Olympian visit

[rich_jacko]

As I was down in London on Wednesday, I decided to go take a look at the Olympic Park after work. You can't go in, of course, but they do guided walks around the edge and the surrounding area.

The site itself was still covered in building work (51 days to go!). The legacy plans sound, if anything, more impressive than what's there now, which I suppose is as it should be. One thing I slightly despair of is the blatant commercialism - More money and effort seems to have gone into the shopping centre that everyone will have to walk through than into the venues themselves. Still, it was an interesting visit and the regeneration of the area is very impressive. Click the image below for more photos:

Comments

[glitterybint.livejournal.com]

What't the helter-skelter thing in the background?

[mathcathy]

It's an observation tower designed to later be a permanent piece of public art.

[rich-jacko.livejournal.com]

...although it does look like a mangled helter-skelter. I'm slightly sad that there's no slide in it ;o)

[slapperfairy.livejournal.com]

Having seen this in it's early and middle stages of construction (our London flat is not far away) I must confess I'm a little disappointed by the white/grey finish. It reminds me of oh-so-many kitchen appliances. And the aquatics centre looks remarkably like the scanner we have in our office.

But never mind - this is East London! By the time the Olympics are over they'll be covered in creative, colourful grafitti. Or the rooves will be turfed over by some hippies protesting about being evicted from their allotments. I also have high hopes for the installation of a slide in the observation tower. We all thought it - if Boris is lobbied hard enough it'll happen.