In and around Olympic Park
Sept 4, 2012 11:04:15 GMT
Post by patricklondon on Sept 4, 2012 11:04:15 GMT
Like a lot of Londoners, I was a bit sceptical about the Olympics, though excited by the thought of something (anything) being done to improve the area, which I had seen from a walk along the Greenway when I first moved to east London. It really was just a mixture of small anonymous factories and workshops with scrapyards, used tyre dumps and reputedly Europe's biggest fridge mountain, watched over by a series of electricity pylons.
As the enthusiasm around the torch relay finally touched London, we started to see the spread of large quantities of shocking pink direction signs for all things Olympic at the various interchange and destination points across London, and volunteers in similarly stand-out colours ready to help with information and advice - here at my local tube station:
By now, it was too late to get tickets even just to get into the Park (except at ridiculous prices), but it was at least possible to look over into the Park from the John Lewis department store in the new shopping centre that was the commercial "anchor" for the larger regeneration project around the Games.
Stratford station had for some time been expanding as a major transport and commercial hub for east London, but the Olympics gave it a major push:
Crowds were starting to pour from the station, up on to the bridge over the railway tracks (that dull view shut out by panels showing some of the many torchbearers and explaining why they'd been selected, with a focus on the young) and on through the shopping centre towards the Olympic Park:
Up on the third floor of John Lewis, a small charity donation took you past a Lego model of the stadium
and into the space that overlooks the Park - but also all the service areas, security check tents and the like along the edge of the Park, which were hardly photogenic. Just a glimpse then, of the crowds streaming past the Aquatic Centre, just as in the original planners' mock-up pictures:
So when, eventually, the organisers released a lot more tickets for the Paralympics, I braved the booking website and managed to get one for the day after the opening ceremony, for day access to the Park only (not inside the actual events).
I arrived early, and since the weather was at best iffy, casual strollers were few and far between (though the noise from the Aquatic Centre suggested a very vocal capacity crowd). Plenty of volunteers were on hand to guide visitors and spread them out into the many different channelled routes through check-in and security (far more and far easier than at many airports):
with buggies available on the other side for people needing a hand to get around:
and entertainers waiting to greet everyone (one bunch singing "Good morning!" from - ahem - "Singing in the Rain"):
With so much circulation space space left relatively unoccupied in the dismal early weather, it was the architectural shapes that impressed first - the "tail" of the Aquatic Centre against the curves of the Orbit Tower, the swooping curves of the Velodrome and its access paths, the turreted security tents outside the equally pointy Basketball Arena:
It was all beginning to feel a little reminiscent of huge, windswept and rather inhuman Soviet-style squares and processional routes; but there were plenty of different styles of refreshment booths and mobile hawkers, staffed by mostly cheery people:
and then, as I sat watching the clouds and hoping the occasional spots of rain wouldn't dilute my coffee, some more entertainers appeared to perform a vaguely Esther Williams routine around the tables, prompting some to join in:
Off they "swam" as the sun began to break through the clouds, and the mirrored portal of the Basketball Arena came into its own:
![]()
farm9.staticflickr.com/8182/7920373308_78fd7f92d6_c_d.jpg [/img]
By now the public spaces were starting to fill with people and to look more lively:
Now one began to see the Park more as a park:
![]()
farm9.staticflickr.com/8307/7920361352_4eb0671af3_c_d.jpg [/img]
People were congregating around the giant open-air TV screen:
and a stroll along the waterways through the Park was almost a game of hide-and-seek as it became clear how, in time, the massive buildings (those that remain) will seem hidden among the greenery:
There are also smaller gardens within the Park, in one of which you could try your hand - in case you were wondering when I would get round to actually mentioning the games - at a basic game for the visually impaired:
Paralympic games for the visually impaired sound pretty demanding - try looking up goalball and football for the visually impaired (or for any information about the Paralympic sports, how it all works and what the action looks like) at:
www.london2012.com/paralympics/sports/
www.youtube.com/user/ParalympicSportTV
Nor is that all. The organisers have scattered various artworks around the park. What caught my eye were these deconstructed red phone boxes where, if you look closely, you can see an added text on the history of the site:
and a cascade of words under one of the canal bridges - there's a much better video of it than I could take, at:
and if you want to know more about the artworks, they're all explained at
www.london2012.com/spectators/venues/olympic-park/art-in-the-park/
As the enthusiasm around the torch relay finally touched London, we started to see the spread of large quantities of shocking pink direction signs for all things Olympic at the various interchange and destination points across London, and volunteers in similarly stand-out colours ready to help with information and advice - here at my local tube station:
By now, it was too late to get tickets even just to get into the Park (except at ridiculous prices), but it was at least possible to look over into the Park from the John Lewis department store in the new shopping centre that was the commercial "anchor" for the larger regeneration project around the Games.
