London, England (Part III): The Final Countdown

The next day saw a fully refreshed and eager me ready to tackle the massive Hyde Park viewing area, a long stroll down Picadilly, beers with a friend from Paris, and finally, going to our last ticketed event of the games: USA volleyball at Earl's Court (right down the street from Mike's flat). The Hyde Park viewing area is one of two massive public viewing areas set up for the Olympics (the other in Victoria Park I think). Essentially they fenced off a massive section of the park and set up huge projection screens for viewing. There is also food, beer, games, live music, and a bunch of other stuff like free ping pong tables, etc.

After taking in some of the cycling event in the park, I made my way east along Knightsbridge to Picadilly where I would proceed through the city until arriving at my meeting point, Covent Garden. Along the way I noticed a new monument to the RAF (Royal Air Force) pilots who died during the World Wars that had just been opened by the Queen for her Diamond Jubilee. It's a really cool statue and many people had left crosses or flowers. I even noticed a few teary eyes from some of the visitors. Definitely worth spending a few minutes and checking out.

Not really sure where to go once I had reached Picadilly circus I more or less meandered in the direction I assumed Covent Garden to be located. After a few minutes... oh snap! Guess what I saw? Chinatown! Why is it that when I'm wandering around a city I always seem to find myself in Chinatown? 

As I strolled past noodle parlors and dumpling shops the thick smell of sesame oil and pork briefly transported me back to those first happy months slumming it in Chinatown in Manhattan. Pounding the pavement to work everyday past the elderly people doing tai chi, subsiding almost entirely on 5 for $1 fried dumplings, hiking up 5 flights of stairs to the un-airconditioned apartment, getting green melon frozen bubble tea. Ah, the memories.

A short way down the road I reached my destination and swung into a pub called the Nags Head for my first pint of the day while I awaited for Paradis and my friend from Paris, Sioni, to arrive. Paradis got there first and suggested we head to the Punch & Judy- coincidentally also Sioni's exact suggestion. I love it when a plan comes together. The Punch & Judy is a solid little pub on the second floor of this market area near Covent Garden. It's best feature, however, is its terrace which looks out onto the square below. On a nice, warm, sunny day in London (like the one we were having), I can't imagine a better place to enjoy a crisp refreshing lager, or if you're me, the soothing embrace of an ice cold Guinness.

Nice pink hair. In a bit Sioni arrived and we caught up on the goings on since our last meeting: the Drinkathlon in Paris. Apparently he discovered that the reason his stomach hurt when the cops came was because moments before he came to they were kicking him in the ribs! Dirty frogs! After putting back a few rounds and re-affirming our commitment to never do a drinkathlon again, it was time to part ways as I had to get back to Earl's Court for some USA v. China volleyball action!

Let me just note that Earl's Court is a very bizarre and cavernous venue. Apparently it's slated for demolition subsequent to the games and I assume it will be replaced with a similar convention center/arena facility. But who cares? Let's get to some volleyball! But before I made it to my seat, my stomach revolted in protest causing me to realize my immediate need for sustenance. A cursory inspection of the food options left me seriously concerned about the ability to find something edible at this particular venue when, suddenly, I spotted a familiar (yet strikingly unfamiliar) sight: a stand selling baked potatoes.

Technically in the UK they call them "jacket" potatoes, perhaps in reference to the aluminum foil they are wrapped in or their skins. Or maybe, albeit unlikely, they put them in tiny coats before baking. But whatever you call them, they are huge in the UK. Both literally, as in the size of the potatoes, as well as in terms of popularity. Having more or less grown up on these things it was a sight for sore eyes. And I know what you're thinking: this is a lot of typing about baked potatoes. Yes, I know, but just hang in there. And also, you're thinking: ok, no need to be a dick about it, and anyway, do these things even come with cheese and chili? And your answer dear reader. Hell, freakin, yes!

