The fun and games of the Olympics

[caption id="attachment_2565" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="Me and Claire at the Hyde Park Live Site"][/caption]

If you're not very interested in sport, then I apologise for the recent content of Pegs on the Line. And I suppose, in advance, for this post. But then the Olympics aren't really sport. Well of course there is sport, but there's a lot more to it.

A few years ago, when considering my ever-so-vague plans to move to the UK one day, I decided that to be there for the 2012 Olympics in London would be pretty cool. Those vague plans remained just that and while I thought perhaps I might end up in London at that time, it wasn't something I worked towards.

Then, after a quick decision just two days earlier, I found myself sitting in a pub in the London suburb of Shepards Bush watching the Queen jump out of a helicopter.

Watching the opening ceremony in London surrounded by Aussie's might seem a bit silly, but the Olympics is, ultimately, country against country. So to me it was fitting. While a few references to British culture were lost on the audience, most went down a treat - Mary Poppins, Mr Bean, Mike Oldfield and Paul McCartney. It helped that Aussies love British humour. Some countries must have been utterly baffled by the odd guy at the piano.

The next day Claire, a friend from Tassie, and I caught the train to Richmond to check out the men's cycling road race. The sight of the crowds staking their claim along course brought back memories of the Tour de France, which finished the week before. The competitor list was also familiar - most having competed in le Tour. We hadn't got moving early enough to see the riders pass in the morning, but instead saw them come back through about 3pm.

During the wait we got talking to some British cycling fans who were very keen to see Mark Cavendish do well. The infrequent reports we had while on the course suggested Aussie Stuart O'Grady was part of a breakaway but Cav, the rest of the British team and the remaining Australians were back in the peloton. That was still the case when they went by.



The riders had 15km to go once they passed us so we headed back to the main street to find a pub to watch the finish. We came across a gathering of people outside a house and peered in to find the owners had opened their front window giving the crowd a view of the TV in the living room. It was there we learnt Alexander Vinokourov had won. He rode for Team Astana in le Tour and was one of the riders to watch the Euro 2012 final in the hotel bar with us back in Liege.

I later heard about 1million people turned out to watch the road race. The large turn out would have been partly because it's one of only a handful of free events and also the huge boost cycling has received thanks to Bradley Wiggins' le Tour win.



Back in the city we walked to Hyde Park to visit the live site. Part of Hyde Park has been sectioned off and filled with five huge screens to show various sports. Entry is free although it involved one of the most thorough security checks I've experienced.





Rain was forecast for the weekend, but we didn't see any sign of that while we stretched out on the bark. On top of the live streaming of events, there will also be two performances each day. Tom Jones was originally due to perform on Saturday night, but he was sick so instead we got Will Young, a winner of Britian's Pop Idol series 10 years ago. I was pretty disappointed Tom wasn't singing, even if the first I'd heard of him performing at all was the sentence "Tom Jone's isn't singing anymore". But Will Young was entertaining, certainly enough to have me nearly doubled over in laughing fits. He started the gig in a horrible Hawaiian shirt with the promise of a second outfit later. I thought anything would be an improvement, but I was proved wrong when he stripped down to a white singlet and undies.

With my trip being so last minute I wasn't in a position to get tickets to any events. The only ones left aren't cheap and the release of more tickets after the "seating fiasco" occurred when I was back in Scotland. But being in London was good fun anyway. The Brits have adopted an extremely patriotic approach to the whole event - it's Team GB first, London 2012 second - but just as their enthusiasm in Paris for the last day of le Tour was great fun, it's hard not to get caught up in it here.

As for the city becoming a commuter's nightmare? Not so much. The Tube was perhaps as empty as I've ever seen it. The signage was been improved, although it was pretty good anyway, and you can't look puzzled for more than three seconds before a volunteer asks if they can help. Nicely done, London.

bye bye bobbies

My last day in London. Considering I hadn't been all that fussed whether I came here or not, I'm surprised to find myself sad to be leaving so soon. There is so much I didn't see, but ah well, I'll tick those boxes next year. I'm still find the double-decker buses and red telephone boxes amusing, I resisted the urge to photograph a bobby (they look too cute to be authority figures) and I love the traditional English pubs.

