Thursday, 26th July 2012 Lovely to be home!
I settled into my seat on the plane, wearing my London Olympics shirt and fleece sent to me by Gemma for my birthday, and quietly cheered when the pilot with a friendly Canadian accent welcomed us on to the flight to 'the Olympic City of London'! We arrived the day before the Opening Ceremony and thoroughly enjoyed the whole spectacle on tv. We'd managed to watch the progress of the Olympic torch through Barnet via the BBC website in Toronto the day before.
On Saturday we discovered an ice cream van across our drive - the first we'd seen in years in our street and couldn't resist!
Sunday, 29th July Bankside, London
We enjoyed a lovely day soaking up the atmosphere by the river, strolling to see the Olympic rings attached to Tower Bridge!
On the Embankment there was a photo exhibition by Tom Stoddart, a photographer who has travelled the world, documenting the way of life of people who suffer natural disasters and wars. His photos highlighted the difficulties of living in so many parts of the world:
"The world's nations are joined together in London by a wonderful sporting festival whose motto is, 'Faster, higher, stronger.' I hope that visitors to this exhibition will leave with a greater determination to understand and help those with little access to human rights, clean water, food and medicines who, through no fault of their own, cannot run fast, jump high or be strong."
Exploring behind the Embankment we saw The Shard looming over old London Bridge streets. I enjoy seeing striking buildings of contrast like this which show there is still room for the expression of new ideas. The Shard is the tallest building in Europe. 95% of the construction materials are recycled and 20% of the steelwork is from recycled sources. The corners are open and the facets, the shards, do not touch allowing the building to 'breathe'. Renzo Piano, the architect, sees it as a vertical city.
We moved on to Shakespeare's Globe for a performance of Richard III, starring Mark Rylance. An amazing evening! The theatre is a faithful reconstruction of the original which stood here in Shakespeare's time. It is a huge tourist attraction, offering the best of Shakespearean drama at reasonable prices as well as providing training and education, all without any annual government subsidy.
Wednesday, 1st August 2012 Our first Olympic Event!
On Tuesday, 31st July we went down to Windsor with Gemma and Andy to meet Michael and Charlotte for dinner. We had a very pleasant meal in an Eton pub.The next morning we walked to the bus station being greeted by the first of many Gamesmakers. There was a stream of smart double decker buses to take us to Eton Dorney for a morning of rowing. Everything was brilliantly organised. We had a great seat, near the finish line, and we were surrounded by cheerful rowing fans. Spot this one in the crowd!
The media had been complaining that Gt. Britain
hadn't won a gold yet so it was a fantastic experience to witness Helen Glover and Heather Stanning win gold in the women's pair!! They had only been training for two years and Glover had only tried rowing 4 years ago. Stanning was due to return to the Royal Artillery in September. We also saw Team GB win a bronze that day. The medal ceremony took place on the opposite bank in front of friends and family and the media.
During another medal ceremony this German women's crew hadn't got back to the bank but were determined to stand for their national anthem being played for their gold winning team.. It was a real feat of balance for all 4 of them to stand and turn without going in!
A fabulous day enjoying the Olympic spirit.
We managed to tear ourselves away from the fantastic wall-to-wall BBC coverage and take a few days holiday in a part of England which we have quite overlooked in the past. We went straight to Canterbury and after a lunch in Tiny Tim's Tearooms we toured the Cathedral, one of so many beautiful cathedrals in the UK. I had only been there as a school child and Eamonn had never been.
It was founded by St. Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, when he arrived in 597 AD. It has been rebuilt many times and its work as a monastery ceased in 1540 when it was closed by Henry VIII but it has maintained its role as a place of prayer since then. The most famous event in its history is probably the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. He was made Archbishop by Henry II but later changed his allegiance to the Pope and following many arguments between the King and Thomas, some Knights took it upon themselves to murder him. Following his canonisation Canterbury became a place of pilgrimage and one of the pilgrims who came the following year was King Henry walking in bare feet and wearing sackcloth.
Beside this candle a sign placed by the Canterbury Amnesty group reads:'This candle burns perpetually as a reminder of prisoners of conscience and those who suffer unjustly for their beliefs and actions. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing."'
We continued on to Sandwich where we stayed beside the sea. So lovely to see and smell the real thing!
Saturday, 4th August Deal to Dungeness
Deal is a small town on the coast facing Sandwich Bay. it is now a quiet seaside town but has a mixed history thanks to its position and was a very busy port at one time. The area is very important ecologically, consisting of sand flats and salt marshes and dunes.
Sandwich is one of the original Cinque Ports, a confederation of 5 harbours grouped together for defence purposes by Edward the Confessor. The others are Dover, Hythe, Romney and Hastings. These towns provided men and ships and in return were given privileges by the King. Over time the coastline has changed drastically, especially after the great Storm of 1287 when floods caused the harbours to silt up. Sandwich is now 2 miles from the sea.