Stratford station had for some time been expanding as a major transport and commercial hub for east London, but the Olympics gave it a major push:
Crowds were starting to pour from the station, up on to the bridge over the railway tracks (that dull view shut out by panels showing some of the many torchbearers and explaining why they'd been selected, with a focus on the young) and on through the shopping centre towards the Olympic Park:
Up on the third floor of John Lewis, a small charity donation took you past a Lego model of the stadium
and into the space that overlooks the Park - but also all the service areas, security check tents and the like along the edge of the Park, which were hardly photogenic. Just a glimpse then, of the crowds streaming past the Aquatic Centre, just as in the original planners' mock-up pictures:
So when, eventually, the organisers released a lot more tickets for the Paralympics, I braved the booking website and managed to get one for the day after the opening ceremony, for day access to the Park only (not inside the actual events).
I arrived early, and since the weather was at best iffy, casual strollers were few and far between (though the noise from the Aquatic Centre suggested a very vocal capacity crowd). Plenty of volunteers were on hand to guide visitors and spread them out into the many different channelled routes through check-in and security (far more and far easier than at many airports):
with buggies available on the other side for people needing a hand to get around:
and entertainers waiting to greet everyone (one bunch singing "Good morning!" from - ahem - "Singing in the Rain"):
With so much circulation space space left relatively unoccupied in the dismal early weather, it was the architectural shapes that impressed first - the "tail" of the Aquatic Centre against the curves of the Orbit Tower, the swooping curves of the Velodrome and its access paths, the turreted security tents outside the equally pointy Basketball Arena:
It was all beginning to feel a little reminiscent of huge, windswept and rather inhuman Soviet-style squares and processional routes; but there were plenty of different styles of refreshment booths and mobile hawkers, staffed by mostly cheery people:
and then, as I sat watching the clouds and hoping the occasional spots of rain wouldn't dilute my coffee, some more entertainers appeared to perform a vaguely Esther Williams routine around the tables, prompting some to join in:
Off they "swam" as the sun began to break through the clouds, and the mirrored portal of the Basketball Arena came into its own:
By now the public spaces were starting to fill with people and to look more lively:
Now one began to see the Park more as a park:
People were congregating around the giant open-air TV screen:
and a stroll along the waterways through the Park was almost a game of hide-and-seek as it became clear how, in time, the massive buildings (those that remain) will seem hidden among the greenery:
There are also smaller gardens within the Park, in one of which you could try your hand - in case you were wondering when I would get round to actually mentioning the games - at a basic game for the visually impaired:
Paralympic games for the visually impaired sound pretty demanding - try looking up goalball and football for the visually impaired (or for any information about the Paralympic sports, how it all works and what the action looks like) at:
www.london2012.com/paralympics/sports/
www.youtube.com/user/ParalympicSportTV
Nor is that all. The organisers have scattered various artworks around the park. What caught my eye were these deconstructed red phone boxes where, if you look closely, you can see an added text on the history of the site:
and a cascade of words under one of the canal bridges - there's a much better video of it than I could take, at:
and if you want to know more about the artworks, they're all explained at
www.london2012.com/spectators/venues/olympic-park/art-in-the-park/