BOOM! Oh man it was heaven in a skin. My ravenous hunger sated, I was ready to enjoy some volleyball. And enjoy we did as the USA women's team absolutely throttled the Chinese team. Take that China! This is a non zoomed view from where we were sitting- check out flickr for other shots of the match.

The second match was Brazil v. South Korea but after a long day, numerous rounds at the Punch & Judy, and my massive jacket potato I was in serious nodding-off mode. So after the first set, Deana and I split for home while Mike watched the remainder of the match which stunningly South Korea won. Below is a picture of Mike and I where he is actually smiling and not giving the camera the finger, or me the finger, or making some sort of other absurd gesture. Enjoy it, these are rare.

The following day, I decided it was high time for me to make the obligatory trek out to St. Paul's cathedral and the waterfront and the business district and yatta yatta, London, yatta, goodness. So that's what I did. I was also in a bit of a rush to get through my walk as one of my good pals from the working days, James Park, was in London visiting friends and we planned to meet up to watch some of the games that night. So, in rapid low detail no explanation mode, here is Fleet St. looking toward St. Paul's.

And the dome of St. Paul's from the footbridge heading back to the southern side:

And a cool shot of the Thames looking east with the "Shard" (tallest building in Europe) on the right and the Tower Bridge way off in the distance in the middle:

And Tate Modern Art Museum from the bridge (which interestingly, I knew nothing about the building itself and upon looking at it and realizing it was the Tate Modern my first thought was "wow, the building isn't very modern at all. looks like an old power plant." Turns out it IS an old power plant- the main hall is the old turbine room.):

The rebuilt "Globe" theater where Shakespeare's plays were/are shown:

And finally, a shot of the Gherkin (giant pickle) from in the midst of one of the business districts:

My stroll being complete (I had covered ground from Russell Square to the Tate Modern and back all the way up to the East End- a nice distance), it was time to resume my regular London activities- drinking beer and cheering on Team USA! I hopped the train and met Mike and my friend James and his buddy Calvin at one of the many Starbucks close to Trafalgar and we made our way to... shockingly... the Chase Lounge! Free beer, whoo hoo!

We took in some gymnastics and indoor cycling at the Velodrome, upon the conclusion of which Mike had to get back home so James and I headed on to a sports bar nearby to watch that night's swimming events. The best part of the bar was that they had Budweiser bottles that you could get in buckets of ice. The worst part about the bar was that a bucket of five cost 17 pounds! That's like $25! So as you likely deduced, we stuck with just one bucket of beer haha.

When the night's events had concluded we decided to call it a relatively early night and save our steam for the weekend. Friday morning, even despite the early conclusion to the night, I was none-the-less gassed. I suppose it was the cumulative effect of an awesome time. I was initially supposed to meet up with some other friends at Olympic Park but those plans didn't work out. Not able to score any tickets and having seen pretty much all I wanted to see of the city except going inside certain places which was infeasible with all the crowds, I decided to spend the day doing what I usually do during the Olympics: nothing but watching the Olympics.

Also, this particular day Mike and Deana had tickets to swimming (jealous) and so while they were living it up in the Olympic Park and dodging falling flat screen TV's, I soaked up about 15 hours of extremely UK-biased BBC Olympic coverage and had a grilled cheese sandwich. It was a great day. Saturday I was initially planning to take a train down to Brighton for the night to see Dave and Adam who I met in Le Mans. Unfortunately, those plans never came to fruition either so I ended up with another free day. Considering the lovely weather, and everyone else besides Deana and I's moderate to severe hangover tenderness (score one for sobriety!), it was decided to do a picnic in Hyde Park.

The food was excellent and, spurned on by some Tupac and Jay-Z flowing from Mike's portable speakers, my last Saturday in London was off to a brilliant start. One of the highlights of the afternoon was watching Mike and Brad attempt to knock a kite out of a tree using my nearly full just-purchased bottle of water. They didn't get the kite, but they did manage to destroy my bottle of water. Well done. Here's a nice shot of my wonderful hosts, the happy couple:

Even though the weather had been nice the past week in London, there hadn't been too many days of consistent sun so all of our priorities became to indulge in some post-lunch basking.

