Sunday, July 29, 2012
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| Olympic Rings Greenwich (O2) Arena London |
We woke up later than planned due to jet lag and three pairs of ears not hearing our alarm. A five hour time change doesn't seem too bad but it's enough to make one tired for the first couple days. After quick showers we left for the Olympic Park.
Our Kings Cross Hotel is close to the Saint Pancras International Rail Station, which has a high-speed rail link to Stratford and the Olympic Park. That coupled with "free" transportation with the purchase of our Olympic tickets made the trip a 45 minute breeze hotel-to-park.
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| Olympic Statue Olympic Park London |
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| Abbey & The Aquatics Center Olympic Park London |
Jen & Abbey had tickets to the first event which included:
- Women's 100m Backstroke
- Men's 200m Freestyle
- Women's 100m Breaststroke
- Men's 100m Backstroke
- Women's 400m Freestyle
- Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay
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| Jen & Abbey Aquatics Center, Olympic Park London |
They saw Ryan Lochte swim and had a great time at the aquatics center.
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| Starting Aquatics Center, Olympic Park London |
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| Mens Freestyle Aquatics Center, Olympic Park London |
From there we met up with Mark and made our way to the food court at the Westfield Mall in Stratford, one of the largest shopping malls in the UK. The olympic park is connected to the mall, and it was packed. We shared a table with a former swim coach for Canada and the UK. This was his 12th summer olympics over 48 years!
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| Westfield Mall Food Court at Lunchtime Stratford London |
We made our way over to the O2 arena in North Greenwich to catch the ladies artistic gymnastics qualifying event. When we got there, we went to our seats, and were pleasantly surprised to find that we had a suite to share with a dozen of our closest american strangers.
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| Our Suite for Gymnastics Greenwich (O2) Arena London |
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| Mark, Abbey & Jen Greenwich (O2) Arena London |
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| Gymnanstics Greenwich (O2) Arena London |
The event featured the US, Canada, GB, France, Germany, Russia, and China. The US Ladies ran away with the competition.
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| McKayla Maroney Vaulting Greenwich (O2) Arena London |
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| Gabby Douglas Greenwich (O2) Arena London |
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| Gabby Douglas on the Uneven Bars Greenwich (O2) Arena London |
After that went to Covent Garden, where we had dinner at "The Globe" feasting on fish & chips for Mark & Abbey featuring smashed peas, which Jen enjoyed.
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| Abbey with Fish & Chips London |
We ended our evening with a ride on the London Eye, taking in the evening views of the wonderful city of London.
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| London Eye at Night London |
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| Big Ben at Night London |