Back To The Olympics
Home » Photography »So, by sheer luck (and a lot of page refreshing) we bagged last minute tickets to the Olympic Games in London. We were lucky enough on the first Saturday of the Games to go and see a hockey match, which was awesome, but my son wasn’t with us, and I desperately wanted him to have a chance to see this once-in-a-lifetime event for himself…and he did!
We got tickets to see the Bronze Medal handball match between the women’s teams of Spain v Korea.
Again, we had to pick up our tickets at the box office, but thankfully, no waking up at 4:00am(!) as the match didn’t start until 5:00pm…phew! We did want to make the most of the day, and having parked at my parent’s house in east London, took the tube to Stratford. Surprisingly it was a really empty train and we were there in no time :)
Since McDonalds is the ‘Official Restaurant’ of the games O_o, and being son’s favourite food, we stopped into the huge McDs for lunch.
Like before, some very patriotic supporters!
Support ALL the countries! |
Including my boy! |
After lunch, we took a walk around the Olympic Park…
And then down by the river through the park, which was really pretty with lots of wildflowers and very calming too.
We walked past the huge Park Live screen and watched a bit of the moutain biking, before heading go and meet my cousin(in law) who was working at the park.
She kindly took a photo of the three of us, which is usually a rare photo!
We then all enjoyed a drink and a dessert waffle…
…before it was time to go into the Basketball Arena which was the new home for the handball.
My son had been watching the handball on TV, so it was nice that we got to see a sport that he knew a little something about. I’d not really watched this event, but they explain how it is played and the rules etc, so at least you know what is going on! It was a fun game to watch – very fast paced and exciting!
At half time, we were treated to a show by the Varsity Cheerleaders which was cool to watch, and then it was back to the match.
No wonder the players are covered in bandages and protectors! |
The great thing about it not being Team GB was that it didn’t matter who was winning, and I cheered every time a goal was scored…and there were a lot!
The final score…Spain wins the Bronze Medal!
But of course, there are still losers…
As we came out of the arena, we noticed that 10,000M Gold Medalist – Mo Farah, would be running in the 5,000M race, and with the big screen up in Park Live, we ventured to the hill and took a spot on the grass.
The atmosphere was electric, even more so as Mo got closer and closer to that final lap! Everyone was cheering him on…and people were up on their feet, jumping and shouting encouragement! He won the gold and I took this photo (on my iPhone) just after he crossed the finishing line…
…I tweeted it and British Airways who sponsor tweeted me back which I thought was super awesome!
We really wanted to see the Olympic Park lit up – especially the stadium, so we hung out in the park whilst we waited for the sun to go down, popping into the London 2012 Store to buy some goodies.
I thought the park looked fantastic during the day, but once night fell, it was spectacular, and well worth us hanging around for nightfall.
And so, by late evening, our visit to the penultimate day at the Olympics was over…we bid farewell to the park and took the tube back to my parents where we watched as Tom Daley got bronze in the 10M diving, knowing that in just a few weeks we’d back back in that wonderful stadium to watch the Paralympics compete in the athletics!