Sorcery, Safari & Swimming - A Short Sojourn to the South - Part 3

[Nimbus]

Part 3 of this mini trip report covers our visit to the Olympic Park in Stratford, London. Hannah was taking part in the Synchronised Swimming Combo cup that was taking part in the Olympic Aquatic Centre.

The synchronised swimming competition was being held on Saturday 7th July. So we had a day of travelling from Watford around the M25 to east London, checking in at the Premier Inn at Stratford and then looking around the Olympic Park and the Westfield Stratford City shopping mall.

The Premier Inn here was better than the one at Watford - it had air conditioning for starters! Plus they actually came in the room and cleaned things.

There was an event going on in the Olympic Park called Making The Future, and hosted by Shell. We'd already booked some free tickets to this. We joined up with one of Hannah's synchro friends and went to have a look.

There was an ‘eco-marathon' where some novel eco cars were raced around a track. Thankfully, no running was required by us.

The rest of the Making the Future event mostly consisted of interactive displays showcasing alternative power sources and energy efficiency. It was aimed more at high school kids.

In the evening there were some concerts but these were for over 18s only and we didn't go to them.

You could watch the eco-cars racing. Although it was a bit hot to do that for too long.

One exhibit was a bit like the end of the Crystal Maze. Hannah and her friend had to capture carbon (yellow foam balls).

Then Hannah built a small model car powered by saltwater and got to race it around a track.

We spent maybe 2 hours at the event. Thankfully it was free to enter.

Here are some views from around the park.

We then spent some time shopping in the Westfield shopping mall. It was air conditioned but very busy. Especially Primark.

The next day Hannah was taking part in the national synchronised swimming competition at the London Aquatic centre, shown above.

It was warm and humid inside the pool area.

Hannah's team did well. They came 6th place which wasn't bad considering they had a very young team. Sadly they didn't get a medal though.

The competition went well and everything was well organised. We had another look around the shops afterwards - dodging the football fans celebrating England getting to the semi finals of the World Cup - and travelled back home to the North West the next day.

Overall, we had a great four days in the South East. We'd primarily gone for Hannah's synchro competition and to see the Warner Bros Studio tour (which was excellent). Whipsnade Zoo was a last minute addition and also very good, albeit tiring.