Friday 10 August 2012

London 2012 Day 7

After a gruelling 4 days of jumping, we finally get a day off. Jumping 4 days in a row is unheard of and is very hard on the horses. The first day was only a training day at 1.30-1.40m, but still it is a day of jumping.

We had a relaxed day, Vedor got his walks in the morning and then a light workout before lunch. I think I had an hour or two in the afternoon to watch the last lot of top riders competing in the dressage Grand Prix Special. It was pretty special too. Team GB won the gold after also winning the team gold in the jumping. You can imagine the atmosphere in the main arena from winning on home soil. Just thrilling to be amongst it all. I was sitting in the riders tribune and I had Anky sitting in front of me and Edward and Hans Peter sitting behind me watching their team mate Adelinde ride her test. It was kinda cool. Germany won the silver with Netherlands winning the bronze. What a fantastic result! It would've been even better with the Aussies in there too, but they didn't qualify for the second round of dressage.

Anky enters the main arena for the Grand Prix Special

Edward entering the arena for the Grand Prix Special

Charlotte after her test, yes she got Gold

I had a wander around Greenwich Park and found the Royal Greenwich Observatory. From here you could see right across the equestrian venue and all areas of London, including the Olympic Park in the distance. Very spectacular and the photos I took don't quite capture how spectacular it is. I was standing not far from the prime meridian, where you could be in the east or the western hemisphere at the same time. Unfortunately the observatory was closed so I didn't get to do that.

The main arena from the top of Greenwich Park, Canary Wharf in the background
The Greenwich Meridian

After Vedor's evening workout I finally made my way in London with Sigrun, Edwina's groom. We took a ferry from Greenwich Pier and got off at London Bridge. We went under the Tower Bridge in the ferry and it was so nice to see it in person and another spectacular sight, especially with the Olympic rings attached to it and the fancy blue lighting. From London Bridge we caught the tube to Charing Cross and walked around Trafalger Square. At this point London was staying very true to form and it was bucketing down. I still managed to get some photos in the rain, however they didn't turn out so well in the dark. Anyway, the Square is pretty special and I didn't care that it was raining, I just took it all in. There was a tall tower with a statue at the top which was wearing a union jack umbrella. How it got up there is anyone's guess. The lion statues were amazing as were the fountains which reminded me of Harry Potter, actually most London reminded me of Harry Potter, can't guess why.

Tower Bridge

We walked around the Square to The Mall, I was hoping to be able to walk down The Mall to Buckingham Palace but it was closed half way down as there was an event just to the left near the Horse Guards Parade. It was the beach volley ball. We considered trying to see if our accreditation would get us in to the venue, but decided not to. We were pleased to actually see another venue other than the Equestrian. Then we headed up to Piccadilly Circus, which reminded me of a much smaller version of Times Square in NYC. There was lots of shopping here including a 5 level sports store, Lillywhites, which sold a lot of Olympic clothing. Yes I did buy something here.

Trafalgar Square in the pouring rain

We then navigated some more of the underground and emerged not far from the London Eye. What a nice surprise. We waited for our ferry home just near the Eye and were marvelling at it for a while. Across the Thames was Big Ben. We didn't even think to get this far up the Thames, but we did. We caught the ferry back to Greenwich Park and then it was time to get a few hours sleep before the final day.

Big Ben

After my evening in London I came to the conclusion that it is an amazing city and I will have to visit it again. I don't know if it was just the hype from the Olympics, but it was very special and the city really shined...even through the rain drops.

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