Unfortunately, I could only bask for a brief period as I had made plans to meet up with James, his brother and some of his other friends to watch the nights events. Where did we meet to watch these? I'll give you three guesses and the first two won't count... If you guessed the Chase Lounge, bravo to you! 100 points. This particular night Michael Phelps and Co. won the 4 x 100M relay, Mo Farah won the 10,000M race, and S. Korea beat UK in football on the 5th and final penalty kick. That plus free beer and snacks made our crew pretty elated.

After most of the events were done we headed back to the downstairs portion of the Chase Lounge where we met a man named Alex who worked for/owned a Private Equity VC firm. We got to chatting with him and he invited us on what turned out to be a ludicrous night in London. I can only remember bits and pieces but we did end up in a restaurant in Chinatown at around 2 am, where we were subsequently thrown out of and threatened with police action because one of James' friends was "stealing" beers. As I recall it was some sort of misunderstanding whereby we wanted beers to go, they said no, and we came to some sort of impasse wherein we got beers anyway. It was a bit hazy at this point but here's a shot of us eating there which is coincidentally the last picture of the night.

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur but I ended up in some part of London unbeknownst to me at around 7:30am having not slept and with an insatiable desire to get back to Mike's and crash as hard as humanly possible. Fortunately the gods smiled on me as I was blessed with the sight of an old school black London taxi heading my way down the street. It was thus that I was able to accomplish my two most important remaining goals for my visit to London at that moment: (1) riding in an old school London taxi; and (2) getting the hell out of wherever it was I had found myself and back to the comforts of Paradis' flat.

When we pulled up the driver indicated it would be 16 pounds and so I handed him a 20. He asked if I had exact change and I told him I had 10 and a few pence. Some sort of bizarre transaction ensued where he took the ten, gave me the 20, then took the change, and was then like "yes, this works good." I was too tired and out of it to really comprehend but evidently he convinced himself that 10 and change is just as good as 16. Inside the flat I was too exhausted to inflate my bed so I gingerly curled into a fetal position on the couch, pulled my towel half way over me, and passed out.

A few hours later I awoke and immediately decided that Sunday would be used as it was intended: a day of rest. I ran across the street and got the ingredients for a grilled cheese and tomato soup, the combination thereof serving to revive my mind and spirit as far as could be expected. The rest of the day we watched the Olympics and I did some laundry and shortly before dinner, Mike and I set out to accomplish the final remaining thing on my London list: try some bangers and mash.

I don't know what I really expected. I remember from Bedknobs and Broomsticks that they are basically sausages with mashed potatoes. So when sausages with mashed potatoes arrived, I was unexpectedly relieved. Somehow I had come to expect something entirely different in my subconscious. Despite my unaccountable expectations, they were really good- the sausages had a breakfast-sausage characteristic and the potatoes were smooth and creamy. The gravy is essentially the same as what you have for Thanksgiving dinner. A bit underwhelming given how much I had hyped it in my mind but very hearty, tasty, and satisfying none-the-less. And now I can say I've had a mouthful of bangers. Yes, I know that's exactly where your head was at. Come back out of the gutter.

After eating, we proceeded over to Brad's place for second dinner: homemade chicken kebabs with all the fixings. Great great culinary day- I was stuffed. We watched the dazzling 100M final and then it was time, after 10 days of London awesomeness, to close the book on my London Olympics experience. Overall- if you've been reading or even skimming you'll know it was obviously phenomenal. I have to thank Mike and Deana again so much for letting me Dupree up their flat for 10 days. I owe you guys a ton and I hope I can pay you back someday- either in NY or NC or somewhere else in the world. London, what a blast, what a show. And I had just kicked off my UK/Ireland experience. Next up: visiting more friends in a smallish English town in the middle of the country: Wakefield.

