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Who Rules The World? Girls!

One last post as I sit at home watching the Olympics on TV in the USA, missing the BBC coverage that showed all sports with all athletes, and admiring the American women taking gold to the bank every other minute.  If the American women were their own country, they would be #3 in the medal count!  What an amazing accomplishment that took place during the 40th anniversary year of Title IX-legislation that kickstarted an American revolution in women's sports.  Think about what we would be doing had this happened 5, 10, 20 or more years earlier?  Michael Phelps who??

So it's only natural that I began to reflect on our own group of American ladies that were at the Olympics that completely ruled the world when it came to fun!  Our group of 4 was always up for a cocktail, meeting strangers, blinging ourselves out in Americana, and cheering on the USA!  I couldn't have had more fun or planned it any better if I had tried!  That being said, it's time for the medal portion of our blog:

(Chariots of Fire playing quietly in background)

Best Dance Routine to "You're A Grand Old Flag"-Erin
Best Photographer-Jessica
Best Hurdling Pose-Lauren
Best Flag Waving-Erin
Best International Love Connection-Tie between Jessica and Lauren
Foreign Bladder Control-Tie between Erin and Lara
Best Rendition of Star Spangled Banner-EVERYONE-Toilets in Horse Guards Parade after Beach Volleyball
TV Appearance-Lara, Erin, and Jessica
Fun Multiplier-Erin
Least Likely to Get Tickets-Jessica
Best Use of Chase VIP Lounge-Jessica
Biggest Pimm's Fan-Lara
Best Usain Bolt-Erin
Least Likely to Arrive on Time-Lauren


Most Asshole-ish Foreign Fans-Tie between Denmark and Canada
Favorite Foreign Fans-Tie between Maya from Team GB and the Brasilians.
Favorite Team USA Moment-Beach Volleyball Gold!
Favorite Team GB Moment-Jessica Ennis winning gold and the whole pub singing "God Save The Queen"
Best Olympic Venue-Horse Guards Parade.  Duh.
Worst Olympic Venue-Olympic Park.  That 45 minute walk SUCKED.
New Favorite Sport-Handball
Sport that Still Looks Lame-Football
Favorite Usain Bolt Moment-Running around with the creepy mascot

August 12 additions:

Best glass breaking moment in a pub: Jessica (sorry, Adam!)
Unexpected favorite drink of the Games: tie between Pimms and Ale
Best Batman moment: Bob (we still don't really know where he went, but glad all the fun girls came with us!)
Most likely to become a permanent houseguest: Adam
Most eaten food at the Games: The triangle sandwich, likely egg and cress
Most likely to give JDC free beers because she refuses to stand in line 250 people deep for beer: Brits
Best second wind: Jan, for waking up and partying with Lauren + friends after he had already passed out on the couch

Last day, birthday

Today was my birthday! Last night I went to bed early, due to the whole throat swollen closed, riddled with illness issue. Before heading to bed, I gave Dad some final ideas for tickets, hoping that my birthday surprise would be tickets into Olympic Stadium. But there were no more tickets. :(

This morning, I got birthday cake with candles and birthday champagne from Jan. That was really nice, because I feel like it's rare any more I even have birthday cake!! Then, we went to the Chase Visa VIP lounge to try for tickets. Every day, they had entries from 12-1, with a drawing at 1:15. We never made it to one in all the time we've been here, but today we made it, and then Jan WON! Unfortunately, his tickets were for tomorrow after I'm supposed to leave, and he refuses to wear an American flag on his face to it. :(

Then we went up for the VIP event with Carl Lewis. He was HILARIOUS. Such a good sportsman, and so positive, and his comments about our relay team and why no one is beating the 1991 long jump records were so insightful. I also loved that he said that while he was competing, he would always say nice things like "I respect this sprinter from country XXX" and now that he's a fan, he's only about USA, all the time. A man after my own heart. He didn't even talk about Usain Bolt, but after seeing Carl, I'm reminded what a classy sportsman we were lucky to have representing the USA for so long. I wish he had been able to participate in the 1980 Olympics, so that he would still be ahead of Usain Bolt.

When we got up to take our picture, I yelled "Carl Lewis!" and gave him a hug. He said he liked my American spirit. :)

Afterward, we went to the Borough Market, which was a cool market. Apparently, this is also where they show Bridget Jones living above the Globe Pub in one of my favorite movies. See below.

