Our inaugural adventure of the day was the Brunswick Farmers Market in Russell Square. Jenny and I needed to visit the cookie vendor again-- white macadamia nut and double chocolate chunk were our choices this time (neither of which could top the peanut butter toffee number from our last visit). We were thirsty for more site seeing (and a drink) so off we were! First stop, Starbucks; second, the Royal Opera House.
As part of the London 2012 festival, the Royal Opera House ran a special exhibit, "The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games." We wandered Covent Garden for a good half hour before finding where we needed to be, and boy am I glad we kept searching. The exhibit was an incredible, inspiring learning experience. Our tour guide was fantastic, describing the history of the Olympic Games dating back to ancient myths of 770 BC venturing to the Ancient Olympic Games of Pentathalon competitions. Unlike today, athletes could not specialize in a single sport but were required to excel in all five domains: long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw, followed by running and wrestling. Post-Ancient Games into the 1,890 year hiatus of the games, the story traveled through time, exposing both the turbulence and world unity that the games caused. The evolution of the event is nothing short of amazing. I was mesmerized by the medal exhibit showing off every Summer Olympic medal since 1896 and every Olympic torch since 1936. Best part? Getting to snap a pic with the 2012 Olympic torch at the end!! Fun fact- There were 8,000 torches made for the 2012 games. And to think I was going to touch the one and only real Olympics torch..which does not actually exist. The duplicate was still exciting enough.
The 2012 Olympic torch's route from Athens and us "running" with one of the 8,000!
That evening, we went out to some bars in King's Cross, and you would never guess what was there- an Olympic torch. It was quite funny that when we posed with the torch at the museum, we weren't even allowed to touch it but could slobber all over the torch replica at the bar that looked exactly the same. I felt like I was breaking some sort of rule by actually holding it but that unsettling emotion was overpowered by thrill of posing on a red carpet runway in one of the fashion capitals of the world. Even if it was all fake, I felt like a superstar.
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