I’d been looking forward to the Olympics since they made the
announcement 7 years ago that they were to be held in London in 2012. Back then I was convinced that I’d be able to
get as many tickets as I wanted- however
I came to realise this would not be the case.
I luckily managed to get tickets to the beach volleyball and sailing so I
thought we should make a holiday out of it! Normally I wouldn’t dream of taking
a two week holiday in the UK, due to the unpredictable weather. However, the
London Olympics won’t happen again in my lifetime. Lea was convinced that this
holiday wasn’t for her, she wouldn’t really enjoy it and she was just coming because
I wanted her to so I was on a mission to prove her wrong. It was also to be our first holiday together!
We took the train down to London on the 27th
July. I’d managed to book a Travelodge
right in the centre of Covent Garden for a reasonable price and, even if the
hotel left a lot be desired, the location was absolutely perfect. We had nothing planned for that night except
to find a pub to watch the Opening Ceremony in.
So eager to get out of the hotel and start our holiday we had a wonder
down to Leicester Square and spotted a Chinese place where we thought we’d get
some dinner. After having our food
plated up from a fast food like counter, we were sheparded downstairs to where
there was some free seating. Downstairs
turned out to be a windowless basement that could have been used as a set for a
horror film, however, the quality and quantity of the food made up for it!
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| Lea with her Chinese (I'm sure she won't be thanking me for putting this picture up!) |
Even though the opening ceremony didn’t start until 9 we
thought it was best to go and find a pub and get some seats with a good view,
so we made our way to a nice looking pub we’d passed earlier. We went to the bar and ordered a bottle of
wine to get us going. I then turned
around to look for somewhere to sit, but to my horror ALL of the tables were
reserved. I checked the barman if they
were any available tables and he said there may be some downstairs. So we went downstairs only to find ALL of the
tables down there were also reserved.
Lea spotted a woman with a clipboard and went to ask her if there was
anywhere to sit seeing as we’d already bought drinks. It turned out she’d asked at exactly the
right time as some people hadn’t turned up to their reservation upstairs so she
showed us to the table. It only went and
turned out to be right in front of the TV and the absolute best seats in the
place.
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| In the Long Acre Pub |
The pub kept getting busier and busier. Once the ceremony had started there were
people crammed in the doorway, craning their necks to see the TV, and even
people standing outside watching through the window. The atmosphere was electric. We both thought the ceremony was a hit. Danny Boyle had done the UK proud. I loved Rowan Atkinson’s bit, and as for the
Queen parachuting, well that was hilarious.
On our drunken way home we stopped to take some photos…..
It had been the best start to holiday, and I think I was
beginning to convince Lea that our Olympics was going to be fun.
Alex x
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