With Rwanda under our feet...: 2012

You can't rush a good thing, people say. That's my excuse for waiting 2 months to post this treasure trove of pictures from our wonderful trip to London in early August for the Olympics. The city was pristine, the Olympic spirit was in the air, and thousands of volunteers in bright purple and pink gear were seemingly stationed at every corner to answer questions. That city was dialed in. JB and Pop Pop made a special guest appearance to help us take care of Ryder, and they got in on some Olympic action as well. Thankfully, their rental apartment was only a short 15 minute walk away, over the River Thames. The riverfront was the scene for much of our visit, with no shortage of activities or sights.

Yes, as soon as we saw the Savoy, we knew we'd landed on a good one!

Did I mention that they had a chocolate shop? For some reason, we didn't spend hours each day in this store. That's probably a good thing, though.

The gorgeous 1932 Singer roadster was stationed in the front of the hotel (for us?), so we had a sit and checked out it's dynamic features.

On the dash, the insignia of the '36 Olympics in Berlin. The car was showcased at those games!

One thing high on our list of to-do's was shopping. Coming from landlocked Rwanda, we felt like we were constantly walking in a scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Stores! Shopping! Real cheese! Thousand year old buildings! Whoa.

Our first event of the trip was the Women's beach volleyball medal matches. Sweet. Brazil v. China for the Bronze, then USA v. USA for the gold. Yes, we're so dominant in this one, both of our teams made it to the final match. Below, you can see Ginger talking to our NBC guide, holding the 'lollipop' for the NBC walking groups. Follow the lollipop, and it will lead you to still waters. Located at the Horse Guard's Parade grounds, the temporary volleyball stands filled to capacity. It was a lively, music-filled, action-packed pair of games.

Team Brasil won a hard-fought come from behind victory against China. The game was as tight as their sprayed-on uniforms.

Oh, did I mention that there was a dance team? Every moment of non-volleyball was filled with something - dancing, music, or throwback swimsuits.

The crowd definitely brought their A-game.

Ahhh... my people.

And USA beats USA!

On to the next day, when we made our first of two trips to Olympic Park to see track and field.

A great international crowd on our way into the stadium, and then, walking in...

For our first race of the evening, we witnessed a proud Kenyan, David Rudisha, break his own record for a new World Record in the 800m Men's final. 1:40:91!!

Although we missed the race the day prior, we saw 2 Americans claim their medals for the 110m Hurdles - Aries Merritt for the gold, and Jason Richardson for the silver.

Easily one of the most entertaining corporate branding ideas, the javelin field used 1/20th scale remote-control mini-Coopers to return the javelins (and hammer-throws) back to the starting area. Nice.

All eyes and lenses were on Usian Bolt of Jamaica for the 200m Men's Final that night. One of the best moments was when the entire stadium fell completely silent for the start...then erupted for the race. Chills down the spine!

I told myself I'd only take one picture during the race, so I could watch the rest live. I'm pretty happy with the result!

I love on the close-up below that you can see Bolt eyeing his competition on the jumbotron screen. Don't worry, they ain't gonna catch ya!

Cue the pose...

1-2-3 in the 200m for Jamaica. Dominance!

The next day, we all got together for some fun times at the Southbank area, a 5 min walk away.

The next day, we had our second day at Olympic Park Stadium for some great events. The US Women's 4x100m Relay was nuts. Below is Carmelita Jeter, who's no slouch, as you can clearly see. When they finished first, and the anchor Jeter was at least 10m ahead of everyone, they were as stunned as anyone that they'd shaved a half second off the world record! Nice!

Great seats again for night two.

The crowds were never too bad on the way home, so plenty of space to take some fun shots.

The next day, Ryder took some time at JB and Pop Pop's deck. We got out and did some shopping. I kept seeing so many fantastic old signs hanging over the doors of old restaurants and bars. Besides that, just lots of old hand carved signs and coats of arms. Had to do a little tour of those here.

Yes, it's a pedal-powered bar-car. Classic.

We loved the Tube, obviously, and took it to a great park near the hotel one day. After that, a trip to the pediatrician for a little check up.

Kiddo.

I also got some time one morning to check out St. Paul's Cathedral. They were setting up the street for the marathon coming through, and it was early enough to be deserted.

We had to stop in at the London Eye giant ferris wheel, down at Southbank as well. This thing is awesome - we had great weather for it and could see so much of the city.

The last day we had tickets to the gold medal match of men's basketball. Not too shabby! Great game - close, back and forth until the last 3 min or so. Serious talent down on that floor.

Coach K let's them have it during a timeout!

Even Aahhnold got in on the action, catching the game with London's mayor, Boris Johnson (far right). The picture below of the Russian men's team striding to the medal podium to take their bronze medals is one of my favorites. The different looks on all of these young guys' faces just sums up the Olympics for me.

So does this one (below)

From the US winning the gold in basketball, I caught the NBC bus back to Olympic stadium for the Closing Ceremony. Judy met me there and we witnessed a true spectacle. Just in awe of it all - they seriously knocked it out of the park with the festivities and the tour through Britan's rock history.