Field Hockey

View of Olympic Stadium and Orbit

Today, we finally got to go into Olympic Park!  Our previous events have been at various venues located around London so this was an especially exciting day when we got to finally step foot into the Olympic Park.  After a short train ride, we arrived at the stop recommended by everyone Olympic.  It's quite a hike from the train station to the Olympic park--the signs said about 25 minutes to walk.  Dave and I made it in about 15 minutes.  Along the way, we were greeted by friendly volunteers who cheered us on and offered encouragement on our walk.  We walked straight through security with no wait and we were finally in!  The Olympic park is HUGE- one piece of literature said it was the size of 350 football pitches (that's soccer fields for our American audience).  Once in, it said we had about a 25 minute walk to our venue. We wandered around and looked in some of the shops, got some refreshments and then headed over to Riverbank Arena. 

Orbit

One of the two HUGE McDonald's...the official sponsor of the Olympics

Park Live-where you can watch Olympic events on the big screen

Coca-Cola Beat Box-an interactive multi-sensory pavilion

The OLYMPIC RINGS!!!

We didn't watch the first game (which ended up with a score of 0-0), but we were there to root on USA in the second game-Women USA vs. South Africa (RSA).  Unfortunately, USA stunk up the field and lost 7-0 but it was still really fun to watch.  We had amazing seats and the weather could not have been more beautiful. 

The girls warming up

This man shook his inflatable torches the entire game

Team USA

Penalty Corner...4 girls wore helmets and protective gear in the goal with the goalie

This photographer pulled out his "Flat Stanleys" and took a picture

The water cannons watering the field during half-time

I was fascinated by this girls hair and took about 10 pictures of it...

I thought for sure this was going to be the final score...but no RSA scored one more!

After the game, we headed out and grabbed a bite to eat for our walk back to the train station.  We got home after Jack was down for a nap, but when he woke up, I was able to go snuggle with him for about an hour before he wanted to get up and play.

Up next:  Synchronized Swimming Finals tomorrow!