Visiting Olympic Park

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BlogHer 2012 is here!  The official conference begins in just 1 day, but bloggers have been arriving in New York for several days now, and the parties are already in full swing.  It's going to be a hectic three day or four days, filled with people and parties, seminars and swag, friends and fun -- and for the first time since 2008, I won't be there.

I'm sad to be missing it all... but since I'm in London for the 2012 Olympics, I think I'll survive.    While bloggers were packing their suitcases and traveling to New York, I was watching Olympic sailing in Weymouth.  While they are listening to the closing keynote speeches (or perhaps partying at CheeseburgHer) on August 4th, I'll be watching Team GB compete in the football semi-finals at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.  Yes, we've had the good fortune to get tickets to 2 Olympic events... and we were even able to visit the Olympic Park!





I know, it doesn't sound like much:  walk around East London and look at a couple of stadiums.  We didn't get to see any events being held at Olympic Park.  We didn't even get to see the Olympic flame (which is in Olympic Park, but it's inside Olympic Stadium, and since we don't have tickets to an event in Olympic Stadium, we couldn't go inside).  But you can't actually go inside the Olympic Park unless you have tickets to an event being held inside Olympic Park, or have tickets to visit the park.  Tickets to visit Olympic Park were in as much demand as tickets to any Olympic event, and perhaps more so. They cost only £15 for adults and £10 for kids, so they are super affordable... if you could get them.  They sold out on the first day they were made available on the London 2012 tickets website, so I was really depressed..... until McDonald's came to the rescue!  I had expressed interest in seeing the World's Largest McDonald's (located inside Olympic Park), so they sent tickets to the park for all 5 of us, and even treated us to lunch at McDonald's!






It turned out that there is more than enough to see and do at Olympic Park to keep you busy for a whole day, even if you aren't attending any Olympic events.  No, that's not true:  I think you could fill a good 2 days exploring and enjoying Olympic Park.  I've already written a post on BlogHer about our day at the Olympic Park, but it was too exciting a day to limit to a single post, so I'm sharing some more photos and recaps of our day:









3Po and Jammy wore their Olympic mascot (Wenlock) shirts that day, and I'm so glad I bought them before we left for the UK, because they weren't available for sale inside the stores.  In fact, they were the only ones wearing those shirts, and we received lots of compliments and questions about where we had bought them.





One of the activities I enjoyed most was sitting on a huge, grassy lawn with hundreds of other park visitors to watch live Olympic action on a giant screen.  We arrived just in time to see the first Olympic gold medal of the 2012 games awarded to Chinese shooter Yi Siling.









In between covering Olympic events, the BBC would occasionally switch to live shots of the Olympic Park, including shots of the crowd watching the big tv screens.  Jammy took the opportunity to make his debut on live tv by running behind the TV presenters and doing a little dance!  Yes, that's Jammy, in between the male presenter and the male butterfly.







While we were wandering around the park, we encountered a big group of volunteers and police officers cordoning off an area for a VIP who was set to arrive in a couple of minutes.  When we asked one of the volunteers who the VIP was, he said he wasn't allowed to tell anyone, but that we would definitely recognize him, and he was worth waiting for.









He was right; we definitely did recognize the VIP, and that SHE was definitely worth waiting for!







Some of the things we didn't get to do:








* Take the elevator to the top of The Orbit and enjoy the view.



* See the other arenas up close-- the Velodrome, basketball arena, BMX arena, etc...



* Visit the other sponsor pavilions (top on our list were the Panasonic HD theatre and the Coca-Cola Beatbox).



* Try some of the other foods inside the park (curries, Thai noodles, cornish pasties, hummus and falafel, there was so much to choose from!).



* See Will & Kate or Posh & Becks.




Okay, I was kidding about that last one. I've already seen David Beckham, and I really couldn't care if I never saw his wife in my lifetime.  Seeing the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge would have been nice, but getting to see their grandmother, live, was already something that most Brits don't get to do.  In fact, getting into Olympic Park is something that post Brits, or people, won't get to do, so I am so happy to have had the chance.  The Olympic organizers did a really great job making everything run smoothly, so we had a wonderful experience -- just incredible sights and an incredible atmosphere.  We enjoyed every bit of our visit!








