Tuesday 30 September 2014

The five ring circus

This morning I took the tube to Stratford to have a look at what remains of the venue for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The first thing I encountered on arrival at Stratford was a taste of home;

Westfield Stratford City
The Lowy family were very shrewd in constructing one of their shopping centres in this location. As far as I can tell you don't have to walk through the centre to get to the Olympic venue but it seems the most obvious route once you have arrived by train, tube or light rail all of which unload right at the centre's entrance.

You can gauge just how close Westfield is to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from this photo I took from the Level 1 Food Court of the Westfield centre.



It was a foggy, cool morning and not a lot of the Olympic venue seemed available for touring but here are some snaps of what I did see.

The walkway to the Stadium and Aquatic centre
The Arcelormittal Orbit
A murky view of London from the Orbit
The stadium itself is being reconstructed, I believe in preparation for its new role as home ground for West Ham United Football Club.

The stadium viewed from atop the Orbit
Having come up the Orbit by elevator I walked the 400 or so stairs down from the lower (70m) viewing room;

Here I go

The Orbit viewed from below

2 comments:

  1. The Arcelormittal Orbit is interesting (I never knew what it is called). It can be seen from so many places in London.

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    Replies
    1. Andrew, I've checked since posting this. I think the structure's actual name is The Orbit. That other word is a sponsor's name; something to do with steel products, I think.

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