Bonus: Olympics Coverage Wrap Up with a photo of us in fancy dress. Awesome.

London, England (Part II): Shoeless and Fancy Free

I had three primary ambitions for my fourth day in London: (1) sleep in; (2) meet Paradis at the Chase Lounge for some free beer; and (3) finally get around to seeing something touristy in the city. The first was accomplished easily enough given our calamity-filled past two days. I finally pulled myself off the air mattress around 11 (after watching some early morning Olympic swimming heats coverage in one of those half-asleep-I'm-way-too-comfortable-to-get-up modes) and Mike and I planned to meet at his office right after lunch. For the past couple weeks I had been getting emails from Visa/Chase about this "Chase Lounge" that was going to be somewhere in London and would offer a whole heap of TV's to watch the games from as well as refreshments, drinks, and if you made a reservation, a private tasting session with one of those Iron Chef guys. But I figured- there's no way I'm actually going to be able to work this out, so I just ignored them.

Well apparently Mike was all over it and as soon as I arrived he proffered the suggestion of making it a regular pre-gaming stop. Well done, sir. So we met at his office and proceeded there with one of his fellow colleagues. It was just as advertised; flash your Visa and in you went- free snacks, beer, wine, sodas, and about 15-20 TV's showing various live events. I could tell immediately this place would in heavy rotation in my agenda for the next few days. After half an hour or so, Mike's colleague had to return to work at which point we decided the best option was to have a pop. Nothing quite communicates the decision better than this picture.

It should also be noted here that over the past several weeks of Stint 1, my time at home, and my return to Europe I had begun to notice that the flippy floppies I acquired for 8 euro back in Lisbon had begun to become unraveled. But it wasn't until I was enjoying a beer at the Chase Lounge that I actually got a chance to inspect the full extent of the damage.

Whoa. That's going to be a problem. But no time to deal with it now- Mike and I had to pound a few more pops, watch the Chinese win a diving gold (surprise of the year! :/), and then he had to head back for a few calls before he could meet me for later-afternoon pops. Pops pops pops. I love traveling. So, with nothing else to do for the next few hours, I took this opportunity to wander around central London and soak up some of the sights.

As soon as I stepped out of the Chase Lounge the first thing I noticed was just how many red double decker buses roll through the streets of London. I had seen a few before but had thought they were operating solely for sight-seeing. But everywhere I looked they were jamming up the intersections, which clued me in (sometimes I'm a little dense) that they are clearly being utilized as a form of standard public transport. And if the streets weren't blocked by those buses, it was the iconic black taxis. Add London to the list of cities I don't think I ever want to drive in.

With no map, no idea where exactly I was, and no real idea where I wanted to go, I just started walking. Shortly I came across Trafalgar Square and headed under a large arch which I later came to find out was the Admiralty Arch. This opens up onto the Mall which is a tree lined street leading down to Buckingham Palace. Along the way is the Horse Guards Parade which is where the Beach Volleyball venue is located (for my money the most stunning of all the venues).

Because of this, a good portion of the Mall is blocked off so the pedestrian traffic is rerouted through Green Park. Walking through Green Park I couldn't help but think how much it reminded me of McCorkle Place (northmost quad) at UNC Chapel Hill. With the exception of the lack of Silent Sam and the decaying Davie Poplar, the resemblance is uncanny.

After winding through the park I arrived at Buckingham Palace which I must say was rather underwhelming. I guess I expected something larger and with more pomp, circumstance, and absurd grandeur that would befit a royal family. I had decided to do the tour (per my mother's absolute insistence), however, the palace was closed for the day- presumably because the queen or other royal family member "mucking about" inside. Next I took a left... or was it a right? I can't remember. But I went around the corner and suddenly I was looking at this:

Now that's more like it. I also got a quick peek at Westminster Abbey which sits just across the street but it was so infested with tourists I couldn't stomach approaching it much less attempting to go inside. So I crossed the bridge and got a few shots of the Thames, the London Eye, and the other side of Parliment. I must say Parliment and Big Ben are impressive from all angles. I walked alongside the river past Jubilee Park and happened upon a great photo opportunity for the London Eye before proceeding back across the adjacent bridge to meet Mike at his office for another round.

