Sunny London, Day 2

Sunday morning, we got up and took the tube out to Stratford to swim at the Olympic pool.  Hannah coaches the London University Swim Team, and some of her swimmers came out too.  The pool just opened to the public two weeks ago.  It was pretty cool to swim there, even though there were still your typical rec swimmers.  

Hannah and Kristin at the Olympic pool

The whole Olympic site out in Stratford was pretty impressive, especially considering there wasn't anything there before.  The organizers of the London Games seem to have done a really great job at thinking about the Games' legacy, and making sure that the venues and sites could be used for other purposes after the Games ended.  They also seemed to have done well at commercializing the venues, since you have to walk through a mall to get from the tube to the pool.

Greenwich observatory. 

 From the pool, we had brunch and then went back out exploring the city.  It was another sunny blue sky day.  It's always sunny in London, right?  Hannah's friend James joined us for the afternoon.  He had lots of great tidbits of London history to share.  We went to Greenwich to see the park and observatory.  We got off the tube at the O2 centre (the gymnastics venue from the Olympics) and walked over.  There was a Brad Paisley concert happening at the O2 centre on Sunday afternoon.  I hadn't seen any cowboy hats or boots in Europe until walking by that concert.

Top of the hill in Greenwich park, looking back at the city skyline.

We stopped for a drink and snack along the Thames (it still seems very strange to be able to walk around in public drinking beer), and then took a boat along the river back to the centre of the city.  The boats are a part of the London public transport system, and it was a great way to see the city from the river.  Hannah and James graciously let the tourist have the window seat, and I got some great pictures (and a terrible selfie) out the window.

Tower bridge from the Thames. 

We walked by the St Patrick's Day celebrations at Trafalgar Square at about 5pm, by which time there were thousands hammered people milling about, and beer bottles and cans everywhere.  They had the square quite well set up, with a stage of Irish music and dancing and tons of vendors of Irish-related things (mostly booze, by the looks of it).

Public Health nerd alert.

Hannah humored me by letting me find the broad street pump, and then we went out for some delicious Indian Tapas.  It was a short, but excellent weekend in London.  I will definitely have to go back sometime!