I had to check out today so most of the morning went in getting ready and packing. I left my luggage at the hotel and set off for Hyde Park, which is just down the road. My destination was the Bank of England, which is in the centre, but I figured a bit more walking wouldn't kill me. I managed to get lost in Hyde Park, ending up where I started, but the second try got me where I wanted. It's not really a pretty park, just a big open space. Kensington Gardens, at one end, are lovely, but mostly people were just using the park to walk through. There were some horse riders too, and deck chairs, which I assume will be filled up later in the day. I crossed into Green Park and came out near Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately I managed to arrive there for the changing of the guards, which would have been interesting to see had it not been so damn hot and so crowded. I had a chuckle at the cops on horses though, telling the crowds to 'shooo' out of the way. And onto Downing Street. I was surprised, although I shouldn't have been, to find that there were large security gates at either end of the street. Apparently ít's been that way since 1991. The bobby at the gate pointed out Number 10 so I could get a photo. All the buildings on that side of the street are linked. On the residential floor, the main amenities (bathrooms, kitchen etc) are on either end and the middle is filled up with living and bedrooms. The rooms are then divided up between the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, depending on how many kids they have.

After deciding not to stay for the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, I came across a much more fun event. I walked past the British Household Cavalry building. There are two horse guards on duty there and they change every hour. The new horse walks behind each of the ones standing guard, the old ones come out and walk through the building entrance and the new ones step in. Then there's some saluting and commands before they dismount.

I kept walking to the Strand when time got the better of me and I caught the bus to the Bank of England. My mission here was to change some bank notes from Northern Ireland, which I'd been told the Bank of England could do. Turns out it can't (won't) so I'm still carrying them around since Mum gave them to me.

There is nothing like seeing a familiar face in a strange city so I must thank Sally Murphy for a good catch up today. Sal arrived in London last week and is going through the same 'finding her feet/job hunting' experience I will be next year. We met in Oxford Circus and headed to a nearby pub. Sal's found bar work but is looking for something in her line of work, HR.

Before long I'm carting my luggage through the tube again and onto the bus. I take the front seat, next to Michael from Manchester. Small world...he's also off to Vancouver to work in a few months. He's been in London for an interview with a resort in Canada. Apparently 70% of the applicants for the resort are Australian. It doesn't surprise me...I will probably see more Australians in Canada then I would in Melbourne. Michael's a Manchester United supporter (I've always wanted to meet one and see if they are as crazy as I've heard). This one seemed fairly sane, but did warn that if he had a son who chose to go for Manchester City, they would be disowned. Football alligience is inherited. ''It's in your blood," Michael tells me.

My bus pulls into Carlisle about 12.30am and I've very glad to see Amy and David waiting to take me home...a bed is very much in order!

feeling the love at the lion king

Even as a writer, there are some things I struggle to put into words. The Lion King musical is one of those things. Just minutes into the show I can goosebumps, was sitting on the edge of my seat and had my mouth open in awe. Those who have seen it will know what I'm talking about. Those who haven't, if you ever get the chance: do it!

After a very tiring day yesterday, I gave my feet a much-deserved rest. I only made them walk about 4km to a cinema so I could see the new Harry Potter film. I walked through Hyde Park and discovered what Liva meant when she said it was just a big field that people walked through. I came out of the park near Notting Hill. I did keep my eyes open for the house with the blue door, but didn't see it. I wasn't really up for having a big walk around to find it so I stuck to the main street. One of the benefits of not doing the 'touristy' things is it gets me out of the way a bit. The walk through Notting Hill to Shephard Bush, where the cinema was, was really lovely. The walk yesterday was just as interesting: from the shopping streets of Oxford and Regent, the high-end shops on Bond St, the theatres near The Strand and Leicester Square, the dodgy areas near Whitechapel and Old Kent Rd. It gave me a good look at the city and not just the usual areas.

I made it to the complex with plenty of time to spare so I went off in search of lunch. I decided I should try an English favourite: fish and chips. There is a New Zealand girl in my room and I resisted temptation to make her say it. Although I laughed when she said her mum was wearing 'sucks' with her sandles.
I found a little pub and enjoy the fish and chips (and mushy green peas...odd invention there). Then it was off to Harry Potter. I've been in France and Spain since it came out and didn't want to see it with subtitles so have waited until now. It was rather fun to see it in London, especially after visiting platform 9 3/4.