Click here to read my Olympic Park post on BlogHer!

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Olympics decorations around Cardiff

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It's Day 10 of the Olympics, and we've just arrived from a weekend trip to Cardiff, where we watched Team GB play (and unfortunately, lose to) South Korea in the quarterfinal football match.  Because Cardiff is an Olympic venue (Cardiff's Millenium Stadium is one of 6 venues hosting the Olympic football games), the city was also dressed up for the Games.  Here's a look at the decorations I saw around Cardiff:




Cardiff Castle, which is just around the corner from the Millenium Stadium, is festooned with Olympic flags!



Unlike most of the UK, football (soccer) is only the second most popular sport; around here, rugby rules the roost.  But for this Olympic tournament, a London 2012 goalpost shared top billing with a rugby-playing lion topiary outside the walls of Cardiff Castle.




All of the Olympic posters and flags and signage we saw around London, we also saw around Cardiff. The only difference was that all the signs in Cardiff have Welsh translations.

One thing I did not see in London were these pretty flowerboxes lining the center of a 2-way street.  The color of the flowers matches the color of the London 2012 logo on the floxerbox.



While walking around Cardiff's city centre, we found an official Live Viewing site, with rows of seating arranged in front of a giant tv screen.  Even though it was only 10 in the morning, and the shops were just starting to open, the chairs were already half full with fans watching athletics.



This Olympics sports park isn't in Cardiff, it's on Barry Island, a little seaside town about 20 minutes drive from Cardiff.   It's called the Adi-Zone (guess who funded it?), and it has a bunch of equipment where aspiring athletes can work out.




The best Olympic signage we discovered in Cardiff was the sale rack at the local Home Bargains.  I felt  like we had stepped into the Twilight Zone, because we found official Olympic merchandise at 70% off!   We found stuffed Wenlock mascots that were selling inside Olympic Park for £7, for just 99p!  I think that's definitely an Olympic record for low prices :)

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London 2012: Olympic sailing

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Congratulations to Nick Dempsey for winning a silver medal in the Men's RS-X windsurfing competition!  Windsurfing may not be the most popular Olympic event on the planet, but we have a special interest in Nick, because we actually got to see him compete last week.  After stalking the London 2012 ticketing website for nearly a year after the initial ticket lottery, I managed to get sailing tickets for the whole family, so on August 1st, we drove down to Weymouth and Portland, host to all the sailing events for London 2012.  Here's a recap of our day:





We parked our car in a special Olympics park-and-ride parking lot, where dozens of new double-decker buses were waiting to shuttle spectators from the parking lot to the town of Weymouth.  Even at 10 in the morning, the streets were already bustling with people headed to Nothe Gardens (the ticketed spectator site) or to Weymouth Beach (a live site for people without tickets).



We had to walk about 30 minutes to reach Nothe Gardens, and by the time we reached the entrance, a line had formed at the security bag check.  Again, I was impressed by the effort the Games organizers put in to make sure everything runs smoothly: this was the longest line we had encountered so far, and we only had to wait about 10 minutes or so.  Each bag was searched manually, and officers were quite strict about the rules, i.e. 1 small bag per person, no long umbrellas, no knives, etc..


Once inside, we headed to the spectator lawn to stake out a spot.  Finding the right spot hours before competition is tricky, because the race course has not yet been set.  Depending on the wind, it could end up near or far away from the shore, to the right or to the left, so we wanted a spot that would cover all bases.





We also wanted to see the big tv screen that would give us close-up shots of the sailors and updates on other sports during breaks.   Once we chose a spot, we lay down some plastic sheets (with the British flag printed on them!) to keep our bottoms dry, and settled in.





This is our view of Weymouth Bay.  It was awesome!  I know nothing about sailing, but Alfie said there was enough wind to make for a really exciting day of sailing.  



First up: the men's RS-X windsurfing preliminaries.  We were lucky that the racecourse was set to right in front of our viewing area, so close that we could actually see the groovy stars and stripes tights on USA's Robert Willis.


I managed to snap a photo of all the windsurfers just as the starting gun went off (look closely at the clock time in the photo;  it's right at 0:00).  I loved seeing all the colorful windsurfers, with their national flags printed on the sails.



