The Greatest Show on Earth

We have to hand it to London – they put on an amazing Olympics! We had so much fun watching the games every day and going to some of the events. Between requesting vacation days and purchasing tickets through the lottery, we’d been planning for London 2012 for over a year, and it definitely lived up to our expectations!

Olympic Stadium

Volusion also planned for the Olympics by posting 

ads at tube stops in high-traffic areas

The tube ran smoothly most days, even with the extra crowds, and the volunteers and army made getting in/out of the venues easy and efficient. Londoners are not known as the friendliest people, but the volunteers were happily giving directions, offering to take photos for us, dancing, and leading the crowds in cheers.

The crowd outside Wembley trying to get to the Tube in the background.  

The sign says a 20-minute wait, but it was more like an hour....

But that was okay!  There were mariachis to entertain us!

After watching the Opening Ceremony and the first few events, our friends John and Michelle invited us to the Olympic Park with them on Thursday night. Tickets to the park were only £10 but they sold out FAST, and we could see why as the atmosphere inside the park was unlike any other part of the city. We finally felt like we were part of the games when we got to the park on Thursday evening.

Arriving at Olympic Park!  

London's newest observation tower, the Orbit.

We walked around, checking out the different venues, and then ate dinner at the largest McDonalds in the world. London 2012 vowed to be the greenest games ever, so this McDonalds building was made out of recycled materials and after the Paralympics, will be taken down and Moscow’s McD’s will reclaim its title as the biggest globally. We haven’t eaten McDonald’s in I-don’t-even-know-how-long, but this was a special occasion.

Holy long lines!  Even with the huge crowd, they were 

fast and we were enjoying our Big Macs in no time!

We tried to get recycled Water Polo tickets, but the line was way too long. Instead, we opted to watch Swimming at the British Airways open theatre. 

BA outdoor screening area along the Thames.  

I loved their slogan during the games: "Don't Fly. Support Team GB."

David and I were cheering on the Americans, of course, but in our circle of friends we also had a Brit and an Irishman. Behind us, there was a big group of Aussies hoping for a win in the women’s 400m freestyle relay (it looked like they might take it, but America’s anchor clinched it in the end)! There were also some Hungarians sitting next to us, and a man from China took a picture for us. London is already a huge melting pot, but being together with people from around the world celebrating one event was really special.

David (Team USA), Me (Team USA/GB), 

Michelle (Team GB), & John (Team Ireland)

But the largest group of visitors (after the Americans) seemed to be the Brazilians. We watched the Brazilian Men's Beach Volleyball team beat Poland before the US/Latvia game, and Brazil later went on to take Silver. 

Horse Guard's Parade stadium surrounded by other Americans :)

Elaborate sand sculptures outside the beach volleyball arena

Recognize that music?  Yep, it's from Top Gun.  

What woman can forget that beach volleyball scene with 

Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer in their glory days?

When we got to the Women’s Volleyball semi-final match, one of the Games Makers asked us who we would be cheering on since we were in our neutral Team USA gear. We decided to go for Japan instead of Brazil, because the crowd for Brazil was large and loud, so Japan needed all the support they could get! The Brazilians beat Japan, and later went on to beat the USA to claim Gold. 

I wore my UT shirt to support fellow Longhorn

 Destinee Hooker from the US Women's Volleyball team

We figured as Brazil is a growing economy, more people have the disposable income to travel, and because they’re hosting the Olympics next, they are getting really excited about the games and wanted to see them live to compare against their own games in four years.

Brazil warming up before their victory against Japan

On Saturday, we watched the Men’s Semi-Final Football match at Wembley. We had two extra tickets, so Jeff and Karen came with us. I’d never been to a football match in Britain before, but it is just as crazy as everyone makes it out to be! 

The amazing wave at Wembley.  

I don't think I've ever seen 80,000 people that into the wave.  

The crowd outside the stadium was awesome!

We decided to be Team GB on Saturday

Jordan and his friends from Alaska coincidentally had tickets to the 

same game as us! The US didn't even qualify in Football, but it didn't matter to them!

Even though we were wearing our Team GB shirts for the Mexico/Senegal match, we were cheering for our neighbors to the south. Mexico beat Senegal and later went on to win the Gold. So at each event we went to, we saw a medal-winning team.

The day before the Closing ceremony, we headed to Constitution Hill in Green Park to watch the Race Walk.  OMG, I cannot believe this is an Olympic sport.  I couldn't stop laughing!  I know it must be really tough, because guys were dropping like flies along the route, but still... 

With all of the planning and anticipation, it was hard to believe that after two short weeks, it was all over! But not to worry… David and I have tickets to the Paralympics, so we will continue to celebrate London 2012 in early September!

Less than 2 weeks to go!