Mike met me at the Bullfrog where we had a pint of Guinness and watched some more of the Olympics and then Mike sprung upon me the idea of the day and perhaps of the entire week: instead of taking the underground home- we'd rent some "Boris bikes" and bike our way back. I added to this brilliant scheme by including the provision that should we pass a pub with Boris bike terminals- we'd stop for a mid-route pint. The ride was, as the Brits say, lovely. The first place we rode past was Big Ben and Parliment.

About halfway home we came across just the pub we were looking for and after enjoying a pint and a round of 8-ball at our pit stop, Mike took me via the scenic route along Hyde Park and we stopped in front of Prince Albert Hall. When we had finally made our way back and parked the Boris bikes, I came to notice that the ride had done quite a number on my poor near-collapsing sandals. In fact, the left had come so completely unraveled that it was impossible to walk. It had suddenly all gone sideways. Before we could return home to remedy the situation, however, we needed to acquire some groceries and other items. Only one option was available- go shoeless in the streets of London. Brave. Daring. Gross.

The last time I went shoeless in a major city was when Allison lost her sandals that one time at the Water Taxi Beach in NYC, and then tackled me in the parking lot and stole mine. Good memories, haha. I did survive the walk, somehow avoided contracting anything, and acquired a tube of superglue which impressively alleviated the situation (and gave me an awesome glossy surface on all of my fingers!).

The next day it was rainy and cool so I basically chilled out and watched a very aggressive amount of Olympic coverage. I did get around to strolling around Chelsea and seeing the Chelsea FC stadium which is probably only about 5 minutes away from Mike's place. They were in the process of hanging the 2012 Champions League title banners, and I was shocked at the relatively petite size of the venue considering how hugely popular Chelsea is.

That night I layed low and remained sotally tober in preparation for my final days of Olympic awesomeness in London. I had a sneaky suspicion London was going to end in a blowout.

Manchester, England: Are You Ready for Some Football?

Obviously it was going to be tough if not impossible to top our day one Olympics experience, however, Mike had a special treat in store for me for day 2. Mike had scored tickets for the whole expat gang to head up to Manchester to watch some Olympics football at the legendary Old Trafford Stadium, home to the even more legendary Manchester United.  The first game was the not-so-powerhouse matchup of Egypt vs. New Zealand and the second was the much more anticipated matchup of Brazil vs. Belarus.

We awoke at a fairly early hour to make our train up to Manchester. As you might imagine it was a tall order to drag ourselves out of bed after such a phenomenal first day, but once we were at the station excitement began to set in.

As I was a last minute addition to the team, my seat on the train was in a different car but I was lucky enough to score a non-reserved seat. The train was absolutely packed- there were probably 20-30 people standing in my car alone for the entire two hour ride up to Manchester. Off the platform in Manchester we were greeted with what I had expected to encounter the vast majority of the time in England- cool weather and a steady drizzly rain. Good thing I didn't wear sandals... oh wait. D'oh!

The town itself seemed nice enough but we didn't have a ton of time to sight-see as we needed to make our way down to the venue. Thankfully, the Olympic planning committee set up buses to run fans from the main train station over to the stadium so we didn't have to walk all the way in the rain. The stadium itself is an impressive and imposing edifice seating around 75,000 rabid fans. 

I'm not sure if it was originally designed this way or if it was done in subsequent years due to the increasingly rowdy patrons, but ticketholders are assigned a particular entrance gate and you can only enter the stadium through that gate. In fact, the stadium itself is sectioned off so that once you are inside you can't actually walk around it into other sections- you're more or less confined to your ticketed section. I find it hard to believe that the stadium was originally designed that way but I'm too lazy to put in the research to get to the answer so we'll just assume it was modified. 