The windsurfers had to go through a series of races and gain points for placing first, second, third, etc... to qualify for the finals.  We saw two of the races that day; in the second race, Nick Dempsey of Team GBR came from behind to beat Byron Kokalanis of Greece.  It was a real photo finish, which is something you don't see often in sailing, so it's extra-exciting when it does.



There was usually a break of 20-30 minutes between races, which was enough time for people to get something to eat (Weymouth being a seaside town, the fish and chips were sublime!), grab a cup of coffee, check out the Olympic sailboat display -- and of course, buy a souvenir at the merchandise kiosk.


Ticketed spectators also got to visit the historic Nothe Fort, located at the very tip of Nothe Gardens, facing right out to sea.  Nothe Fort was built in 1872 to protect Portland's harbour, and it was a British and American navy base during World War 2.  Today it's a museum with all kinds of memorabilia, including World War 2 uniforms, equipment, cannons and guns.

There were 3 other kinds of races that day:  Men's Laser, Women's Laser Radial, and Women's Elliott 6m (all qualifying races).  Unfortunately, the laser racing course was set much too far away from the viewing area for us to see it very well, but from time to time we would see updates on the big tv screen , so we were able to cheer on Team GB's Paul Goodison, Team USA's Rob Crane, Team GB's Bryony Shaw and Team USA's Farrah Hall.


The final races of the day, the Women's Elliott 6m, was held after all the RS-X races of the day had completed, on pretty much the same racecourse, so we got the same great view.  Unlike the other sailing events, the Elliott 6m has a one-on-one round-robin format; instead of all competitors racing at the same time, competitors race each other in pairs, gaining 1 point when they win, and 0 when they lose.  Alfie says this means you have to sail in a completely different way, since you all you care about is beating your opponent.



Unfortunately, both Team GB and Team USA lost their races, but that didn't stop the crowd from cheering their heads off for Team GB.  The atmosphere was amazing; lots of energy and enthusiasm, but despite the obvious support for Team GB, the crowd displayed good sportsmanship, cheering for all the competitors and the winners of each race.



Each competitor, in turn, showed their appreciation for the crowd by sailing right in front of the spectator area and giving a big wave, before and after the race.  I really loved hearing the announcers say each competitors' name and country as each one approached the spectators and gave their salute.



We had such an amazing day; although we enjoyed our visit to Olympic Park, there is nothing like cheering your team on during a live competition!

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London 2012: Olympic Football

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When we purchased our tickets to Olympic football (soccer) a year ago, we had no idea which teams would be playing.  We made our choice based on the stadium (we wanted to spend some time in Wales to see Cardiff and the Millenium Stadium) and the price (the quarterfinal match was within our family-of-5 budget, and we figured that the crappy teams would have been weeded out by the quarterfinals, so we'd get a decent match).  So it was a delighful surprise to find out that Team GB had been placed into Group A, and that we would be watching the winner of group A play in our semifinal.  And when Team GB actually did win the lottery, we felt like we had won the gold medal already.  We'd only be watching one match -- and it would be Team GB!  We were already looking forward to the event, but now our excitement had reached fever pitch.





At least, that's what I thought, until we reached Cardiff's Millenium Stadium and joined the crowds waiting to enter.  Practically EVERYONE was wearing red, white and blue.  Waving flags.  Wearing flags. Wearing goofy hats.  Painting their faces.  Blowing horns.   Now THAT's fever pitch. For this match, at least, there was no England, Wales and Scotland -- there was just Team GB, and it seemed like the whole nation had come to Cardiff to support their football team.



The crowd was 70,000 strong, filling the stadium to capacity.  To our delight, we had seats in the 6th row, almost close enough for the footballers' drops of sweat to reach our faces (we figure the organizers gave us premium seats and closed the upper tiers due to low ticket sales, then reopened the upper tiers once it turned out that Team GB would be playing and everyone would be buying tickets at the last minute).   We got to see many of the English Premier League stars close up:  Micah Richards of Manchester City FC, Daniel Sturridge and Ryan Bertrand of Chelsea FC, Aarom Ramsey of ArsenalFC....


