Wednesday 1 August 2012

Flowers and flags

This way please - awesome volunteers
Olympic Park over there -->

We've had two incredible days in the Olympic Park so far this week, watching inspiring sport in person and on the big screens, soaking up the festival-like atmosphere and pinching ourselves that this day has finally come.

But from two days of amazing memories, what I shall remember most are the flowers and the flags.

  Olympic flowers

Wet poppy

Red hot pokers

Flowers and stadium

The Park is full of flowers - great banks of them rising up from all the waterways that wind around the stadium.  Olivia and I spent hours taking photos, trying each time to get that perfect shot.


Olympic flower meadows

So many other visitors were taking photos too.  I chatted to people with cameras who had come from Australia, the Netherlands and the USA to be at the Olympics.  Everyone exclaimed over the beauty of the flowers before they discussed the sport.

Many of these people were wrapped in flags, or dressed in national colours.  We had come with our giant Union Jack, and Cam also bought a Brazilian flag when he discovered that Brazil was one of the teams playing in the handball session we had tickets for.

The ENORMOUS McCarthy Coronation flag
Olivia, Cam and Graham with our enormous Union Jack

Cam supports Brazil
Cam turns Brazilian for the day
Olivia and I spotted a great many sweet, fat babies in patriotic babygros and one charming toddler wearing stars-and-stripes tights.  We learnt what Montenegro's flag looks like (red, with a magnificent double-headed eagle and shield in the centre), we admired the Dutch people's wholly enthusiastic approach to wearing bright orange curly wigs, and we argued over which flag was which for France, Russia, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Olympic flags and flowers. A riot of colour and a feast for the senses.

Cam and Graham
Cam and Graham, with flag cloaks

Livvy photographs flowers
Olivia and her macro button

4 comments:

  1. The flowers are spectacular and their colours seem to reflect all the different national flags.

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  2. I can sense you are having a wonderful time Nancy! Who would imagine that all those lovely flowers would be planted around the park. Beautiful! I'm not naturally a sporty person but I have turned the dining table into a table tennis table for the duration of the summer and I am being converted to watching beach volleyball with my husband and son!

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  3. all those flowers. just love them!

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  4. We went on Sunday - the flowers took me by surprise, they were magnificent. Did you find the word fountain under the bridge? It was a lovely surprise. The volunteers made my day, they were so helpful, excited and happy. I was also touched by how many people had made an effort to wear the colours of their countries flag, people spotting was great fun. Good luck to Cam in the closing ceremony. x

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