Had my final visit and reccy of the Olympic Park yesterday, wow amazing scenery and colossal changes since I was there previously, back in February for the test event!
I arrived onto the perimeter of the Olympic Park, only to be met by the armed forces who where doing all the security checks prior to anyone entering the Park. This was quite a daunting feeling, but I guess this extreme style of security is needed to ensure a safe games time experience for all involved. I entered through the security style check-in, was body searched, collected my bag and made my way across the Park. Wow - amazing changes since my last visit, new signage now visible, lots of merchandise stalls, food outlets, fantastic sculptures and great views from all the magnificent landscaping.
This is what I was met with when I entered onto the Olympic Park:
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Stratford Gate - one of five entrances to the Olympic Park.
The expected foot fall from this entrance alone is likely to be approimately 20,000.
Just a few spectators then! |
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| The amazing Olympic Stadium, awaiting it's public for the opening ceremony! |
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| The awesome towering Orbit structure! |
The Olympic Park looked absolutely amazing, desolate, quiet, almost spooky like, with only a few volunteers walking around. Quite surreal to be honest, I had to stop myself from wondering all over and focus on the job in hand. This would be the only time I'll ever get to experience the beauty and silence of the Olympic Park, what a great feeling!
I made my way around to the Aquatics Centre, again this had changed so much since I did the test event, most changes being cosmetic. From the outside this gigantic structure looked amazing:
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| The Aquatics Centre - almost front on |
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| Directly outside the Aquatics Centre, think the Olympics are coming!!! |
I made my way inside and spent the next three hours orientating myself within the venue. For security reasons and I am unable to report on exactly what we did as most of it involved back of house training. I can tell you one thing, as the volunteers entered the building and made their way to the appropriate seating, the video of when we won the bid for the Olympics, all those years ago, was playing on plasma screens. Wow, mega goose bump time! Each and every volunteer was glued to the screens and I could tell from their facial expressions that they where as excited as me, the games will begin in under three weeks. What an exciting and frightening feeling.
I did however get the opportunity to climb to the very top of the Aquatics Centre during orientation. Again, I will never have the opportunity to do this. The view was amazing, the sides sloped very steep and took a while to reach the top. The structure had been designed in such a way, that no matter which part of the seating you are sat in you are guaranteed a fantastic view. This was certainly the case, check out the views below:
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| Just a few steps to climb! |
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| Looking down towards the main pool |
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| A birds eye view - amazing!!! |
Well, in just under three weeks I will be back on the Olympic Park for my first shift. The seems quite surreal, but I guess it'll hit me on the day :)
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