Friday afternoon, we headed downtown after walking around Buckingham Palace we went to Hyde Park. They had big screens set up and it was like a big festival. We watched a number of track and field events, some diving, and judo while we took in the atmosphere.
Saturday morning we headed to Olympic Village. I had read on line that you could go to the village at any time on the day you had tickets to an event... we had tickets to soccer on Saturday afternoon, so we thought we would visit the village in the morning before the game.
Well you had to have tickets to am event at Olympic park...and the soccer game was at Wembley Stadium (not part of Olympic Park)! So we got through the first few parts of security until they scan your tickets an them we were escorted out by a Soldier (we so should have taken a picture but i was too disappointed to think about it at the time).
We still had a few hours to kill before heading to Wembley for the game, so instead we headed to London Bridge. Well actually, what I always thought was London Bridge is actually Tower Bridge, so we went there. We had a nice breakfast at Hay's Galleria, an old covered wharf, and then we headed back to Wembley.
The Men's Gold Medal Football Match (soccer) was awesome.
For those of you who didn't see it, Mexico, the underdog, scored in the first thirty seconds. It was a packed stadium and a fantastic atmosphere. I think I even figured out the off sides thing which has confused me forever.
Phil actually caught a goal on camera!
Medal Ceremonies
Let the Celebration Begin
And the fun continued after the game too. we made our way to a local pub where we watched Mo Farrah win his second race, that brought even more excitement to the place.
Sunday we headed back downtown, where we saw the last two laps of the men's marathon, while standing outside Big Ben and Parliament (really a beautiful building). A lot of people and a lot of spirit. there was about at least a half-hour between the first and last guy (who was walking) and yet the crowd was equally as large and equally as excited for the last as for the first.
The Gold Medalist at mile 25 time 2:02
After the marathon finished we took a walk down the Thames, had a light snack, headed to Canary Wharf. It wasn't what Phil expected, so we headed up to Victoria Park.
The traveling rings on the Thames.
We decided to watch the closing ceremonies from there because Hyde Park was a sold out ticketed venue for the closing ceremonies (we didn't know this till we got there on Friday). We actually got there in time to catch the final quarter of the Men's basketball game on the big screen too.
The closing Ceremonies were great and again a fantastic atmosphere. People everywhere, enjoying friends, food, and drink a long with Team GB. I have never been to the Olympics before, so I don't know what the level of camaraderie and state pride there is when the Olympics are in the USA or elsewhere, but there was a lot I mean a ton of pride and camaraderie in London for Team GB.
The crowd before the ceremonies started.
It was too dark once they started to get a good picture.
Monday the Olympics were over, but the city was still bustling. We watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. then we headed to Westminster Abbey and then we found a cute market area under the bus stations called Borough Market. That was one of my favorite places in the city. my most favorite places though were the huge open green spaces everywhere, this isn't something unique to London, it seems common in almost ever European City we have visited, but I don't think I will ever get used to or sick of them.