I caught the tube back to the hostel, had dinner, changed and set out for the theatre. I won't give too much away for those who haven't seen it and might, but the show was incredible. There's a reason you hear so many good things about it. Although I was high up in the Grand Circle, I still had a good view. It was a little hard not to sing along actually, but I refrained.

The show finished at 10pm, so I walked back to the tube and headed home. The area near the theatre was very much alive though. The blocks around the Strand and Leicester Square have theatres everywhere, and there are some really random ones. Legally Blonde the musical? Apparently it's quite good.

monopoly fun in london

I have two blisters on the soles of my feets, I'm sunburnt and exhausted. But it was worth it. If you think playing Monopoly takes a long time, I will tell you this my friend. I has got nothing on walking it! It took all day and I covered 30km. I'm not exaggerating, i just put the route into Map My Run and it's just over 30km. No wonder my feet are killing me.

A lot of people have asked me why I wanted to visit all the places on the Monopoly Board. I don't really have an answer, but why does anyone want to go anywhere when they travel? Usually they know of a place and figure they may as well go see it. I guess that's what it was in this case.

If I could have dinner with anyone it would be Victor Watson and Marjory Phillips. They are the people who scouted locations in London for the UK version. I would like to know why on earth they picked places so far apart.

I started at Marylebone Station, which wasn't too far from the hostel. Then it was a bit of a walk to Oxford St but there are quite a few near there. I spent a while weaving around the streets getting to each stop. There was a fountain at Trafalgar Square so I rested my weary feet in that for a while. I'd only visited five spots by then and I was already exhausted. Also my thongs on my feet have NEVER hurt me before so it was annoying that they chose today to start. My route involved a little backtracking: Park Lane was a little on it's own and it took a while to find a sign to photograph even though I was on the street. Mayfair is also now more of an area than a street but I found a Mayfair Place so that will do. Back along Piccadilly I found a lot in one hit: Pall Mall, Whitehall, Northumberland Ave, The Strand, Trafalger Square were all really close. As were Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Coventry St and Regent St. Then it was a bit of doubling back (after some lunch) to Fleet St. The walk to Bow St was fun though. It took me past the theatre for the Lion King. The booking office was open so I thought I'd try my luck. The website I'd looked at for cheap tickets showed no performances while I was in London but the poster out the front said there should be one on Tuesday night. There is no performance on a Monday and I wouldn't make the Wednesday matinee before my bus so it was Tuesday or nothing. Turns out Tuesday night is sold out...well now it is. I got the last ticket. I could have hugged the ticket lady. Feeling a bit perked up I continued on...to Drury Lane. Now I know it's not on the board, and I found it by accident. I didn't even know it was a real place. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, you need to see Shrek and listen out for the muffin man.

And it was back onto Fleet St and then a BIG hike up to Kings Cross Station (Euston Rd and Pentonville Rd are on either side of the station so it was a worthwhile walk). Near the station there were a few people gathered around a brick thing taking photos. What's that I thought? Turns out they've set up a little mini platform...platorm 9 3/4. If you don't get it...watch Harry Potter. I couldn't resist so I asked a girl to take my photo while I pushed the trolley through the brick wall.

Next stop, the Angel Islington. This isn't a place but a pub, where apparently the people met to discuss what places should go on the board. To mark the occasion, they put down the Angel. I was in need of a drink so I stopped there for a bit before the next big walk to Liverpool St Station, where I had great difficultly finding a decent sign to photograph. I had a similar problem at Kings Cross. I thought all the stations would have nice big signs like Marylebone did, but nope. That would be too easy.

I have to wonder why some places where chosen. As I walked along Whitechapel Rd looking for a street sign to snap, I ended up in a not so nice area. It seemed to have a large Muslim population but was very run down and there were groups of guys just standing about. I just walked fast, found my sign and walked back. Then to Fenchurch Station for the last stop on this side of the river.

Now Victor and Marjory...all the places are on the same side of the River Thames. Except Old Kent Rd. What is the appeal, I wondered? Was it that it was a good 5km out of my way? Probably. With my feet now ready to either drop off or I would have chopped them off, I walked over the Tower Bridge in search of my last stop. I stopped to by bandaids (my feet were seriously burning by this stage. Every step was agony) and eventually found it. But, again, no sign. I walked for about a kilometre, found a sign, and then had to work out how to get back. I ended up on a bus.

