Olympics.... only 73 days to go!

The start of Olympic Games is only 73 days but many of us are focusing on the Diamond Jubilee at the moment. The build up the Jubilee is very exciting, especially as we look ahead to the River Pageant. This is going to be the biggest event on the River Thames for 350 years (since Charles 11 if you like to know) with over 1000 boats forming a procession that will be 7 miles in length taking 90 minutes to pass by. There will even be a boat as a belfry with newly cast bells on ringing all the way and being 'answered' by bells in church towers along the route. The Royal Family will be on a boat and your blog writer will be in the Tower of London on the day so expect lots of photos and excitement in future blogs!

Olympic clock 73 days to go!

As well as the build up to the Jubilee, the Olympic preparations are all around us. I heard that the wonderful viewing platform and cafe by the Olympic Park was closing as the area will be an access route to the Park, so I headed down there to bring you the last photos of the venues.  Stratford is the main gateway tube station for the Olympics and you can see their signage is up and ready! 

 

Stratford station

There are 2 key places to view the Olympic Park in Stratford, the first being an indoor viewing area in John Lewis which gives you the chance to see the stadium and the wonderfully curved aquatic centre, on the left of this photo.

View from John Lewis

Across the other side of the park is the Greenway with its View Tube Cafe where you can see the stadium and Orbit right in front of you and they serve a great cup of coffee too!

View Tube Cafe

The stadium looks wonderful and will be the centre piece of the games and the park, seating 80,000 spectators for the much anticipated opening ceremony which has Danny Boyle (director of Slumdog Millionaire) as its Artistic Director . The red Orbit tower is impressive, looking like a crazy helter skelter and was designed by Anish Kapoor.

Stadium and Orbit

Olympic Stadium

Orbit

The Orbit tower has a viewing platform that will open during the games and will be accessible by a lift or by the 455 spiral staircase if you are feeling very energetic!  At  376 feet/114 metres it is Britain's tallest sculpture. It is made from 60% recycled steel to reflect one of the key themes of the London Olympics. It is a controversial structure but I love it, it is crazy and wild looking but has energy and distinctiveness.

Orbit viewing platform

The great views from the View Tube cafe will be closed from 18th May but will reopen later in the year so I will keep an eye open for this news. Soon, however, you'll be able to see the park from the inside as, after all, it is only 73 days to go!

Bye for now,

Sue

www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

@itsyourlondon

 

The Olympic countdown is on!

Last week saw the kick off of the 500 day countdown to the start of the London 2012 Olympics - which sounds like a lot of days still to go but it'll soon be here and the excitement is bubbling up. The railway station St Pancras unveiled a set of huge Olympic rings for everyone to see as they arrive on Eurostar tho' possibly a little cruel to the French who lost out in hosting 2012 and this is the first thing they will see when reaching London!

The BT Tower gave us a sound and light show with a big 500 days sign, a countdown and then huge louc fireworks which were brilliant but lasted a really short time - sign of the times perhaps! Still it was fun and I was interviewed live on BBC Radio London so I could tell Londoners all about it - fame at last! One final Olympics happening was the unveiling of the clock set up in Trafalgar Square which is counting down to the Olympics in days, hours, minutes and seconds. It's proving a hit with visitors who all wanted their photo taken in front of it!

Spring has sprung in London so we booked ourselves for lunch into one of the buildings with the best views over this great city. The top floor of the Hilton Park Lane has a bar on one side and a Galvin brothers restaurant on the other. My cheeky request for 'the table with the best view possible' worked and we were given a large round table overlooking Hyde Park. The sun was so bright that the photos are not all that great (sorry about that) but you can see the huge expense of Hyde Park, the iconic Battersea Power Station, the back door of Buckingham Palace (good to be nosey!), a view over the City including the ever growing Shard tower and a quick snap of the outside so you know what the building looks like if you ever get a chance to visit. The food is great too and they do a wonderful special lunch deal which doesn't break the bank, especially as they thrown in a free glass of champagne. It was a long lunch as you can imagine.....!

Bye for now,

Sue

http://www.itsyourlondon.co.uk/