Paradis and my seats were pretty far up and for the first game we were seated in the Egypt section. However, as Mike astutely noted, at least the concessions lines for beer should be relatively shorter than those on the New Zealand side.

Speaking of beers, therein lies another interesting difference about English football and sports everywhere else in the world: you absolutely cannot under any circumstances take beers from the concession area to your seats. Not only is it prohibited, but you will be arrested for attempting it according to the signs plastered all over the stadium. This rule is absolutely due to the outbreaks of hooliganism that plagued English football matches in recent years, and interestingly, they carried it over to the Olympic competitions.

So if you want a beer without missing much action, you have to acquire it at the concessions, drink it as fast as you can, and then head back to your seats. An odd rule to be sure, and when I think about it, I'm not sure how forcing people to pound their beers in any way helps to prevent overall drunkenness and thereby the later-game buffoonery. But when in Rome, do as the Romans. So upon entering Mike and I quickly employed this tactic and headed up to the seats for the first half of the Egypt vs. New Zealand game.

The first game was entertaining if not very well executed football. New Zealand got a surprise first goal which was ultimately equalized by Egypt. The last 5 minutes plus extra play were extremely exciting, however, as each team's poor defense allowed an onslaught of back and forth scoring opportunities that each came agonizingly close to ending the game. Alas, it ended in a 1-1 tie. Unlike most sportsfans around the globe, as Americans we tend to find ties extremely unsatisfying. But as a result of the past four months of watching numerous football matches, I'm beginning to come around to the allure of a well played well fought game that ends in a tie. Just don't tell anyone back home...

After the first game we retreated to the concessions to acquire some much needed sustenance only to discover that the stadium had, unbelievably, run out of food! But never fear- there was plenty of warm Heineken available. Or if that doesn't suit your fancy you can reach for a tall warm can of the worst beer known to man: John Smith's ale. Mike and I gave it a try and honestly, if this was the only beer available on Earth, I would stop drinking immediately. I couldn't even choke it down. After a few rounds of sad warm beers waiting for game two to get going, it was glaringly apparent that we were going to need coffee to survive the next 90 minutes of action.

Back in the stands we elected to try our luck moving down and were able to score some better seats about 25 rows closer to the field. Brazil vs. Belarus kicked off, and you could immediately notice the level of football was much higher than the previous game. 

In the end, Brazil was just far too talented and proved too much for poor Belarus to handle as they pushed the lead to 2-1 early in the second half and began to control the ball almost exclusively. With a little time remaining in the second, we coordinated with the rest of our crew on the other side of the stadium and it was agreed that we should leave a bit early to catch the earlier (and hopefully not jam-packed) train. At the station Deana acquired sandwiches for everyone from Pret a Manger and I acquired us beers from... well I don't remember but the point is the train ride back was great. Poor Mike was all tuckered out and drifted off. 

The past several nights I hadn't been sleeping very well (2-4 hours at best), so on the way back to Mike & Deana's flat I decided to get myself a bottle of red wine and see if a glass or two could knock me out. Well, mission accomplished. I finished one glass and had one sip of the second and literally fell asleep sitting up with my laptop still in my lap, in mid conversation with someone online, with Mike and Deana in the room talking, and with all the lights on. Clearly I should have followed Mike's lead and stole a nap on the train. I eventually did wake up and assume a regular sleeping position and knew I would be rested and ready for some more awesome Olympic action come day three.

London, England (Part I): Oh You Fancy, Huh?

London, UK. Where to begin? Initial impressions: it's like America, but people speak various forms of British or Welsh or Scottish or local dialects or pretty much anything except English as I've come to know it all my years. And they drive on the other side of the road. And there are pubs everywhere. And it's cold, even in August. And everything is fried... ok, that last one is actually exactly like America. Hm. Maybe we have more in common than I thought.

