Entrance to the Olympic Park London 2012

Thrilling walk through the entrance of the Olympic Park!  Took my time to enjoy; watching others, giggling with new friends, soaking in the atmosphere and shooting pics of fellow fans with the "London 2012" and the famous stadium in the background.

Could make this lengthy but, quite simply, just being in the park fulfilled my goal for London 2012.  Music filled the air, guides were everywhere, roaming entertainers brought smiles and no doubt the ice cream girls became expert guides by the end of the games.

Many have written about the details of the park but I'll tell you a few things that you might not read about...

My First 2012 Olympic Ticket

"Keep Moving" was another phrase that was repeated by the guides.  But hey, I just needed to stay in one place for a bit to use my magic marker on one of the sheets of paper I quickly tore out of my sketch pad during my hasty departure from California just about 48 hours beforehand.

Chatted with one of the police while i was making my sign, trying to educate him : ) a bit.  I reminded him that this had always been part of the Olympics.  And wouldn't it be wasteful if someone had an extra ticket and couldn't find someone like me. Waste is never good, aye? 

I remember wishing that i brought my vest with many olympic patches since Mexico '68 which would have given me a more official look but it turned out that i didn't need it and now am thinking that it actually might have attracted too much attention because less than two minutes after I held my magic marker sign up, next to the very kind officer of peace, a dark haired women came up to me and asked, 

"What event do you want to see?" 

"I just need to get inside the Olympic Park" I said.

And bingo with a big smile she handed me a ticket for Olympic Park entry only.  

I quickly reached in my pocket for some historic olympic pins for an exchange/trade/thank you and she said,

 "No, I cannot accept anything". 

"But please" I said,  "let me give you some very collectable pins"...and as she rushed off to the Olympic Park entrance I asked her why not and then she turned and simply said...

"It is a sponsor ticket for you to enjoy from Panasonic". 

Opa!

(Quick flash back of time:  While living in Honolulu, Hawaii in the mid nineteen seventies I went to Panasonic's show room to attend their open house to check out new video recording and video editing systems.  There were others also checking out the new technologies.  Among them were KGMB's chief, Don Cadora and their sound specialist Jim Waters. Jim became a good friend and Don became my husband.) 

Magic at the Olympic Park

Tube travel from Lancaster Gate to Stratford was direct, longer than expected and crowded.  I stood all of the way and chatted with an enjoyable young man with a stronger than usual accent.  He spoke quickly and I found myself straining a bit to understand his English.  He worked at the Olympic Park's McDonalds.  He was excited to work 'inside the park' and hadn't seen any events or any pin trading.  He didn't even know pin trading existed although at former games it often took place around McDonalds so naturally that took me by surprise.  Especially by the second week.

I wasn't wearing my olympic vest with patches from most of the former games and wasn't wearing my lanyard with hunks of metal around my neck.  For that matter, didn't see anyone else wearing their metal pins around their necks or even on their hats.  I remember thinking that this was a bit strange because by the second week of most Olympics, pins were everywhere, along with the fun conversations and merriment that went along with pin trading.

At Stratford crowds from our train and huge crowds from many other trains were guided around to the right to the long walk to the entrance to the park.  "Have your tickets ready" was one of the most common announcements from guides along the way.  I finally got close to the entrance and then after inquiring, found that tickets were returned via "the collections booth".  Hmm "collections".  Got in line for collections booth and asked about returned tickets and was told that they didn't know what happened to those tickets that were returned but they did know that they could not sell them.  Much later heard that there was a place inside the park where purchases could be made.  But how to get inside...that was the question.

Made a few more inquiries and got negative answers.

Then resorted to my favorite "old faithful" Olympic MAGIC PLAN.

Yup, as in MAGIC MARKER!

First Morning, Departure to Stratford and Olympic Park

Woke up earlier than expected.  Olympic butterflies. 

Enjoyed the view from my window, and the comfort of my room.  Placed a few perishable food items from California in the refrigerator knowing that food prices were quite dear before starting my journey to Stratford.