But the day wasn't over yet. On the London forum on Couchsurfing, a girl, Jana, had put a post about celebrating her birthday at a local pub. Why not? Jana is from Germany and in London for an internship and since she couldn't be with her family, decided to open her up her birthday celebration to the CS community. I hopped off the bus and caught a black cab to the pub. I had to chuckle when I was greeted with 'Evenin' Miss, where are you off to?' by the cab driver. It was all so typically english.

We found the pub and I found the CS party with no problem. There ended up being about 20 people from 16 different countries. No one really knew each other, just there for the same reason I was. An excuse to meet some people in a strange city. It turned out to be a really nice night. Jana had a great time and it again made my appreciate how great CS is.

I left about 11.30pm so I could catch the tube home. It stops just after midnight and while the others were saying I would be able to catch a bus, it just might take a few hours, I didn't think it was a wise idea to be roaming the streets in the early morning trying to get home.

au revoir paris, evenin' london

Despite the fact that there is a train that goes to Paris to London in about 2.5 hours (and you know how much I love trains), I also love my money more and parting with 120 euros did not sound fun, so instead I hopped on the bus. It was easy to get to from Kamel's place but I still like to have lots of time up my sleeve. The bus was at 11am but I was at the station before 10am.

I'd had a late night watching more Entourage so I slept a little when I got on the bus. There was an Australian couple in front of me who put their seats back. There wasn't much room to begin with so the Latvian girl sitting next to me and I were sitting pretty snuggly. The guy in front to me pushed his seat back even more later so I couldn't even put my feet on the ground. I retaliated by giving it a good push rather frequently while I pretended to be asleep everytime he complained to his wife and she looked around. They both eventually got the hint and Liva and I could move again.

At the UK border we had to get off twice. Once to show our passport to the French officials, and 100m up the road to do it all again for the UK officials. I have to admit, it was refreshing when I got to the UK check to be able to have a chat to the official. Conversations like that were rare in France and Spain because of the language barrier. We then had a long wait at the entrance to the chunnel, which gave Liva and I plenty of time to chat. She grew up in Latvia but her family moved to Spain three years ago. Liva has been living in London for the past year and is about to start studying. Her boyfriend lives in Paris so she goes there quite frequently. It was great to have someone to give me some tips about London. She was also quite amused at the things that excited me - such as the chunnel. Having not given it much thought before, I had assumed it was a tunnel we would drive through and was amazed when Liva said it would take about 40 minutes. Hmmm, not quite Megan. For those who don't know either, it's a huge line of train carriages and the cars (and buses and everything else) go inside them.

Meeting people ís one of the things I love about travelling, and Liva was no exception. Part of it is learning about different places and cultures, and the other part is learning that a lot of things aren't so different...especially people. Liva and I grew up in completely different countries (compare East Europe to Australia and see how many similarities you find) but at the end of the day, we're both young women and there are a lot of similarities there, from TV shows we enjoy to our opinions on travel, education and relationships. Again I was blown away by language skills. Liva's English was basically perfect. Her eight-year-old sister speaks Latvian and English, has picked up Spanish while the family has been living in Spain and will soon start learning French in school. Foreign languages are taught in Australian schools, but it seems to be for interests sake than any practical purpose. It really puts us at a bit of a disadvantage in a global sense. Not because we need to speak another language, but because I think it would help us connect with other countries a bit better. Help us understand them more. I have seen a lot of people who simply expect everyone to speak English. A French tourist in Australia would never expect a waitress to speak French, so why do we expect English everywhere when we travel?

Our bus arrived about 7pm and it wasn't hard to find a tube station and get on the line to my hostel. The line I first looked for was out for a month, but I found another way of getting there. Liva had suggested getting a day pass for the tube, as it's £4 for a single trip or £7 for unlimited rides in a day. It's very handy to have a bit of inside information like that.

My new hostel, Equity Point, is above Hyde Park but close to the tube. I'm in an 8-bed dorm but six of the beds are in one area and the other two are on a landing overlooking the rest of the room. Guess which area I scored? That's right, I'm up the top. There isn't anyone else in the other bed so I have quite a big area to myself, and my own bathroom. Very nice for £20 a night. I've heard some shocking stories about London hostels: 20 beds in one room, one shower to service an entire floor etc, but I've definitely lucked out here.

I cook some tea (my packet of pasta and pot of pesto is going a long way) and catch up on some washing before bed. Oh, and I also mapped out my journey for the following day...