TOUR OF THE LONDON OLYMPIC SITES
THURSDAY 10 MAY 2012
PRICE £36 MEMBERS £33.50
(Includes morning tea/coffee and carvery lunch)
Come and enjoy a moment in history and see the tremendous scale of developments that have transformed neglected areas of London into a series of world class venues for 2012. Come July four billion people will be looking at the London we are going to show you today.
On this Tour our group sits together for morning coffee & biscuits and a delicious carvery lunch both included in the price.
We meet our guide and drive over to the Lower Lee Valley to the delightfully named Pudding Mill & Fish Island for a short walk up to the viewing point for the Olympic Park. The scale of this project is truly breathtaking. If you scan your friends faces at this point you’ll see plenty of grins – and they will be of the rare-as-hens-teeth proud to be British variety! Is it just me or is the Olympic Park starting to look a bit Festival of Britain 1951? The vast Olympic Stadium is complete – a floating blancmange held in a cradle of steel. Nearby we see the Aquatic Centre, the “marshmallow” Basketball Arena and the delicious Aquatic Centre with its butterfly fairy cake roof. You’ll also see the quite extraordinary Orbit, a helter skelter of red steel, like something drawn with your left hand. This is Britain’s largest piece of public art and was designed by Anish Kapoor. Oh and did I say there is a massive shopping centre that’ll knock Bluewater into a cocked hat? This is a day out that we are going to talk about for a long time to come. A real eye opener.
You’ll also hear the entertaining story of the first two London Olympics of 1908 and 1948, both arranged on a strict budget and both meant to engender goodwill to all men but managing to create international uproar all the same. Then it’s back to Stratford for a tasty carvery or vegetarian lunch. You can buy bar drinks, hot drinks and desserts, if you wish, on accompany your lunch.
In the afternoon we begin with a drive through the changing landscape of the Royal Docks where you’ll see ExCel which has needed no further construction work to host the Boxing, Judo, Weightlifting, Wrestling & Taekwondo. You’ll see the old Millennium Dome, now re-named The O2. For 2012 it will be temporarily re-named the North Greenwich Arena, as the O2 mobile company aren’t an official sponsor of the Games, the events being held here include the rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and the basketball final.
Then we cross the Thames for an interesting little drive out to see the longest parade ground in the world over at the Woolwich Barracks where shooting events will be held. Finally we stop inside the historic Woolwich Arsenal where cups of tea may be bought to round off an exciting day before heading for home by 4-45pm.
As ever we keep walking to a minimum, there is a walk of approximately 500 yards, some of it gently uphill, to the Olympic Park viewing point. But on this day we neither underestimate your minds nor overestimate your legs.
Leave Ardleigh House at 9.45am
Return to Ardleigh House about 6pm
TO BOOK THIS TOUR TELEPHONE 01708 440660
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