Horse Guards Parade

After my long, exciting day and my late night, it was a little rough getting up at 10:30!! I was pumped for the beach volleyball session though I did hop out of bed!! I decided to use the Piccadilly Circus station and expected it to be busy. I had a seat on both of the trains! I got to Trafalgar square early so I took a picture of the Olympic clock and then slowly headed to the Mall.

When I got there I showed a steward my ticket and got ushered into a HUGE queue. Well the queue itself wasn’t bad, but the maze of barriers was really long! I was glad that I had gotten there early! I only had to wait about 10 minutes until they opened the security points. It only took about another 10 minutes for me to get through security. I found myself in St James park! It was a waiting area and it had food, the band, and a sand sculpture! I wandered a bit then went to the venue entrance.

We had to wait in a mob for about 10 minutes (must be the magic number) until they let us in. It was a really good system actually. I was impressed! I was one of the first through (again) and I grabbed a water before heading inside the stadium. I found my seat and it was really good for the third tier price range! I was pleasantly surprised. It turns out the rows were numbered dumbly so everyone was a row off. The Number was placed even with the chairs, not the step. (see picture below) so we all had to move down one. At least everyone made the mistake!

The games were fun. I just picked random teams to cheer for. It was so awesome that the Mens USA team played (and won) and the GB men played (but lost) but it made it more fun when I really wanted someone to win! The games were all close and exciting which was fun. Blow outs would have been boring!

The only thing that is weird was the dumb stuff they did to pump up the crowd. I felt like I was at a Jammers game. We had a lame host who kept trying to get us to dance and such. Umm… we are in Britain. That istn going to happen! There are also dancers that come out during time-outs. Apparently they don’t show them on tv. My liberal education with feminist stuff made me HATE them. Talk about sexualizing women in bikinis. Gah. Anyways… besides that it was fun. AND the weather was NICE. I had a tank top and jeans on for the entire first round (4 matches)! It was sunny and I didn’t need a sweatshirt. Amazing! I wore my sunglasses too!

The first session ended and I had a ticket for the second one. I asked a steward(a really nice one) who told me that I had to go all the way out and came back in. I thought I would have to. They clear everyone out so they can clean and stuff. I didn’t mind because I had plenty of time! I exited and got back in line right away and 5 minutes later the line started moving. I was through really fast again and this time went straight to the entrance instead of walking around which made me the first in line. There was the most annoying man in the world there. And of course he was an American. Figures. (more on Americans later. Maybe tomorrow)Oh and dinner was the most expensive sandwich I have ever eaten once I convert it to $$$! It was really good though!

I found my seat and was more in the center and closer than I was for the first round. (it was 10 pounds more!) I was so excited that the Czech duo who I really like and have been following played the third match against the Aussies. They won! Im hoping that they win the silver! Then the last match was what I had been waiting for…. MISTY MAY-TREANOR AND KERRI WALSH! My all-time fav Olympians LOST the first set. They don’t lose. I was starting to get worried but they won the 2nd one comfortably, but the last set was a little tight. I was so pumped that they won (watch my facebook video)!!

It was late when everyone was finished and I was worried about the tube. I knew that the tube was running later during the Olympics, but I didn’t know how late and it was 12:15am already. I walked to Green Park t miss the crowd and ended up getting a seat on a pretty empty Jubilee train. I came home and couldn’t sleep again!! Gah! I eventually did!! Good day at the Olympics #2!!!