I got some great ones at the market, including this delicious cheese and potato thing that I intend to recreate when I get home.

Cheese + potatoes= two of my favorite things. The sign tells what was in it, but basically, they would roast half a huge cheese wheel under a really hot iron, then scrape the bubbling cheese over new potatoes. Crack, that's what it seemed like to me.

Many types of mustards.

Borough Market

It was Pimm's O'Clock again at this cute little stand. 

This pirate sassed me. 

This fish market was so cool. The picture doesn't do it justice. 

Lara, I got the rings!!!! 

Things have really died down in London, even compared to a few days ago, and also because I'm away from any venue now. I'm staying in Islington, and you can't even tell the games are going on!! But I wore my American flag face tattoo and Erin's homemade sash anyway! USA, USA, USA!

Never, ever, ever give up!

I'm the only one left in London (I think Lauren is still here, but we can never find her), with one more day of possibly getting tickets. In true, optimistic American fashion, I'm not giving up!!! I hope to get one final ticket, and I do get to meet Carl Lewis tomorrow in the Chase Visa VIP lounge!!

USA! USA! USA!

P.S. We hit 1000, so thanks everyone who followed us!!

We Are The Champions

Trying to finish my trip on a truly pimp note as I relax and enjoy free drinks and snacks at the Star Gold Lounge at Heathrow.  It's no Chase Visa VIP Lounge, but few things are.  In case anyone is in doubt of what credit card we will all be loyal to after the 2012 London Olympics, CHASE VISA.  I recommend you apply for the United Airlines one and start earning miles NOW on your purchases so that you can meet us in Sochi for the 2014 Winter Games.  Free beer and wine, free wi-fi, free computer access, free snacks, loads of TV's so you don't miss a moment of Olympics action, concierges to help find you whatever you need-PLUS we got to eat Morimoto's food and meet Nadia Comaneci!  Our Olympic dream come true!

So, the title of my blog today has several connections-a song from an English band, the champions of this year's games, and our own championship breakneck drinking and fun pace.

I haven't updated since we saw the gold medal Beach Volleyball game, so I need to chat briefly on that.  I don't think there could ever be a more incredible venue than having that event at Horse Guards Parade.  The lovely thing about the London Olympics is that we only went to 1 venue 2 times.  The rest were scattered about London in a lovely way-it spread out the spectators, and gave the entire city this incredible Olympic vibe.  The UK definitely caught Olympic fever and what a year for them!  Most medals ever, and at last count, they were beating Russia.  Well done, my NATO friends.  We can't let the commies win!

Watching your country(wo)men win a gold AND silver medal and watching the medal ceremony was seriously one of the most moving things I've ever witnessed.  I feel so lucky that we were able to get those tickets!  We definitely made the event a night to remember.  Jess and Erin indulged in the Champagne and Oyster Tent (yes, such a thing truly existed), and we happily chatted up our neighbors, meeting some folks from NBC.  I gave them my Bob Costas sign after the event, but I don't think it will get into Bob's hands.  Boo.  We got loads of people to sign our beach ball before putting it out into the crowd, but it hit the bottom after a few minutes and no one popped it back up.  It appeared to be a huge hit until that happened.  Boo.

Other than winning gold, the other highlight of the night was singing the Star Spangled Banner in the bathrooms, and meeting crazy Brasilians that we danced and sang with for the next 10 minutes, taking photos and enjoying each other's Olympic success. 

We can't tell you how many incredible people we met in London during our fun time here-on the tube, at the coffee shop, on the street, at the events, at the Chase VIP Lounge (#corporate sponsor).  What we CAN tell you is that both London and the Olympics are amazing and deserving of a visit from you! 

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading our blog as much as we've enjoyed writing it.  As of this moment, we have 986 views, from countries including the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Russia, and Norway.  What a ride!  See you in Sochi 2014!

I "reckon" the USA might get a gold today....

The jokes were rampant all day about the US playing one another in the medal round of beach volleyball. Shouldn't others have a chance? Which team are you cheering for? Shouldn't you root for the new young ones since the others already had medals. We decided to root for Walsh and May-Treanor, because we wanted them to be even bigger winners, and we thought this was very American of us. We love a big winner.

