The 2012 Paralympics

The slogan for the 2012 London Paralympic games was ‘Here Come the Superhumans,’ and during the week, we saw some amazing athletes from around the world living up to the hype. It was not only great sport and entertainment, but so inspirational to see these Olympians overcoming their disabilities to go for the gold.

Our first outing was the Athletics on Monday night. We saw a lot of different events, including the Women’s Long Jump F20, and the Women’s and Men’s T54 and T52 400m. The F/T numberings are a classification system that distinguishes different disabilities so athletes are grouped together according to their limitations. For example, F20 means those athletes have some kind of intellectual impairment. The T50’s are spinal cord injuries, or wheelchair races.

The Paralympic Flame 

inside the Athletics Stadium.

One of the craziest events was the Men’s High Jump F42.  F42 means the athletes are missing A LEG. ‘How do you high jump without a leg?’ you may be asking. Well, it was unbelievable. These guys reminded me of the Monopods from Chronicles of Narnia – Voyage of the Dawn Treader. They could jump so high on just one leg! The winner leapt 1.74 meters over the bar to take home the gold… that's almost 6 feet!

Another event I’d never heard of before was blind racing! Many of the runners were so visually impaired that they needed guides to run with them around the track. They basically tied themselves together with these handcuff-looking things and took off! To be that in-sync with someone while sprinting around a track is incredible. It must take so much practice for both runners, let alone the actual training. And when the competitor wins a medal, so does the guide. The next day at the gym, I tried closing my eyes while jogging on the treadmill... not a good idea. I almost wiped out. I thought I was doing all right, but then I opened my eyes to find that I was against the left bar at the very back of the treadmill, about to slide right off! I won’t be trying that again. 

The best part was singing the national anthem for the Americans. During the Olympics, we didn’t get to witness any gold medals for Team USA in-person, but we saw many US winners during the Paralympics. Tatyana McFadden and Raymond Martin both won the 400m wheelchair race. We sang loud and proud both times!

On Wednesday, we headed back to Olympic Park to watch Swimming. 

Again, these people were crazy good! Most of the time, when the swimmers came out to the pool in their sweats, it was hard to tell what their disabilities were, but then they’d take off their sweaters and you’d realize the competitor only had one arm, or they’d remove their pants and pop off their legs! 

To even dive into the pool without any legs must be extremely difficult, let alone swim back and forth. I was on the swim team and a lifeguard for years, and I still can’t swim as fast as them. Not to mention I have both of my legs and arms, and I can see. The hero of the night was a young Ukrainian girl with cerebral palsy who took home the top spot in the 100m breaststroke and set a new Paralympic record.

Teen Ian Silverman from Team USA realizing he won the gold for the S10 (mild form of cerebral palsy that affects his legs) 400m freestyle.  His face in this picture is priceless.

The tickets for the Paralympics were much less expensive than the Olympics and we got to see so much more sport. Whereas our Olympic tickets cost three times as much, they were also only for two-hour slots. When we got to the pool for the Paralympics, we ended up being there for four hours! 

That night after the competition, we visited the Coca-Cola Beat Box. My dad asked if we had done this during our last trip to the park, but we hadn’t so we made the effort to stay late and check it out. It was actually pretty cool. The entire structure is made up of these red bars that play music based on touch or sense. So as you walk through, you are composing the song ‘Anywhere in the World,’ Coke’s theme for London 2012. At the end of the experience, we had our picture taken on the roof in front of the stadium with the Paralympic Torch. And then we wound our way back down to the ground, where the “Future Flames” were putting on a dance show with free drinks. The Flames were really enthusiastic, fun teens that exemplified the idea of inspiring today’s youth in sport. 

On Friday, we had our last event, Wheelchair Basketball at the North Greenwich Arena. When we received our tickets in the mail, we had no idea where North Greenwich Arena was, but then we looked it up and realized it was the O2 arena. 

The funny thing about the Olympics is, if you’re not a sponsor, your name is not going to be ANYWHERE. Inside the park and all stadiums, tape was covering every item that was not paid for by the official London 2012 sponsors. For example, the hand dryers in the bathrooms had white tape over them so you couldn’t see that they were Dysons. The credit card readers had black tape covering their brand. And because O2 wasn’t a sponsor, the O2 arena was temporarily renamed the North Greenwich Arena. So when we exited the tube station, the big sign that points toward the arena was completely covered in white tape. It was pretty ridiculous. 

The first event for Women’s Wheelchair Basketball was the Bronze medal match between the US and the Netherlands. Of course everyone was cheering for the Netherlands, except the Americans. Such haters. Everywhere we went, it was like this. David explained that if we weren’t from the US, we’d probably be fed up with Americans being the best at everything, too, and root for the under-dog. I disagree and it still makes me sad that we’re not liked by anyone. 