I planned this trip to London for three primary reasons: (1) to see my old friend and college roommate Mike Paradis who along with his wife Deana graciously offered me a place to stay; (2) to escape the Shengen zone in Europe for the requisite period; and (3) to soak up the glory and grandeur that is the 2012 Summer Olympic Games! Whoo! USA USA! This was my home for the week in London:

When I arrived in town from Prague I was a bit "funned" out and I could have certainly done for a relaxing night. However, that lofty ambition was not in the cards. Within 10 minutes of finding my friend's flat he informed me that our presence was required at a work happy hour/goodbye party for his wife (they are moving back to the States in a few months). OK, twist my arm. So I made for a quick bathroom break and a change of clothes and when I returned Mike had procured a nice cold Guinness and a red solo cup so we could drink them on the go. What a pal.

The happy hour was in central London near Deana's work in this giant covered atrium next to the Thames and not too far from Tower Bridge. The atrium reminded me quite a bit of the Winter Garden at WFC but the restaurants/bars were significantly higher class. Of course, as anyone who has spent time in WFC can attest, pretty much any restaurants/bars are significantly higher class than those in/around the Winter Garden. Here is a nice shot I got of the Thames at dusk.

After soaking up some wine we took a stroll down toward the Tower Bridge which was magnificently lit up for the Olympics. The group had a powerful hankering for Indian food and the place of choice was apparently right across the bridge. The ladies all hopped a cab and Mike, Tony (another expat) and I hot-footed it across the bridge. Long story short, the food was excellent and extremely spicy, the beer was cold, and, as you would imagine, it made for a great night and sore morning.

Worn out from all of my adventuring I decided to lay low the next day and get caught up on the blog, pictures, etc. That evening I met up with Mike for another happy hour/goodbye party, this time for Tony who was heading back to the states at the end of the week. I was very excited as this was my first opportunity to try a proper English ale. In short, it was outstanding. Unfortunately it happened to be about 85 degrees that day and the bar had no A/C so, despite tasting excellent, a luke-warm ale didn't go very far in quenching my thirst. 

Very brief note: proper English ales are not pasteurized and therefore must be drank soon after the keg is tapped. Also, the keg isn't pressurized so they literally have to pump it out. Finally, yes, it is served room temperature, which that particular day meant hot. But the pub was pretty cool and soon I had the sense to switch to Guinness. I'm looking forward to drinking more ale in the cooler climates of northern England in a few days.

That night was also the opening ceremony for the Olympics and it was decided that on such a hot night the most reasonable thing to do was retreat to Brad's, one of Mike's expat friends, apartment to watch it and grill out. Phenomenal idea. On the way, we swung by Trafalgar Square to take a peek at the countdown clock which by this point was under 1 hour.

Some Americans had taken over one of the giant lions and were proudly engaging the crowd in a chant of U... S... A... U... S... A! Love it! 

Back at the flat, our hosts grilled up some burgers and sausages and we reveled in the calamity that ensues every time an Olympic Games is opened. I actually liked the ceremony, especially the beginning where it went from grassy fields to the industrial revolution, but like many people, I found the technology/flashing house segment a bit hard to follow. The best part of all was that out the window you could hear people cheering and fireworks going off over London.

I should just say here that I'm an absolutely HUGE fan of the Olympics. When they get going they basically absorb all of my attention/focus for the two week duration. In 2008 I daily DVR'd about 15 hours of footage and stayed up every night pouring through it. I LOVE these games. It's just so incredible, athletes from all over the world set aside the differences of their nations in a show of sportsmanship to compete against each other and represent their countries and people. Little known athletes in sports that are lightly followed are suddenly huge names, mega-stars stay in the athletes village and mingle with regular people, and global professional athletes take to the field/pool/floor/whatever for simply the pride of representing their home. I can't understand how anyone could not love the Olympics. 

