Museum Visit- London Museum

Often overlooked by tourists, the London Museum is one of the city's real treasures.  Currently showing is the cauldron from the 2012 Olympics.  Seeing it up close it really is spectacular.  And HUGE.

Museum Visit - Walsh Trainers

Do you have any of these trainers sitting in your closet? I bet some of you do.

British made Walsh Trainers is an exhibition currently showing at the Fashion and Textile Museum.  The inspiring story of Norman Walsh who began his career making shoes at age fourteen back in 1945 with photographs, correspondence and brochures, plus an extensive collection of vintage shoes are on display.  In 1948 he fitted out the Olympic team with one pair of Walsh's shoes earning their wearer a gold medal.

Exhibition runs until 17 May

Rock Climbing

A castle and rock climbing?  What a surprise. Wandering around Hackney I stumbled upon a castle and went to investigate. The entire interior is rock climbing walls.  There are walls for the complete novice and walls for the truly ambitious.  They also run courses.  I liked the sound of the women with altitude course. 
 Enthusiasts of the sport are pushing to get it into the 2020 Olympics.

Gossip

Plenty to chat about and plenty to do this weekend.
The annual Mayor's Thames festival marking the end of summer with festivities all weekend culminating in the parade and fireworks display on Sunday evening.
The Africa Express - a collective of African and Western musicians will be playing at Granary Square in Kings Cross.
The last day of the Paralympics today, however you can cheer and celebrate the athletes on Monday as 800 athletes from Our Greatest Team, a combination of Team GB and Paralympics GB, will take part in a parade through central London to celebrate their achievements at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

And the weather promises to be sunny and hot all weekend!

Punk Mandeville

Wenlock and Mandeville were created as offical mascots for the Olympic games. Wenlock for the Olympics and Mandeville for the Para Olympics. They have their own webpage.

There are dozens and dozens of the mascots around the city. Mandeville has 25,000 internet friends and comes into his own now when the Paralympic start next week. I can't help but think this punk version looks like Boris Johnson ... might be the hair!

Paleys Upon Pilers

Commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects for the Olympic Games, the structure "Paleys Upon Pilers" (palace on pillars) marks the place in Aldgate where Chaucer lived from 1374 to 1386. During this time he wrote "the parliament of fowls" and "the house of fame", both incredibly long poems of his dreams that have visions of temples sitting over strange landscapes. If only he could see what now sits where he onced lived.

PS ... don't you love the grandiose titles the English have bestowed upon their "companies" down through time.

The Next Party

The Olympics have finished and the athletes are all on their way home. Although I hope some do decide to stay a bit longer and see the rest of the country.
We're now preparing for our next big party next month, the Para Olympics. A number of events are planned to mark the arrival of these games.
Here a group of able-bodied kids are learning the rules and skills of one of the sports we will be watching, wheelchair basketball.

Winter Olympics

The Russians had planned a winter wonderland at Marble Arch to promote the winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. When the local authorities realised the size of the proposed fun park, permission was denied. This is what now stands at Marble Arch.
I do believe an alternative plan of a grand summer festival-style fun park, to be held at Perks Field in Kensington, packed with Russian culture was agreed upon it.

Mr Thailand

Mr Thailand, as he called himself, is here to support the boxing. Fingers crossed the match this afternoon goes well. He will be happy that Thailand has a silver medal in weightlifting and a bronze in taekwondo.

Olympic Houses - Ireland

The Irish House is at the Big Chill in Kings Cross. It's Ireland so there is dancing and fun for all ages, with all the usual Irish fare.

Olympic Houses - Czech

Flexing muscles a giant red bus does press ups at the entrance of the Czech House at Angel Islington. It must be even more fun inside judging from the queues every day. I still haven't made it inside to report back.

Olympic Houses - Denmark

The entire Olympic Village in leggo.

Olympic Houses - Switzerland

During the Olympic games many countries have set up hospitality houses, several are open to the public. I've decided to visit as many as possible and bring to you the atmosphere of the Olympics that you wont be shown on the tv.
The House of Switzerland is located in and around the Glaziers Hall, near London Bridge, and this weekend they are holding the Bernese Games.

This is the sport of "Schwingen" a type of folk wrestling originating in the 17th century. The contestants are only allowed to grab each other by the funny breeches they are wearing to try and throw their opponent to the ground.
They also have cheese rolling (of course), horn blowing, stone putting and discus throwing, and for the kids they have rock climbing. If you are in London pop down there, it's a lot of fun.

Alternative Games

Practising for a new Olympic sport. We're aiming for this to be one of the main events for the Rio Games in 2016.

The Fans

Enthusiastic fans are all around London at present. Their euphoria rubs off, its great to see so many jolly people on the streets and public transport.

The Women's Cycling

The women's cycling on Sunday was a thrilling race. Here are the three medalists in the order they crossed the finishing line. Marianne Vos of the Netherlands won the gold, Lizzie Armistead the silver, and winning Great Britain's first medal of the game. The bronze went to Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia. The weather was not great with heavy rain, and many riders just had bad luck with so many punctures and several tumbles. It was a hard race, a well deserved win for these three.

The Volunteers

A large part of making the Olympics successful is due to the work of the volunteers. Thousands of them all over the city are doing little things to help visitors find their way around, answering their queries, and generaly making them feel welcome. Shirley and Harry are a husband and wife team who work for Network Rail. They and their colleagues will work 19 days as volunteers during the period of the games. Yesterday, volunteers were handing out bottles of water and ice-creams. They took care of your rubbish (all the rubbish bins are gone for security purposes) helped visitors find the right train or onward connection. All this with a cheery smile. A big cheer to all the volunteers.

The Party Begins

As the torch made its way through London yesterday so did accompanying entertainment. This morning at 08:12 bells will ring throughout the country. Olympic fever is high. The party begins.

The Olympic Torch Arrives in London

The Olympic torch has arrived in London. It began its tour this morning leaving Camden at 6:48am weaving its way towards Kings Cross where it arrived by barge along Regents Canal stopping at the steps to Granary Square. For this section the torch bearer was Paris Walker. As she stepped off the barge she was welcomed by a choir of young singers and showered with sparkling ticker tape. The torch was passed on to the next runner at the top of the stairs and left for St Pancras Station. It will continue on around the city arriving at Hyde Park around 4:30pm this afternoon.

Although the majority were delighted others aren't so enamoured with the Olympics.

Cyclists During the Olympics

Walk or cycle, don't take public transport during the Olympics, is what Transport for London (TFL) officials are urging us, as part of the plans to ease congestion during the Olympics.

New Olympic lanes are now in use and hundreds of traffic light phase changes have created even more congestion in the remaining lanes. In central London 30 miles of road have been reserved for athletes, families and sponsors. Cyclists are banned from using these lanes and will incur a £130 fine if caught using them.
In London nine cyclists have lost their lives this year. Injuries have increased by 13%. Cyclists are understandably upset at both being encouraged to cycle more and yet put themselves in more danger.
TFL how about more dedicated cycle lanes with fines for vehicles for using them.