Day 3 in London!

Day 3 in London got started with a 9:30am meet-up time in the hotel lobby. A bunch of tired but eager faces all made our way to the bus stop to take an iconic double-decker bus to the British Museum. After a bit of confusion and then finessing, we found our way into the museum. We started off in the Ancient Greek section, getting to explore the many ancient artifacts and artwork preserved there. To say there were a lot of pots and headless sculptures there would be an understatement.

Professor Kim guided us to the items that had to do with the ancient Olympics and used them to teach us about the ancient games. There was a lot of artwork portraying early competitions such as chariot racing, wrestling, and other forms of fighting. We also saw the famous running girl sculpture. Back then, women were not even allowed to watch the Olympics let alone participate, so they created their own games called the Hera Games. This sculpture is the oldest record we have of these games. We also learned that male athletes used to compete nude and put olive oil all over their bodies, because why not?

The group then had some free time to explore more of the museum ourselves before heading to lunch. We found a nice Italian restaurant near the museum – I mean you can never go wrong with Italian food – where we learned that Aodhan has an up-and-coming Christmas album on Spotify. We then took the tube, which we are now practically experts at navigating, over to Stratford in East London to get a tour of the Olympic Park area. Led by our tour guide Owen, we were warned there would be a lot of walking – and he kept his word. We walked through the Olympic Village first, which included some jokes about the fun times had by all the athletes in the athlete village. We learned about how London chose to host the games in the less wealthy part of town to try to rejuvenate the area economically. Part of this plan was being able to turn the Olympic Village into affordable housing once the games were done. Also, London didn’t want this area to simply become a ghost town after the games ended, so many of the structures that wouldn’t be needed in the future were just temporary structures that were taken down after the games. We then headed to the VeloPark, which is the cycling racing arena that is still being used today. We were all shocked by how steep the angle of the track was. We also saw the BMX and mountain biking courses nearby. We continued to walk around the Olympic Park and saw just how beautiful the area had become. We took a great picture in front of, and on for myself and Matt, the Olympic Rings.

We then passed by the Olympic Stadium, which is now home to many events, most notably West Ham United during soccer season. Apparently, a lot of West Ham fans are not thrilled about this because of how convenient their old stadium was, but it’s still a beautiful stadium. We continued walking around the park, and some of us felt inclined to test our rock-climbing and long-jumping skills along the way. It was pretty clear that London had successfully planned the games so that after they were over, the area would thrive as much as it is today. After parting ways with Owen, we put our creative minds to the test and created a great promotional photo for the trip on a wall with different colored blocks.

Finally, we headed to the giant Westfield Mall near the park for some food and shopping. We’re all very excited about the 10:00am meet-up time tomorrow, and I cannot wait for another day with these awesome people.