Fortunately for everyone else, we lost 47-71. Too many shot clock violations... 

Our £20 tickets were a “heck of a deal!” when we realized we got to stay for the Gold and Silver medal game also! I went for my ancestors, the Germans, while David cheered on the Aussies. These teams were intense. They were ramming into each other, tipping over each other’s chairs left and right. I don’t know how they don’t smash their fingers. The Germans won it for Team Kurzweg and that was the end of our Paralympic outings. 

It’s unfortunate that the Paralympics wasn’t that big of a deal outside London. Talking to our family and friends back home, some of them had never even heard of the Paralympics before, and it definitely wasn’t being broadcast on TV like the Olympics. But if you do get a chance in the future, watch some events because the athletes and their stories will really inspire you. We had a great time and are looking forward to the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio!

Portugal

To take advantage of the last bank holiday before Christmas, David and I headed to sunny Portugal! I didn’t do a lot of planning for this trip, as we got back from Chicago on Monday and then flew out to Lisbon on Friday, but it was nice to sleep in and just wander around the city. On Sunday, though, I did book an excursion for us. 

Early Saturday afternoon, we decided to do the shortest walk in my guide book around the Estrela and Bairro Alto districts. We were staying in Bairro Alto, so we figured this would be a great way to get to know the area. My guide book estimated the walk to take about 45-minutes, but we took our time, stopping to take lots of pictures and going inside some of the buildings and parks on the map. 

 Our starting point was the Basilica da Estrela

Next, we walked through the Jardim da Estrela 

Parliament Building 

We saw lots of pretty houses with tiled facades… 

… and some not-so-pretty houses that looked like lawsuits waiting to happen. 

All of the sidewalks in Lisbon are tiled. 

 It must’ve taken FOREVER to lay all of those stones. 

The Praca do Comercio, where the royal palace stood for 400 years 

before being destroyed in the earthquake of 1755. 

We had lunch at Muni, a traditional Portugese restaurant. David tried real peri-peri chicken to compare against his favorite fast-food chain in London, Nando’s. We shared the peixinhos da horta (deep fried green beans) and even though it was really hot that day, I had the caldo verde (potato chorizo soup with kale). And of course Portugal is famous for its wine, so we each had a glass. To end the meal, we walked down the road to a bakery and ordered a couple of pasteis de nata, egg-custard pastries.

Then we walked through the hills of Alfama to the Castelo de Sao Jorge. Alfama was the area of the city where all of the Moors lived, and is full of narrow alleyways and humble homes. 

The city’s cathedral, the Se, in Alfama 

When King Henriques recaptured Lisbon from the Moors in the early 1100’s, the castle became the royal residence until the palace in Praca do Comerico was built. The 1755 earthquake also destroyed the castelo, so the current hilltop ramparts are all reconstructions from the 1930’s. But the battlements still offer some of the best views of the city, so we paid admission to look around inside. 

That evening, we had drinks at our hotel’s rooftop bar overlooking the Tagus River before heading to dinner at Pap’Acorda. 

Like Spain, everyone eats much later in Portugal. We arrived at the crowded restaurant at nearly 10:00, and there was still a line out the door an hour later. We didn’t want to wait, so we decided to take the one empty table in the smoking section. Luckily, hardly anyone was smoking.

Pap’Acorda is modern Portugese food. David and I each ordered a 3-course meal with wine. I started with asparagus covered in butter and parmesan, while David opted for the tiniest fried fish I’ve ever seen. You could barely make out their eyes; they were so small that they just tasted like fry. When we saw gazpacho come out for the table behind us, we both wished we had ordered that instead…

For our mains, David had the grouper casserole and I tried the speciality, acorda. For my meal, the waiter brought out a cast-iron skillet containing olive oil, coriander, garlic, shrimp, and dough, with an egg resting in the middle. He mixed everything, “cooking” it in front of me. Apparently this dish is popular with the locals and fishermen, but it looked like gruel. It tasted all right, but I felt like I was eating uncooked bread. David loved his grouper, though. The highlight of the meal was definitely dessert. David ordered a coffee flan, which was fine, but I ordered the chocolate mousse. Again, the waiter came over to the table carrying a huge mixing bowl full of rich, chocolately goodness. He scooped out as much mousse as he could on his giant spoon, and then asked me to scrape the chocolate off of the spoon to ensure I got enough! It was so decadent that I needed David’s help to finish.

Then we went into food comas.

We woke up the next morning bright and early for our excursion – surfing!

We drove about 90 minutes north to Lourinha on the Atlantic coast

Popular beach with the surfers

David had surfed before in New Jersey, but I had never been. Before heading to Portugal, I bought a guidebook and looked up things to do on Trip Advisor. The #1 highlight is Surf School, so we called up Rui and asked him if he had any availability over the weekend. Luckily, he had a couple of spots for us on Sunday, so I thought I’d give it a try. 

