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Olympic Park was a trip. It is atleast 50 acres, with several different facilities, including the swimming complex, Olympic Stadium, the bicycling complex, the diving complex and so on. You cannot even get into the park unless you have a ticket. I got in, took a bunch of pics and was in heaven. With 80,000 people in Olympic Stadium, I felt right at home. It was amazing to hear that many people clap for pole vaulters, ooh and ahh for the women's shotput, and yell at the top of their lungs for people running track. In the US, such praise is only worthy of basketball or football stars; but here at the Olympics, these track runners are stars.
There were a lot of great sites to see, and I ended up doing everything I really wanted to do in the city; where do I even start. Well, I have handled a lot of the heavy lifting by talking logistics and the general vibe of the place, so I guess I will just start knocking out my specific visits and so forth.
My first day, I went to North Greenwich Arena, and took some pictures. I decided to go on a short rail ride above the river Thames, and took some pictures of South East London.
My second day here, I went to work. I was originally supposed to go to the Olympics, and watch some prelims, but because of the large ticket scandal, again, my ticket never came. Oh well; I am actually kind of glad, because it gave me so much more time to get out, and enjoy the city. I went to a bunch of places along the River Thames, and it actually appeared to be a very nice running trail, when there weren't millions of visitors; after the Olympics are done, I'm sure it will return to a nice, relaxing, scenic route. I took a bunch of pictures of landmarks, such as the Shard, which is the tallest building in Europe… surprisingly, it was underwhelming when compared to buildings like the Sears Tower, but it was still pretty darn tall.
My third day there was my birthday, August 4th. I turned 26, and knew I had to go ALL OUT. Going all out for me is having a meal outside of my comfort zone, and finishing it off with dessert; I mean, real dessert; but even I couldn't go with a chocolate cake or something deep fried; I went with gelato instead; it has real fruit, no butter, and zero fat! A perfect desert for me; can't wait to try out the real original stuff in Italy. At first, I was going to get some fish and chips, in order to take in the typical London experience, but decided not to. After I got one look at that deep fried fish, I just couldn't bring myself to do it; so instead, I upgraded to a nice Indian restaurant, where I had a very good lamb meal with interesting curry, and some basmati rice. I also spied quite a few beautiful Indian women, so it was all worth it.
The goal on my birthday was to visit and thoroughly explore the two main parks in London, Regents Park and Hyde Park. Regents Park was a delight, and I took many pictures of the Queen's Garden. Like most days, there was scattered rain and scattered sunlight among overcast skies that dominated the days.
I just missed out on an extended tour of Kensington Palace, but again, I wasn't too disappointed because I am an geographical explorer, not someone who wants to be cooped up inside on my vacations. However, in normal life, it is rather the opposite; interesting; maybe this trip is changing me a bit. Only time can tell. Lastly, I went to Buckingham Palace, intending to get some good pictures there to round out my day. Unfortunately, and fortunately for me, there was an Olympic event finishing at Buckingham Palace that Saturday evening, and I was overtaken by large crowds; I was left without any hope of getting quality pictures, but that was ok, since I had plenty of other days to make up for it. Instead, I finished off the day in Trafalgar Square, which was the home of some spectacular buildings, a large monument, and a sizeable crowd that was in the Olympic Spirit. I took some good pictures, and also found my gelato dessert not too far away.
My fourth day was one of adventure, exploring the South West side of England. I had booked a Golden Tours ticket a couple of days in advance, and went on a several hour, 12 hour in all, tour that took us by a small bus to Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, and finished off the day in the Roman Baths in the town that the English renamed after the sight, Bath.
Stonehenge was incredible. Nobody knows who built it to this day, but druids are often there, as it is considered their most holy and sacred site; they often perform rituals there. Just imagining how these stones were brought from miles away from the hilly slopes to this flatland, and then how they were engineered to be built; each stone is several thousand pounds; it must have taken some serious man power, to the tune of several hundred men to prop up these stones; it was amazing.
After this, I was pretty much done with everything I wanted to do and see in London. I had seen all the sights, and seen my favorite event at the Games. So, the next day, I packed up and left for Amsterdam via a train to Harwich International Port, and a ferry to the Netherlands.
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