Headed around the corner to Lancaster Tube Station and purchased a travel pass for a week.  Thought is would be a lot less because of the inexpensive Olympic transport passes from the past Olympics. Wrong. There was no special deal for the games, just the regular Oyster Pass that most Londoners use on a daily basis.  And once this pass runs out "topping it up" is costly.  Almost four dollars for a very short round trip within a boundary.  London residents had advantages, tourists did not. (My thoughts quickly went to Hawaii where a senior can travel miles for a dollar, no boundaries, no zones. Transfers were permitted, unlike London.  And NYC where you need no transport pass to exit and no matter what time of day, the price remains the same.)  All in all, my transport expense was aprox 12.00 per day including Heathrow Airport Connect, not Heathrow Express to and from Paddington Station.

Arrived at Stratford and followed the crowd...

My London 2012 Beginnings Across the Street from Hyde Park Olympic Venue

Will back track to give a bit more detail of the "first" hours.

When I rang the door bell of this very posh home in this very posh neighborhood, I felt a bit intimidated.  I was at the front door waiting and ringing the bell thinking that nobody was home.  But then, a musician/singer from Ireland who had been renting one of the rooms opened a window on a lower level.  He popped his cheery head out of the window and asked if he could help.  I explained who I was and he came up to the ground level from inside and let me in.  We chatted about music and a few other topics before the owner of the home arrived with her two sons, age 10 and 12.  After that a Russian music teacher arrived with a bundle of red roses. She would soon be leaving for St Petersburg and didn't want the beautiful flowers to be wasted. She then began to give violin and piano lessons to the boys after we had a chat.  I then headed off to Hyde Park Olympic Event.  

Hyde Park Olympic Venue is across the street!  Sweet, so sweet, aye?  And more importantly, this family is so so sweet!

Here I am in LONDON

...Thinking about Sunday, August 5th.  

Was chatting with my daughter who was in Hawaii, listening to her good news, and noticed a gmail reply on my computer screen.  Had received other replies to a request to exchange a room but wasn't interested.  Then suppose because I had been so busy and it was the first day that i had no agenda for a long time, because my plan of "not wanting to go to London because of the huge expense" was not working,  and because the email from London on my laptop was well written...everything changed.  

The response was from a young single mum who had an extra room in her home.  I replied and found myself ringing up Virgin Atlantic Airlines.  There was a "reward seat" cancelation, booked it, and bingo started packing.

Arrived in London within 48 hours, early Tuesday evening.  Headed for Hyde Park Olympic Event and slept well that night, really well. Next morning headed for Stratford, bought an Oyster Card and was able to find a ticket for the Olympic Park from one of the sponsors and spent an incredibly wonderful day inside the exciting park.  And the Olympic Park, just being in the Olympic Park, has been my favorite part of the Olympics. 

to be continued...

My London 2012 Experience; My Plan Did Not Work : )

My plan was to stay at the beach in California.

I suppose I now qualify as an Olympic Bum.

I fully intended to enjoy TV, many awesome iPhone Apps, and the incredible streaming technology that has come a long way...baby! Watched Opening Ceremony with Mike and Fran Sawdei in Laguna Beach.  Had fun experiencing the "digital games" for a while. Then Sunday came, August 5th, I woke up and everything changed.

Here I am in London!!!
Speechless in UK!  Listening to all these voices saying, "How can I help you, luv?"

So will try to capture in words during the next few weeks just how this all happened, yet again.

In the meantime, am off to the Railroad Tavern on Angel Way in Stratford, where the Olympin members and many others are meeting.  A post-games meetup. It's a great little pub and a good meeting place where the Olympin Club began many years ago. (Went last night and loved meeting the delegation from Cuba, Catherine Saluan from Russia, and the Wickstrom Family, the awesome Wickstrom Family and Bud Kling.  Some go months before to scout and prepare and bingo, here I am, low budget CWC! Such a buzz. haha)  Oh, did I get in?  Yes.  Will explain later!