliant like a festival. As we were walking out of the park we spotted a golden car and gave Sir Chris Hoy a wave! Our final event of the day was out at Earls Court for men's volley ball. The Polish support was immense, however it was not their night losing to Russia in straight sets.
Back to work we went before sneaking off a little early on Friday to head to the park before one last walk around before a final night at the Athletics with lots of relay action. At that was that, the final event it was a little sad. But what a time we have had and certainly confirms the reason why we stayed here in London. The last weekend of the games we did an architectural walk around the city for Dad's birthday which was very interesting, followed by lunch in the park watching more Olympics.

London you have put on an amazing show ... And now I wait for the closing after party ceremony.
PHOTOS

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