We started our day at a special VIP event with Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner. They interviewed them, and it was so inspiring to hear them talk about how amazing it really is so see these people, some of them little kids, achieving such superb moments for all the world to enjoy. We showed up at the event already ready for beach volleyball---flag tatoos on, cowboy hat on, american flag sashes. We get a lot of looks and laughs. I even saw Nadia look at me and smirk. They were such nice people. We got our photos with them afterward, where we all held a 10 to signify the perfect 10 she got in 1976. BTW, she's a drop dead gorgeous babe. No wonder dad had a crush on her.

After, we found a pub in a quiet alley to grab one more drink before the big event. Then we tried to get Stu a ticket---even trying to bribe military personnel with dates with Lauren and I, but we were unsuccessful. As soon as we got in, we had some oysters and champagne, because you just don't see that every day! Then we switched to whatever we could actually get. I charmed some beers away from some married Brits---the queues were so long for drinks and they were running out of everything. The whole thing was an amazing production. The temporary stands even had an elevator, there was a band that played before the game, and statues of beach volleyball's greats. The best part was that FINALLY there were other Americans out in full force. Lara has no voice left from yelling. Mine is about there. People kept asking to take their photo with us, and we keep giving away American flair, like our face tattoos and mini flags.

The games couldn't have been better. We cheered for Brazil---we booed China (booing is OK here). We were total compadres with the Brazilians---we sang songs with them and got our photos with them. We sat behind a whole row of NBC employees, who thought Lara's "Bob Costas is my dad" sign was funny because his daughter actually works there. They all got pissed with us, when we all signed our blowup beach volleyball, and threw it into the crowd, and were mad at the volunteers when it hit the main floor, and they took it away. Jerks. The volunteers hate fun. Also, they played the Chicago Blackhawks song about a million times, and it appears Chicago has stolen this from the Brits. No originality, Chicago!

After the game, as they were prepping for the medal ceremony, they played the coolest mix music---they put Don't Stop Believing and Flo Rida (and some other awesome stuff) together, and we all want that mix! Then we watched the medal ceremony, and heard our national anthem played. We all shed a few tears---it was so beautiful. And the celebration was awesome! We danced down by the exit and made funny videos until they kicked us out. We sang the National Anthem with Brazilians, and sang the Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole song. Then we headed back to the lounge, where there were more Americans celebrating. Everywhere we went, we were singing and chanting will all of the pro-USA crowds. It was one of the best memories I'll ever have!!

All of us with Nadia and Bart. We gave her a perfect 10. She was a hottie.

 Pre-party: Lara and Lauren

 Pre-party: Lauren and Stu

 Lara and Erin

 

Bolting outside of Horseguards Parade where the beach volleyball was held

We turned Stu into Team American for the day

This volunteer had the craziest hands. Long pink nails, and ring that looked kinky. Apparently, if you worked the Olympics, they would keep getting welfare checks. I'm pretty sure I know what this one's full time career was....

 Lara was trying to get on TV. The NBC people who sat with us wouldn't even help her!

 America!!

I had some oysters and champagne. When in London at the Olympics....

 Inside of the stadium

 Representing!

 Team America.

 The flag is a toy

 Erin is an excited American

 What a view.

 You can see Big Ben to the right. Incredible.

 Medal Ceremony.

 Lauren needed emergency battery power so we could find Stu, so we parked in a hallway at the Visa VIP lounge and boozed until everything was juiced up.

Seen in London subway. Lauren is hurdling. I'm shooting!

Shake your flag ferociously

I was sad yesterday until 7:00 P.M. I went all the way to Olympic Park, thinking I could at least get in and look around, and after spending an hour on the tube getting there, then walking 20 minutes from the tube stop, up and down stairs galore, I found out I had to turn around and go back while Lara and Erin went to handball. :(

On our way to women's volleyball, the tube was so crowded, Erin got on a different train than us, then got off at the wrong station, but luckily, we found her (thank goodness we had been there the day before, and old rules about return to the last place you saw someone still hold) so we got into the game with no time to spare (of course, we had time to get some beers). Our tickets were for 3, yes, that's right, 3 totally different areas, but given the fact that these venues have no people in them, it was no problem, and we all sat together. The first game was USA versus Dominican Republic.

Apparently, the entire world cheers against the USA. We didn't meet anyone from the Dominican Republic, but EVERYONE but the Americans were cheering for them. When they would score, they were twice as loud. Even all the Brits, who we thought we had a "special relationship" with, cheered for them. We had the most beautiful little British girl in front of us, who we immediately "bribed" with a small American flag, some necklaces, and a bracelet. We needed an extra fan!

