I only got in there 1 hr or so before the handball game, playing in the ‘Copper Box’, but it was barely enough time to walk there from the entrance of the park. The whole premises had 6 or 7 venues interconnected by a series of wide walkways, bridges, and gardens full of wildflowers. In the distance, the pompidue-esque olympic buildings were strikingly extra-terrestrial shapes against the blue sky. One of the most bizzare statue-like building was something called the “Orbit” which was crafted by a modern artist and in my opinion kind of looked like a regurgitated corkscrew… appearing more bizzare than attractive. This “building” rose above all of the venues and offered ticketed spectators a spectacular view of the whole park, including the millions of people swarming around in all directions below. I myself didn’t go up the structure, but had heard accounts of this spectacle.
Also in the park was a huge “mansion de McDonalds” (they must have emptied half the bank to get a spot there!), a megastore for souvenirs, a couple “food carts” (not nearly as delicious and healthy as in Portland), and a large screen in the middle that showcased the athletics events going on in the stadium right nearby.
There was so much more to explore, probably a 45 minute-walk from one end to another if you walked purposely and not as we did initially, just kind of walking all over the place staring around at everything and every one. It was like a sample of the whole world in one place – albeit slightly out of proportion; the Brits presence was clearly obvious given their red – white -blue criss-crossy flag being waved everywhere, even if the teams playing in a game weren’t of that nationality. Off in the distance, the athletes’ dormitories were visible, marked by their national flags in the balcony. There were whole columns of Turkish flags, one or two french, german, and Italian to name a few. The whole area was just buzzing with excitement, smelling of fried fish and chips, coffee and ice cream.
Going into the Handball arena, I felt like I was dreaming, partially from jetlag still affecting me, partially from the sensory over-overload, and probably just plain tired from all the stuff I did the whole week – this was my 6th event of the week. The handball games passed by kind of floatingly.. almost as if it were only my ghost present. I even took a 5 min nap on my arm between two of the games. For the second game: Danish vs. French: most of the stadium became more and more empty so we snuck from the seats at the top where we were almost hitting our heads against the steel ceiling, to a couple seats 3 rows from the court. Although we left early to get into the megastore, the experience from those seats were definitely worth a whole lot more – we could literally be in the action, hear the athletes yell in their respective languages (though the Danes were much much louder.. and also lost by a whole lot), see the brutal way they handled each other to grip at the resin-y handball, and the dives they took to score goals.
Leaving the arena, we could see the whole park was lit up, making the corkscrew-art a little more pretty I suppose, the basketball arena shine in multiple colors, changing wildly as I could imagine Kobe did a slam-dunk, fans yelling wildly.
Out of all of this, however, the most intersting part of the park was hidden underneath a bridge. Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera (hence the reason for this lengthy post.. I had to write in words). This hidden gem was essentially 6 “water printers” they were attached to the underside of the bridge, and “printed” words such as “Change”, “Beckham”, “America”, “Worth”, seemingly randomly.. using water as the medium, so the word was visible in perfect proportion for a split second before it deformed due to the effect of gravity. Could they have programmed it the other way, I ponder, so that the word would come to perfect proportion right before it got swallowed by the river below? Lights shining up the words made the dropplets sparkle, causing a near-hypnotic effect until you realized that you’re trying to read the words as they fall, your eyes darting from one to the other, and within a minute, you’ve got a headache from the eye strain.. at least I did. Maybe would have been less painful through the lens of a camera.
As we exited the park, it looked like the party was far from over – a pub in the newly built mall by the Olympic park was exploding with people, enjoying the last of their evening before the upcoming Monday, and for some of us, a super early flight back to the USA.
London, au revoir!