... Craig Bellamy from Liverpool FC, Scott Sinclair from Swansea City FC....


... and Ryan Giggs from Manchester United FC.




The match organizers sent out huge beach balls into the crowd.  They passed a giant Wenlock banner over people's heads.  We participated in a crowd wave that went around 4 or 5 times, the longest I've ever done.  Every 5 minutes or so, all through the game, the crowd broke out into a Team GB cheer and group clap.  Horns were blowing continuously.  We were too excited to eat.  The crowd energy was high.  It was infectious.  It reached the stratosphere!




Unfortunately, all the cheers and screams in the world didn't help Team GB; despite Team GB's renewed efforts, South Korea held them to a 1-1 tie to the 90th minute, through the 30-minute extra time period and to penalty kicks.  The tension in the stadium was almost unbearable!  Team GB's Aaron Ramsey, Tom Cleverley, Craig Dawson and Ryan Giggs all smashed their penalty kicks in, as did Jacheol Koo, Sungdong Baek, Seokho Hwang, and Jongwoo Park of South Korea. Daniel Sturridge (who plays for Chelsea FC) kicked last for Team GB.... and kicked the ball straight at substitute goalkeeper Bumyoung Lee.  Finally, midfielder Sungyueng Ki buried his shot, and buried Team GB's medal hopes with it.

It was a slightly (okay, devastatingly) deflating end to an otherwise amazing evening, but to the crowd's credit, there were no boos whatsoever (English football fans have a nasty habit of booing their own team when they lose), and genuine applause and cheers for the delighted South Korean team.  To be fair, they did play wonderfully, possibly maybe even better than Team GB, so I can't say they didn't deserve to win.    Yes, we were disappointed that Team GB is out of the Olympic football tournament -- winning a medal would have gone such a long way to dispel the negative attitude that many English, Welsh and Scottish people have towards fielding a united team for all of Great Britain.  But hopefully the fact that the team got this far is a good sign.

Our Olympic football experience didn't end with the match.  While walking to Cardiff Castle the next morning, we came upon 3 men walking towards us, dressed in identical red, white and blue track suits.  They turned out to be Team GB football coach Stuart Pierce and 2 of his coaching assistants.  Stuart Pierce is a former Man United player and England captain, former Manchester City manager and England's Under-21 coach, so running into him at random is a Big Thing.  It all happened so quickly, and I was too busy gaping, so I didn't have the presence of mind to whip my phone out and snap a quick photo -- but Alfie did remember to greet him -- "Hey, Stuart, nice to see you!" -- and shake his hand (even Jammy shook his hand!).  I was so star-struck, all I managed to do was clap my hands and babble, "Thank you, well done!".  Given the result of the game, I hope he didn't take that as a sarcastic comment, because it wasn't.  Thank goodness, I did manage to say, "We're proud of you!", which earned a smile and a "Thank You".

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Home-made Hummus

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I have finally managed to get The Pea to love hummus as much as Alfie and the boys and I do, but it comes at a cost:  she won't eat store-bought hummus.  She only likes the homemade kind served at proper Middle-Eastern restaurants.  Yes, I know home-made hummus tastes better, but store-bought hummus is fine, and besides, I am a lazy sod who hates washing up the food processor or blender.  So for a while I held out, continuing to buy hummus from the supermarket and giving her ranch dressing to dip her pita bread and veggies in.  But last night, I finally gave in and made my own hummus.



Wow, I don't think I can ever go back to store-bought hummus again.  Home-made hummus is so flavorful compared to store-bought, and so easy to make!

Hummus

1/3 cup Tahini (sesame seed paste, which you can buy alongside all the nut butters at Whole Foods or other decent grocery stores)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon or lime juice
2-3 cloves garlic (make sure they are gigantic cloves, or go with 5-6 smallish ones)
1 teaspoon salt (I used smoked sea salt)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped Italian parsley or lemon balm (I didn't have this so I ommitted)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups cooked or canned chick peas, drained.

Put ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Yields about 3 cups.

That's all it takes.

But, shh, don't tell The Pea, because I've told her she has to wash the blender herself if I'm going to go through all the "trouble" of making hummus for her.

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