I Can Read A Map!!

Wednesday was seriously such a blur!  I got off the airplane around 10am and found my person to take me to the hotel without any problems.  Got checked into the hotel and showered and ready for my experience on the tube.  I have to give ALL the credit to my brother in law Robert for helping me print out directions to and from all my destinations yesterday as well as a map of the tube.  I would NEVER had made it without his help and expertise.

My hotel has an entrance to Victoria station and when I walked into the station I was taken aback.  I felt like I had just walked into a Harry Potter movie.  It was sooo busy and was filled with lots of shops and restaurants, some of which I even recognized.  I knew I would at least have a place to eat every day.  I was able to locate my line right away and off I went.  I had to go get my ticket for opening ceremonies and it was about a 40 minute tube ride away.

Victoria Station just as I walk out from my hotel.  This picture doesn't do it justice!

After getting my ticket I headed to the Olympic Park because I wanted to make sure I got there in plenty of time and I wasn't sure how long it would take and what the lines would be like, etc.  Again, I had smooth tube ride (thanks again Robert!) and arrived without any problems.

By this time it was around 3:30pm and I hadn't eaten anything since the croissant on the plane and was on about 1 1/2 hours of sleep.  I found out the gates didn't open for the ceremonies until 5 pm, so I went into an adjacent mall and found something to eat.  Again I was pleasantly surprised of the familiarity of it all.  After being in China 4 years ago, I guess I assumed everything would be so foreign and I'd be eating McDonald's for all my meals again.  I found a place in the food court called "Tortillas" and it was exactly like Chipotle.  Heaven on Earth!  After that, I found a big over sized chair and crashed for about an hour and a half waiting for the gates to open.

After my cat nap I found another piece of heaven on Earth before leaving the mall.  A pretzel place that makes their pretzel dough right there.  It was delicious!  Got through security and started walking around the Olympic Park.  It is huge and contains buildings for swimming, water polo, basketball, as well as others, including the Olympic Stadium.  They have the Olympic Megastore, which I browsed for a bit.  It's got anything and everything a person could desire with a paralympic/olympic logo on it.

A picture of me for my kiddos-loves to you both!  I was waiting for opening ceremonies to start.

Found my seat for the Opening Ceremonies and from the moment it began,  I could tell it was going to be different from Olympic Opening Ceremonies and for the better.  I was touched right from the beginning as they focused on people overcoming their disabilities.  The message I took from it was to be who you are and be proud of who you are, because one person can make a difference.  What a message we could all learn from!

Right after the torch was lit!

I wasn't able to see Eric in the crowd of US athletes walking in due to my nosebleed location, so I loved seeing that the camera captured him and thanks to Lonnie posting it on Facebook.

A view of the Olympic Stadium as I was walking to West Ham...my tube interchange.

After ceremonies were over at 12:15am, I walked with the masses to my tube pick up location and surprisingly got right on and found a seat.  I knew exactly where I was going, with no transfers and so I became very relaxed.  Too much in fact because I fell asleep, only to wake up as the tube was pulling away from Victoria station--my station!  I got off at the next stop, but because it was 1am, the return track wasn't running and the guy at the station told me to get a bus.  By the time I figured out the bus system (because of course it is different at night than during the day) I realized I could sit and wait for the bus for 30 minutes, or I could walk it, as it was only about an 8 minute walk.  With the bus map in hand, I felt better about walking the streets of London than being a sitting duck. (Attention: Mom skip to the next paragraph so you don't have a panic attack!)

It took me a minute (or two) to figure out where I was on the map and the best route to take.  It was a cool night, after having rained in the early evening and the streets were well lit.  There was literally no one on them (note to self: if it's necessary to walk the streets at night, do it at 1:30 am! hehe)  It took me a little longer than 8 minutes due to a couple wrong turns, but I really enjoyed my walk and got to the hotel around 2am.  Remember, at this point I'd only had about 3 hours of sleep in the last 40 hours.  I was exhausted but still couldn't believe all the things I'd accomplished in the last 18 hours of being in London.  I was literally running on adrenaline and couldn't even fall asleep right away.  I think it was around 3am before I fell asleep.

Let's just say, I had an adrenaline crash and I spent most of day sleeping...about 20 hours total.  It's now 5:30 in the morning and should be good for the rest of the day today.

Today I get to see Eric and I'm soo excited!  A few of his teammates are competing today so I'm going to head over to the Artillery Barracks to see Eric and watch them compete.  One of them being the armless, "Inspirational Archer" so it will be exciting.

For those of you who don't have Facebook, here's Eric account of the ranking round yesterday. He's at peace with where he finished, 11th.  He will shoot tomorrow.  When he wins his first matchup, he'll face another competitor tomorrow as well, so I'll get to see him shoot twice.  I will try and post information as soon as I can, but this page will also give you results.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped make this trip possible.  It truly is a dream come true!