We had a very pleasant day visiting New Romney and Dungeness for a good bird watching afternoon.Sunday 5th August Dover
Another day, another spectacular heritage site, often a place to travel through but fascinating to stop and explore.
Dover Castle occupies a very important site, overlooking the shortest sea crossing between Europe and England. Its history spans time since it was occupied by an Iron Age Hill fort followed by the Romans, whose lighthouse still remains, and the Anglo- Saxons whose church still stands, to the mediaeval castle built by King Henry II in the 1160s. There are tunnels still in existence used in the Napoleonic Wars and World War II. This is also where the evacuation of Dunkirk was planned in May 1940, 
under Operation Dynamo. So much history in one place!
The sunny afternoon was perfect for a cliff walk along National Trust land to the Victorian South Foreland Lighthouse. A breezy 2 mile walk with a tea shop at the end! Bliss. Along the way we saw these wild ponies grazing.
Thursday 9th August 2012 Olympic Park and Stadium!
We set off with Gemma and Andy to enjoy the Stadium and see the venues that we'd only seen on tv so far. It was a very hot day but we had a smooth journey via the Tube and the Javelin train from St. Pancras. Cheery Gamesmakers greeted us and it was great to see the Forces taking charge at the security points. We were able to enjoy one of the cool park areas and watch coots nesting; we couldn't even see any buildings from where we were - amazing landscaping! The development of the garden areas has restored the marsh and woodland habitat and many native species. The acres of meadow planting were sown to reach their peak in August and gold was the dominant colour using plants from all over the World. The garden areas will be doubled after the games for future visitors and residents to enjoy. The garden design team included two professors from the University of Sheffield's Department of Horticulture.
We worked our way around the park, enjoying the amazing views. The velodrome was the first new venue to be completed. It has been designed to be energy efficient, using natural light and natural ventilation and is the fastest track in the world. The seat banking has even been designed to create the wall of sound so much enjoyed by the cyclists and the spectators. The designer was also responsible for the Sydney and Athens cycling tracks.
The Royal barge 'Gloriana' was moored there after its starring role in the Jubilee River Pageant in June. It was then used to carry the Olympic torch on its last day along the Thames to City Hall.
Dominating the Park is The Orbit, a sculpture and observation tower. it is Britain's largest piece of public art and certainly divides opinion. I look forward to being able to go up it and then I might come down by the spiral stairs!
Then the most exciting part of the day: going in to the stadium for the evening competition! We would see a new world record in the 400m by David Rudisha of Kenya and the final of the 200m won by Usain Bolt! Jamaica took 2nd and 3rd place too. We also saw the triple jump, men's decathlon and women's javelin.
The wonderful Thomas
Heatherwick Cauldron !!!
My ticket!!
The roar of the crowd moved like a wave around the stadium and it vibrated through you! We were surrounded by all nationalities and the enthusiasm was infectious. When we left the stadium we were pleasantly marshalled by the volunteers who kept us amused while we waited to go into the station which didn't take very long. We had a jolly ride home!
Monday, 13th August Eamonn's last day
For the last day of his holiday Eamonn chose to visit St. Paul's Cathedral as he'd never been inside despite spending so much time in London. Cameras are not allowed inside which means that the atmosphere of worship is kept, enabling you to reflect in the quiet spaces. We followed the audio guide but didn't get to go up to the Whispering Gallery or the Dome - that's for another time.
This is the 5th cathedral to stand here since 604 AD and was built between 1675 and 1710 after the great Fire of London, famously designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
Many national events have been marked here and it has become a site of pilgrimage in distressing times, particularly after 9/11. St. Paul's mission is to be a house of prayer for all people.
The grounds contain several memorials and this statue of Thomas Becket by Edward Bainbridge Copnall.
Around the streets were models of Wenlock and Mandeville, the Olympic mascots.
We walked down to the river and saw this huge photograph of the Royal Family looking down over the route of the River Pageant.
Sunday, 26th August South Kensington
We had a lovely day visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum which had an exhibition on the work of Thomas Heatherwick's Studio. Now famous for his dazzling design and execution of the Olympic cauldron, we saw that he has designed buildings and bridges all over the world as well as more humble items, including the latest London Bus, already in use.
Here Gemma's trying out another Heatherwick design the Spun Chair. The trick was to rotate without throwing yourself out!
Once through the entrance festooned with cones we came to this delightful paddling area where small children were enjoying themselves.
There's always plenty of room for eccentrics in London!
Exhibition Road is now a very attractive pedestrian area. These sculptures are by Tony Cragg, an artist from Liverpool.
While waiting for Andy we sat and watched street hockey in front of the Albert Memorial. Then we made our way inside for a wonderful evening Prom performance !
Next blog will be from Toronto!