But enough ranting, I was in London to see these games and lucky for me, Mike had scored us some tickets to a few events throughout my week in London. The first up came on day 1- USA women's basketball vs. Croatia. A while back Mike and his expat pals decided they wanted to dress up for this particular event. Apparently wearing costumes is huge here in London. They call it "fancy dress." That makes no sense to me, but hey, no time to think when you're busy getting fancy. Since I'm traveling with a backpack and therefore don't really have space for a costume, I was (perhaps for the first time in my life) the least costumed one of us. 

Mike went as Uncle Sam, Tony as Redman (morph suit), and Brad as the immensely popular Captain America. This is them at Picadilly Circus. Definitely worth checking out the other pictures on flickr as there's some great shots of the guys riding the metro.

Needless to say, the costumes were legendary. Shockingly, despite London's love for "fancy dress" we were the only costumed people on day 1. As such, we were immensely popular. It took us over an hour to walk a distance that should be coverable in 20 minutes because we had to keep stopping to take photos with people. Here's us at the entrance. 

Since our game was the second in the session we took a few minutes to wander around the Olympic Park. The facilities and layout are wonderfully well designed. Here is a shot of the swimming venue with the characteristic dipping roof.

In addition to just generally being awesome and insanely popular, we also acquired some beers. Naturally, this led to us needing to use the facilities where I got perhaps the photo of the day. Even heroes pee too kids.

One of the coolest features of the park are the numerous green spaces scattered around where you can relax and see the giant screens which display the action. At the top of a hill at one of these are the giant Olympic rings where it was seemingly a right of passage to have your photo taken. I think more people took pictures of us than we got of ourselves. There must have honestly been 3,500+ pictures of us taken that day.

Finally, inside the arena we got down to business. The first thing we noticed was that our seats were WAY too high up for our costumed efforts. I mean, look at this:

So, obviously we needed to move lower. After spending some time posing for pictures and sweet talking the security guards we were able to score some seats behind the basket on the lower level. The highlight of the event came when Croatia went to the stripe for some free throws at our end. In the US it's customary for the opposing fans behind the basket to make noise and try to interfere with the free throw of the other team. 

Well, as we found out quite harshly, that is not the case in the UK. It was completely silent except for us 4 idiots screaming at the top of our lungs as 20,000 people simultaneously turned to glare at us in disapproval. It was so quiet that we could hear our own voices reverberating around the arena. People came up to us all day after the game was over asking us if we were the four people screaming during the free throw. Several told me it was poor sportsmanship. Maybe in the UK, but not in the land of basketball my friends. In any event, shouting the classic "Steve Perry" yielded the desired result as the Croatian girl missed the second free throw. 

After the game we had tickets to go up on the Olympic tower which is next to the stadium. The top of the tower offers some great views of the city.

And no blog about Olympic Park would be complete without a shot of the Olympic Stadium itself. I was lucky enough to get a great one as the sun was beginning to set on the Park. 

It was an incredible day overall- a perfect start to my Olympic experience. As a nightcap we met up with the guys' wives at an American BBQ place to watch the swimming events, knock down some cold Coors Light, gobble up some good southern cooking, and mostly just kick back and revel in American glory. On the way we walked right past the Tower of London.

Before wrapping up part one of the London entries, I would just like to further emphasize exactly how huge we went over in the Olympic Park. Below are some screenshot images from various media outlets that had us on TV. We were also interviewed by NBC, the LA Times, Men's Weekly, and were interviewed at a timeout by the MC in the arena. It was like what athletes and rock stars must deal with all the time- being mobbed for photos, etc. I certainly have a new respect for them.

Us on Men's Weekly Site:

On MSNBC cheering during the free throw:

Hanging w/ Dikembe Motombo:

MC's twitter:

LA Times:

And finally, blowing up Twitter:

Verdict on first three days in London: pretty freakin awesome.