Viewing The Olympic Park

During my first full day in London I figured I’d walk around the Olympic Park. I had heard that I might need to buy tickets just to walk in the park for £10, but I figured it was worthwhile to do. When I arrived there, I was told that tickets to walk around the park were sold out for the entire 16 days of the Olympics. A security guard said that the best view of the Olympic Park was at a John Lewis department store in the mall next to the park.

The mall was built just before the Games and I have to say that it’s huge and somewhat impressive. I went up to the John Lewis store, and on the second floor, there was a line wrapped around the entire circumference of the floor with people waiting to get up to the third floor. The wait was 10 minutes and when I finally got up to the view (which is inside an official London 2012 store), I got a glimpse of the park amidst a huge crowd of people taking pictures. I guess I’ll have to see more of the park when I go to field hockey, water polo, and team handball.

London Transit to Offsite Events

My first event was judo yesterday, which was out at the ExCel Center all the way out in Southeast London. I got out to the judo venue, and after going through airport-style security, I walked into the ExCel, which is also housing boxing, table tennis, fencing, weightlifting, wrestling, and taekwondo.

I have to say that London has done a phenomenal job of transportation, considering how big and busy the city is. At every subway station, there are tons of people guiding you. At every venue, it’s very clear where you’re supposed to go and what you’re supposed to do, and despite the large crowds, everything seems to flow fairly well.

Shortly after I sat down by my seat, an older American women limped up to our seat and said that I was sitting in her husband’s seat. Apparently, she and her husband hadn’t bothered to look at their tickets closely. She had also used CoSport. She then had a look of horror when she realized that I had a ticket for what she thought was her husband’s seat, and she had no idea where her husband was going to be, since he had planned to meet her at the seats. Thank you, CoSport.

I wound up moving to another section altogether, where there were plenty of open seats, and it seemed like the woman eventually found her husband.

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