Last year when I came to the customs check, it took me over 2 hours to snake through the line. Today - 5 minutes. Thank you to all the extra employees who came to help during the Olympics! The process went so fast, that I ended up waiting for my luggage to get off the plane. Unreal, but great. When I exited the restricted area, Ogun was there with a bouquet of roses and a big smile. Very sweet to see him and have him take me right to my hotel.
After unpacking and a quick shower, I headed out on foot. First stop -- Fortnum and Mason for some tea for the hotel room, a box of Countess Grey and another of Earl Grey Classic Decaffeinated. Then I retraced my steps and got on the tube at Green Station. I made my way up to West Ham so that I could take part in a London Walks around the Olympic center. I didn't know how long it would take me, and I got there over an hour early. I walked a few blocks to a park and sat on a bench, then stretched out in the grass and enjoyed people watching.
At 2:15, I met up with the group outside the tube station. Turns out that walk would have been much better last summer or until May of this year. Now, there are too many banners, security fences and other barriers so that it is really hard to see anything. It was a lot of walking, in shadeless areas, with not a good view of the venue. One fun part was on the green way going to one entrance to the park where school kids had made a bronze line in the pavement that is a continuation of the line in Greenwich. I took the obligatory photo with one foot on each side of the line. Ignore my naked toe nails, yipes!
The best part came at the end when we took the light rail to Stratford International where we were able to see the tops of the Olympic Village housing. Many of the building balconies had country flags draped over the edges. And we could hear, but not see, a rehearsal of some kind, may be for the Opening Ceremony.
Then we walked through a big shopping center and came to another entrance to Olympic Park. We could see the top of the main stadium and the Aquatic Center and the viewing tower/sculpture. And that is where the tour stopped. The best advice was to go up to the third floor of the John Lewis department store and look out their glass window. Helpfully, you had to walk through the official Olympic merchandise store to get to the good viewing station. I did my part in financially contributing to the success of the souvenir shop. In reality, I could have done without much of the tour had I known about the viewing platform from the third floor.
The walk back to the underground took took a some time. The area was so crowded because the organizers were doing a run though of part of the Opening Ceremony and people were streaming into the park entrance. When I got in the train car, I looked to my left and there was this beautiful sculpture or something that looking like a school of fish or kayak bottoms. But they were in shimmery water colors and more beautiful than my photo could capture.
I made it back to the hotel room just fine. I dropped my bags and went back out for some dinner. I was feeling light headed and woozy-- a combination of tons of sun, not much food and even less sleep. I went to a near by Lebanese restaurant and would have licked my plate clean, if that was a socially acceptable practice. I don't think I have had better hummus in a long time. And the little Lebanese variation of spanikopita -- superb!
Now I'm thinking of tea and a bath. I'll have to set me alarm for tomorrow as I'm to report to the front of the Embassy at 9:00am. I'm ready to get working.
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