Make it count

Monday, July 7th

Abigail's Graduation Trip - Day #11

We woke up this morning around 9am so that we could travel by train to Olympic Park to watch Stage 3 of the Tour de France - a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience that we were all excited about, especially my dad. We hit the Underground for a long 1 hr ride to Olympic Park. Upon arrival, we realized we were pretty early, which was a good thing so that we could get a great spot to watch the race. It was about 11:30 am, and the riders were set to come by about 3pm. We spent the next one hour exploring Olympic Park, the site of the 2012 Olympics in London. While some of the stadiums have been taken down or are in the process now, we were able to see many still standing, including the Aquatic Center Michael Phelps won a few of his gold medals in. We then decided to get our seats for the race. We sat right on the edge of the street, first row, for about an hour and half. At this point, the crowd was huge (about 10 rows deep) and the caravan for the race was coming through. This included floats, police cars, and team cars for the bikers - almost like a parade. It was an awesome atmosphere, and everyone was super excited for the racers to come. After another hour, motorcycles, more police cars, and team cars carrying extra bikes for the racers came through, followed by the cyclists themselves. Although it was only about a 2 minute process, the crowd was electric, and it was totally worth the wait. We took a rainy walk back to the train station and headed back to our flat to grab some rain gear before our next destination.

We quickly changed clothes and walked back to the Hammersmith station (our home base for the tube) to go to a quick dinner and the Shakespeare Globe Theater. We had to go to this really random Asian style restaurant because all cafes/grocery store type places close pretty early here. My dad got sushi but the rest of us ate froyo for dinner. We bought some popcorn and headed across the Southwark Bridge for the Globe. We were set to watch Julius Caesar, a 2hr 45 min production. It was a really interesting experience. From the moment you walk through the doors, characters are playing instruments and interacting with the crowd. We had "groundling" seats, which meant we stood at the base of the stage with many other people. Actual stadium-style seating seats were sold out 2 months ago when we first decided to come - crazy!!! This was a really popular attraction. The play began, and we all found it to be really neat. The actors were awesome, the story was easier to follow than we originally thought, and it was good people watching. A great weather night, too.

We walked back to the train station with awesome views of St. Paul's Cathedral, the Thames River, and Millennium Bridge. We ended the night with some pizza and relaxing. Tomorrow marks our last full day in London. We're most excited to be able to sleep in:)))))