FINA Diving World Cup at the Aquatics Centre

 The Olympics Aquatics Centre

No list of “things to do in London this summer” will be complete this year without mentioning a trip to the Olympics.  Now I know most people are playing it cool, as they were a year ago with the Royal Wedding, but mark my words: London is about to go Olympics crazy.

Last week I was extremely fortunate to visit the Olympic Park when Thomas Cook invited a group of bloggers to experience the excitement of an Olympic test event.

 Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit and the the Olympic Stadium

From Stratford underground station, we walked through the new Westfield Stratford shopping centre to arrive at the park.  Once we’d cleared the airport-style security, we took a moment to appreciate Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit and the main Olympic Stadium where the Athletics and Paralympic Athletics events will take place.  The Orbit is actually an observation tower and is 115 metres high.  According to Wikipedia, the “steel sculpture is Britain's largest piece of public art, and is a permanent, lasting legacy of London's hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympics”.

Well, as interesting as the park is, we were there to see the Women’s 10m Platform Final in the 18th FINA Diving World Cup.  Twelve women took part in the final and they came from China, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Italy, DPR Korea and Great Britain.  I’m sure you can guess who the crowd was cheering for!

I have to say that I felt really fortunate to have the chance to watch the top 12 women 10m divers in the world battle it out for the title of world champion.  I am just glad that I am not one of the judges.  All of the divers looked incredible to me and I was only able to detect slight differences in quality when watching the slow motion replays. 

I did pick up that they are meant to hit the water at a perpendicular angle with the least splash.  The problem is that it looks so much more impressive when they hit the water with a big splash!!

We were quite close to the scoreboard so I know that it is a case of spot-the-diver in the photos above! You can click on the photos to enlarge them.  I did like it when they began their dives from a handstand position, as in the photo above.  Some of them got into their handstand from a standing position and some did a small cartwheel from the side.

My favourite dive was when they start with their back facing the crowd, jump straight up and then fold their bodies over without twisting.  It always looks as if they narrowly miss hitting the board with the back of their heads and is certainly the most breath-taking dive!

My favourite Olympic sport is actually the swimming and as Stephen works for one of the Olympics sponsors, he has applied for tickets for the swimming and field hockey test events.  I would love to see the crawl but any kind of swimming would be good.

It was a really thrilling, fast paced event and was over after 90 minutes.  Yadan Hu from China dominated the first half of the event (there are five rounds in the final) but Ruolin Chen, also from China, was more consistent and she eventually gained the upper hand in the final two dives to win the event.  Both were outstanding divers.

By the way, if you do go to an Olympic event, you need to know that you cannot use flash photography. I was not aware of that but apparently it can be quite dangerous for the athletes, especially for divers.

After the event, I went down to take some close up photos of the podium and the diving pool.  If I do go to more test events, I hope I get to sit closer to the action!

There is a black and white photo set of the event over at the Emm in London Facebook page.  Do “like” the page if you prefer to receive your blog updates through Facebook.

By the way, what do you think of Blogger’s light box function (where you can click on a photo in a post and it will bring up the full set for you to peruse)?  Should I activate it on this blog?

Read more...

The Bombed Out Church St Dunstan-in-the-East

The best aspect of living in London is the secret passages and historical gems you will discover amongst modern structures of chrome and steel.  On this occasion I knew exactly where I was going but had I not been looking for it, it is possible that I would have wondered right past this alley way and not walked up St Dunstan’s Lane to the bombed out ruins of St Dunstan-in-the-East. 

Be sure to click on all of the images below for enlargements.

As you approach St Dunstan-in-the-East, it might look like a particularly overgrown or derelict church but it is not.  St Dunstan-in-the-East was one of several churches that was destroyed during the Blitz of 1941.  Originally built in Saxon times, refurbished in the 17th century, it was severely damaged in the Great Fire of London in 1666.  It was repaired and a Sir Christopher Wren-designed tower and steeple was added at the beginning of the 18th century. 

All was quiet for more than a century until severe structural damage was discovered at the beginning of the 19th century and the entire church, except for Wren’s tower, was rebuilt.  Again, there was calm for another century until the Second World War.

All that remained after the terrible damage of the Blitz was the four exterior walls plus the tower and steeple. St Dunstan-in-the-East was designated a grade I listed building in 1950 and in 1967 the Anglican church made the decision not to rebuild the church but to turn it into a public garden.

(I’m really sorry that the photo above didn’t come out so well.  I was playing around with manual focus and did not realise it was out of focus until I got home).

I was all alone in the garden for the longest time and I found the experience quite profound.  I had wanted to visit St Dunstan-in-the-East for several years but it was more than that.  It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon and it was absolutely silent in the ruins.  I tried to imagine what it must have been like to be a parishioner at this church but all that I came away with was the incredible sense of loss they must have felt when the church was destroyed.

Many of us spent so long listening to the stories of our grandparents about that time but (to their credit) those were often tales of bravery, strength and overcoming incredible adversity. We rarely heard about the pain, fear and loss; the experience of wondering around the neighbourhood and coming to terms with the sheer scale of the loss to life and property.

"A church was first built on the site of this garden in Saxon times. It was restored by St Dunstan in 950AD and then rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire in 1697.  Only the tower of the Wren church survives.  The garden was laid out following severe damage to the church in the blitz, and opened as a public space in 1967”.

How incredible is it that our parents managed to bring us up feeling safe and secure in the world when they did not experience that when they were growing up?  That our grandparents showered us with gifts when they could not supply their own families with basic goods because of rationing and shortages?

This is what wandered through my mind as I explored the gardens.  It really is such a beautiful, peaceful space.

St Dunstan-in-the-East is my new favourite place in the whole of London and I am quite determined to make it up there in my lunch hours.  It is less than a mile from my work so would take me 16 minutes to walk there and back, leaving me 16 minutes to relax and it would absolutely be worth the exercise.

What is your favourite hidden or secret location in London?

St Dunstan-in-the-East
St Dunstan's Hill
London
Nearest postcode: EC3R 5DD

Read more...

Royal Arcade, Norwich

When we visited Norwich in December, I was enamoured by the stunning Victorian design of the Royal Arcade.  As beautiful as it had been while the sun was shining, that was nothing compared to how it came alive when we passed through in the twilight.

In the photos above, you can see the exquisite stained glass window. From the mosaics and mosaic-making website The Joy of Shards:

…this masterpiece of late Victorian design has "opus sectile" stained glass and splendid Doulton tiles, amongst other features. The window over the western entrance consists of shaped pieces of coloured glass (rather than painted glass) and so is very much like a mosaic.

The Joys of Shards website goes on to note the beautiful motifs in the stone flooring but I did not notice the floor as I was too busy looking up!

I loved the art nouveau tiling and ceramic letters on the exterior.  I was also really taken with this lighting and the arches and decorative tiles of the first floor windows.  This was such a pretty shopping centre and I felt like I had been transported back in time a hundred years to 1902.

The Royal Arcade in Norwich was designed by architect George Skipper in 1899. Based in Norwich, he is also famous for designing the Jarrolds department store and Norwich Union buildings in Norwich.

We visited at Christmas time, as is evident from the decorations but I imagine that the Royal Arcade manages to look quite spectacular throughout the year without all of the decorations.  I wish there were more buildings like this around.

Read more...