The last few months have been pretty busy for me. Besides coming to grips with the fact my son can now crawl, I spent two weeks in October visiting London, England for work.
A must-do for me on this visit was a tour of the site of next summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games. After doing a bit of research my wife and I booked an Olympic walking tour with London’s famous Blue Badge guides which set off from the Bromley-by-the-Bow Underground station in East London.
Historically an industrial part of the city, East London isn’t an area most tourists would seek out, but with the Olympics coming to the neighbourhood things are changing.
As expected the area is still very much under construction, but the main buildings, including the Olympic Stadium, are done.
The stadium is an impressive structure. With 80,000 seats (to be converted to 25,000 after the Games) it really is the crown jewel of the site, and a great example of how major infrastructure can be build with the environment in mind.
A great example of this is the signature white ring beam which surrounds the Olympic Stadium. During the tour I was surprised to learn it is actually reclaimed pipe from a failed gas project. In total the stadium is projected to include 42 percent recycled content.
If you plan a trip to London before next summer (or even after) I highly recommend you make time to visit the site. The organizing committee has done a great job of actually making the site fairly accessible to the public during construction. The ViewTube, as it is dubbed, sits to the south west of the Olympic Stadium and gives a great view of this magnificent structure…. and a perfect spot to take a photo in your Ride the Rideau jersey!
Trevor
PS – I see Ride the Rideau 2012 has already launched!