Prior to the successful bid for the 2012 games, the area around the Olympic Village was kind of dodgy and forgotten. Now with the games about to begin, the area has undergone a major transition and will hopefully revive what was a depressed area well after the conclusion of the games.
We started our tour at the West Ham tube station (and started the day off with a little grape juice that had fermented). I had never traveled that far out of London before. It is in Zone 3. Our tour guide was a "Blue Badge" (which means she really knew her stuff) named Kim, who wore bright green nail polish and bright green Doc Martin shoes. She was very informative and honest, covering both the good and the bad surrounding the upcoming games.
She talked about not only the wonderful and positive events surrounding the Olympic Games, but she also hit on the criticisms and the realities of hosting a major world sporting event in London at a time when the British economy was very fragile.
The area around West Ham was made up mainly of run down council housing and derelict warehouses. Some of the buildings are still there.
This is the old sewage pumping system that has long since been abandoned from the Victorian era. It now serves as an exterior location for movies, most notable the Gotham City Asylum for the Criminally Insane in the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight.
As we continued along our industrial path towards the village, we came upon a unique Sun Dial and given that there was actually a little sun in London that day, it worked just fine. You placed your feet over the spot where the current month was written on the ground and the shadow from your body would tell you the time. Here it was about 2pm, as indicated by this little Costa Rican boy.
We learned that as the buildings in this area were demolished to make way for the new Olympic Venue's, something like 95% of the material was recycled and used in the current construction. In fact, in the Sun Dial picture above, the little white flecks on the ground are actually pieces of porcelain tiles from demolished bathrooms that were used in making the new walking trails.
As we approached Bromley-by-Bow, we took the new DLR (Dock Land Rail) service over to Stratford and the Olympic Village. Prior to the winning of the bid, there was only one transport station in this part of London, and now it is the most connected area of town.
All of the Olympic housing for the athletes will be renovated after the games and will become permanent housing. Fifty percent will sell on the local market and the other fifty percent will be council housing (public housing). Moving the people into council housing here will permit the older run down council housing to be leveled and replaced with new buildings for homes and offices.
This was about as close as we could get to the Olympic Stadium. The big red eye sore behind the stadium is the Observation tower. It was privately funded by a single individual and cost £9 million.
The security fences are already up in preparation for the games. This will all be taken down afterwards, but for the time being this was as close as we could get. Security will be very tight. It will be akin to airport security, and no liquids will be permitted inside. Spectators can bring empty bottles and free drinking water will be provided by Coca-Cola.
The tour concluded at the John Lewis center, adjacent to the Olympic Village and we made our way to the third floor of the department store where they have an observation room to see a better view of the stadium. I stopped and posed with a stuffed version of Mandeville, one of the Olympic mascots. My honorary nephew Matthew D. is big fan.
The John Lewis center is a massive retail complex and the main floor is nothing but a big food hall with all sorts of interesting eateries. I was instantly drawn to the cupcakes.
Melissa and I settled down for a post tour drink at a little pub called the Tap East. I tried a fruity beer called Liefmans, while she opted for a Scottish brew called Schiehallion.
We ended up sitting next to some very talkative and friendly Indian Sikhs, who were also drug dealers, as they offered to sell me some pot. They were interesting to talk to, because they grew up in the area and have witnessed the transformation from a dodgy and forgotten part of town to a modern (and expensive) neighborhood. I wish I would have gotten a picture of them. They didn't wear the turbans, but they were covered in tattoos.
After our drinks, Melissa and I made our way back to town and the area around the Tower of London, to meet up with my friend Sharon, who was over in London with some friends on a tour. It had rained a little on our way and afterwards there was a lovely rainbow extending into the tower.
You can't really see them, but at the very top of the Tower bridge, there are the Olympic Rings. The rings extend down from time to time.
After dinner, Sharon and her friends Susie and Camille walked with us back to the Tower Hill tube station. We got them set up with Oyster cards and they were going to ride with us part of the way. They got off at Westminster to try and see if they could get on the London Eye (the big Ferris Wheel). For Susie and Camille it was their first tube ride in London!
Melissa and I also decided it was time for a lanyard update. We purchased the new blue lanyards for our ID's because the old neon orange ones we had from last fall were "last season". We try to stay trendy. Below you have the old lanyards as seen from this October 2011 photo.
And here we have the new lanyards. Quite an improvement I would say.
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