LIVE your LIFE: Olympics!!! (August 11)

As you know from the last post, I arrived in London at 6 am. What’s a girl to do?! I headed to my hostel, but they weren’t “open” until 8 so I sat out front at some picnic tables and read. Once the reception was open, I went in to change and store my bags. I walked down to the River Thames and strolled along in the shade, and took in the beautiful sunny day. It was so relaxing! I walked by parliament and Big Ben and it was all so pretty! I took plenty of pictures, and finally arrived at the London Eye to meet up with Katie and Kristin. We went on the Eye and got a great view of London – and we were so lucky it was such a sunny, clear day!! After that, we set off on foot to see the city. We went by Big Ben and the parliament buildings again, then Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace.

And then we happened upon the Olympics!! We knew there was a speed walking event that day, but we had no information on the time or location. Good thing our timing worked out! We saw tons of people with Olympic shirts and flags and painted faces and bodies, and there was a huge flow of people moving in one direction. So, we decided to follow! Because the course was so long, we were able to get really, really close. It was tons of fun and the crowd was soooo into it – so naturally, we got pretty into it too! :) And now I can say I’ve been to an Olympic event!! Once that was done, we headed to Hyde Park to sit down for a bit and eat lunch. It’s so cool that there is so much green/nature in such a big city. It was nice getting off our feet and into the shade. We loved seeing the Olympics so much that we decided to head to the Olympic Stadium and see if we could weasel our way into any more events. Unfortunately they were completely sold out so we weren’t able to see anything else, but we found a big TV in a store just outside the stadium and plopped on the couches to watch the gold medal futbal (soccer) game. Mexico vs. Brazil, and Mexico won! (Keep that in mind for later in the post!) We split up so the other two girls could go on a tour, and I headed back to the hostel. We were going to meet up and go out, but plans changed and I ended up alone. I wasn’t about to sit in my hostel on a Saturday night in London, so I found my way to a pub crawl recommended by the hostel. I ended up meeting tons of people and having a great night!! Then on the way home, the Mexico futbol coach and tons of other fans got on the bus and sang national songs the WHOLE way home! It was so fun! I don’t think any of them sat down the whole way – they were too busy singing and dancing around! They even sang an American song for me, and an Italian song for two Italians that were on the bus. ;) It was quite the experience!!