David was excited to go surfing again after 9 years!

I love the water and ocean, and spent my summers as a kid visiting my grandparents in California. I would spend all day jumping waves or boogie-boarding off Coronado Island, plus I was a swimmer in high school and a lifeguard for years. So I thought I would be a natural. I had no idea how difficult surfing is! 

I wish... this was NOT us! 

After getting into our wetsuits (the Atlantic is COLD!), we warmed up by jogging along the beach and doing some yoga stretches. Usually for popular excursions, any skill or fitness level is advertised, but not this time! If you are not in shape, you are not going to get up and ride a wave. It makes me wonder about all those surfing movies out there, like Blue Crush. There is no way those giant line-backers popped up and rode those waves. Misleading Hollywood…

Next we headed into the water to jump some waves and then learned how to orient our bodies on the boards. Then we took our boards into the water to learn how to jump waves with the boards. I thought this part was hard, but Rui taught me how to use my elbow to push the board up and over the wave, instead of just my hand. This helped a lot.

Eventually, it was time to boogie-board using the surfboards. The first time I tried lying down and riding a wave to shore, I got rolled. I HATE getting rolled by waves. I came up coughing, sand everywhere, water in my eyes. It was not fun. But I had to get over my fear, and get back on the board.

We each rode a few waves lying down, and then we had to learn how to pop up and stand on the board. This was nearly impossible. Rui was a very patient teacher, but I just could not get the hang of it. Plus we had been in the water for almost 2 hours, so I was pretty tired.

Luckily, it was time for our lunch break, so we ate at the seafood café on the beach, and then took a siesta for 90 minutes before Rui woke us up.

Kids playing soccer on the beach in front of us while we rested

The under-current was really strong after lunch, so every time we tried to catch a wave, we’d be washed down shore and either need to walk or swim back to the group marker. It was absolutely exhausting. David’s calves were killing him. At one point, Rui called us out of the water and moved us further down the beach to avoid being swept away. 

Our group – honeymooners Patrick & Lauren, David & me, Ana & Alberto, and instructors Marina & Rui 

A couple of people in the group actually stood up on their first try and rode some waves. Eventually we all got there… barely. I thought I would have pretty good balance after taking Pilates classes for months now, but trying to balance the board while moving into a standing position, simultaneously being pushed by the waves was incredibly difficult. I got rolled some more, swallowed a lot of water, and the waves were relentless. Every time I tried to catch my breath, another wave would slam into me. Everyone in our group was so brave and strong, though. Lauren even face-planted a couple of times and didn’t even hesitate getting right back in there.

We were worn out after another 2 hours. Towards the end, I wasn’t even trying to stand anymore. I was just lying on my board, catching the waves to shore on my belly. It was so much fun, but I honestly don’t know if I’ll try surfing again. It’s a lot of work, and I don’t know if it’s worth the adrenaline rush. 

All done! 

Our hotel, the Bairro Alto, was the perfect place to crash on Sunday night. Not only is room service available, but each room comes with a DVD player and a selection of movies to rent from the front desk. So we dragged ourselves back to the hotel after Rui dropped us in Lisbon’s main square, quickly showered off all of the saltwater and sand, and then ordered room service and a movie. I couldn’t even keep my eyes open for the ending.

We didn’t wake up on Monday until almost 11. Thank goodness I set my alarm. We hurried down to breakfast before the hotel restaurant closed, and then packed up to just barely make noon checkout.

Even though we layered on the sunscreen, we were still sunburned, and the muscles in our arms and legs ached, so we decided to take it easy on our last day in Lisbon. 

We started off just down the street from our hotel at the Elevador de Santa Justa, built by an apprentice to Gustave Eiffel. Notice any resemblance? 

Lisbon is full of lifts like this because the city is so hilly. The elevators connect streets that are dozens of feet above each other. 

Lisbon reminded us a lot of San Francisco not only because of the hills, but there is also a big red bridge just like the Golden Gate. 

We took the tram from Baixa to Belem to see a few more landmarks before lunch. 

The Torre de Belem was a fortress built 500 years ago as a starting point for the great Portugese navigators, like Magellan and Vasco da Gama. 

Also along the waterfront is the Monument to the Discoveries, built in 1960 to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator. Henry financed expeditions along the African coast, laying the foundations for Portugal’s maritime expansion. 

We decided not to ascend to the top of the monument, and strangely, the Tower of Belem closed just as we arrived. So instead, we had a carb-filled lunch along the river at Nosolo Italia. After finishing off a pitcher of white sangria, a calzone, garlic cheese bread, and cheesy pistachio tagliatelle, we took some pics of the St. Jerome Monastery and Presidential Palace. 

Palace

Monastery

Then we said goodbye to warm weather and sunny skies and boarded a plane back to London. To see all of the pictures from our trip, click here.