Olympic Park

Today was my last day of the Olympic festivities until Aug 9th. I was tired when I got up. It had been 3am nights and 10am mornings and I was getting wore out! I headed off to Olympic park after grabbing a sandwich at Sainsburys. It was nice to live on the northern part of the Jubilee line because I had a seat for the 35-40 minute ride! It got pretty crowded towards the end of the line. The signs said to exit at West Ham instead of Stratford, so I did. I am glad I did because although it was quite a walk, I didn’t have to wait at ALL for security! It was so nice. I have to say… kudos London 2012. Every venue I have been has been SO well organized and easy to get into. Great organization!

I walked through security and around the corner and found myself in Olympic Park. I literally stopped and stared. I couldn’t believe it. I was at the Olympics. It didn’t seem real. I started to wander. I had until 6 or so until I had to be at Riverside Arena for the hockey and it was only 2pm. I had plenty of time. After a bit of wandering and picture taking I decided that I should get water. (I could feel myself overheating and I have a history of passing out when I dehydrated) I headed to the nearest booth and grabbed I water. I bought a bottle and was juggling a bunch of stuff in my hands. I needed to stop and reorganize! I spotted a barrier and headed over to it so I could regroup without getting trampled! I got everything situated and stood up and noticed that a group of people had congregated behind. Ok… then everyone was asking who was coming out. What? Celeb?? I was in the front row so I decided to stick around. After 3 minutes or so Shaun White emerges from the studio!

The Brits were disappointed. No one knew who he was! I had to tell people and I live under a rock and never know who anyone was! he walked over to my side and was probably 8 feet away from me! Eek! It was so cool! I wanted to see Nastia Luikin SO badly, but had to settle for Shaun White.

I kept exploring the park. I found the Today show studio 15 minutes after they had finished shooting. Crap. I took picture of the venues and headed to live park where there was two large screen put up so we could watch events live. Well there wasn’t a place to sit anywhere because the Team GB was in the womens Judo final for the first time in forever. They got the silver! I sat by the river instead for quite a while to rest. My feet were tired!

I was walking around I overheard two British guys talking and saying “You can tell who the tourists are. They are the ones complaining about the weather. What they don’t realize is that it is awesome weather right now. Ithas been sunny for most of the day and just started to sprinkle… this weather is awesome and they have their umbrellas up!” I didn’t even notice that it was sprinkling until they said that!

After I wandered some more and then decided to go in the London 2012 megastore. I though that I would have to wait forever, but the line never stopped moving so I got in really quickly. A dad from the USA liked my motto on my GB shirt (better never stops) and was surprised that I was American. ( I was cheating on the USA!) I resisted the crazy expensive t-shirt and came out with two pins.

I took another break for a bit and sat on the tiny hill on the path to the athletes village. I saw a lot of Russian and GB athletes who I didn’t know. No Americans! :(

Then I wandered to see what I wanted for dinner. Fish and Chips were crazy expensive so I went to McDonalds. For those of you who have been to the Westfield McDonalds and have waited for 30 minutes plus for your food, I was this line (see below) and was at the counter in 5 minutes. Westfield McDonalds.. you really need to step it up! I got my salad and headed to the Riverbank Arena.

My seat was right behind the goal and wasn’t too bad. I have decided that Im not a fan of field hockey. There is just a type of girl that plays field hockey… reminds of HWS girls. Anyways it was fun. Team GB won and after I headed to the Stratford gate. I decided on the way out that I needed a picture in Olympic Park so I asked an older Olympic volunteer too take my picture with the stadium. She took it with the Orbit. Oh well! Close enough.

I headed home and coudnt sleep again! It didn’t really mattr because I didn’t have much going on Friday. I still cant believe I went to the 2012 Olympics THREE times in a row!

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