We had a very large flag that we were trying to hold up during the breaks. Erin said that they might not put us on TV because of our beers, so we tried to hide our beers behind the flag. All the people around us wanted us to get on TV as well, so they had lots of suggestions, like "shake your flag more ferociously", and whenever the camera came near us, everyone around us would let us know.

And, it WORKED! Dad called us after the game, Gavin Rountree texted to say that he saw us, and Bo Zimmerman even snapped a photo of the TV for us and put it on Facebook. We were so excited that even though we were all tired after the game (I am so exhausted, I'm running on fumes), we went out to the pub. The two guys who sat next to us, who were from Azerbajan and Uzbekistan, but they live in London, considered themselves our photo directors.

After everyone's Facebook comments that I looked like I was going to a Kenny Chesney concert, I did a little foreign poll. My assumption was that even though to Americans, cowboy hats are more western, or Texas, that to other countries, they're as American as apple pie and hamburgers. And so far, I'm 100% correct. Apparently, cowboy hats are "typical American" and represent  American culture to other countries. I'm going to keep wearing my cowboy hat, no matter what the Facebook haters say! USA! USA! USA!

The volunteers at the Olympics are awesome. This guy was hilarious.

This guy is always playing in the tube station. He's awesome.

Heading into Women's Volleyball Game at Earl's Court

Maya and her dad. He was so cute with her, teaching her things. He also taught us that it's OK to boo in the UK. So we booed. A lot.

In position to get on the telly.

Us with Maya doing the Usain Bolt. We didn't even have to teach her. She was THAT cool.

Maya waving the red, white and blue.

Goodwill towards man times two and a half.

This morning we made the long trek to Olympic Park.  It's a haul from the Olympic Park tube station, especially when it's cold and windy.  We're talking 55 degrees. Ok maybe 62 I don't know, but it was windy and no sun. Once we made it into Olympic Park, we had to show our tickes three times and go through security, which included a medal detector & having our handball tickets scanned.  After about another 10 minute walk Lara ran to the restroom and I ran to get coffee.  I had my handball ticket in my back pocket because the tickets are ginormous and I didn't want to fold it.  As I was standing in line for coffee I noticed my ticket was GONE! First thought was that I dropped it so I scoured the grounds close to me, not wanting to stay too far because my phone doesn't work here and I have no way of contacting anyone I am with and I didn't want to lose my ticket and Lara.  No luck finding the ticket.  My second thought, being the good American I am was " Someone stole it out of my pocket!".  So Lara comes back from the bathroom.  I tell her the bad news.  I was thinking I'd have to stay out in the cold while she enjoyed handball without me.  I was not going to deny her first Olympic handball experience because I'm an idiot.   She was very calm. I had her convinced I had been pickpocketed by some rabid handball fan from Skandinavia who was out to scam some clueless American.  All the volunteers here at the Olympics are very helpful & friendly, so they directed us to the information booth.  I told the nice man what happened and immediately he ran to the ticket office.  Low & behold some very nice person had turned in my ticket! Amazing!! I was amazed it had been turned in. We were shocked that we evidently took all the right steps to get the ticket back within about 20 minutes of losing it! I wish I would have thought to give a thanks or shoutout or reward to the nice person who turned it in, but we were late for the handball match and had to make a beeline to the Copper Box. Who knew handball would be be so much fun?! Women's Brasil vs. Norway.  Brasil led up until the last 7 minutes of the game and then Norway ended up winning.  I'm a woman and I hate watching women's sports unless it's fun like gymnastics or ice skating, but women's handball was awesome and it had a ton of action.  I was bummed we only got to see one game.  Olympic volleyball they let you see two matches.  I wish I could thank the person who turned in my lost ticket.  It really made me proud to be at the Olympics, not just cheering for the Americans and having American pride, but having pride in al people of all nations and the camaradarie that all Olympics fans feel when we are here.  Like Jessica said, go broke, take out a loan, do whatever you can to get to the Olympics.  There is nothing like the fun & sportsmanship and goodwill that happens between everybody!

It's not who is in the game, it's just about having a seat at the game!

I'm not sure if all of our followers understand how difficult it is to get tickets here at the Olympics. Apparently, the Olympics used to be this great 2nd hand ticket market, but those days are past. There are no scalpers. There are no available tickets online. I spent over 30 hours last week (whilst doing other things) watching the Olympics timer tick away, and only managed to get beach volleyball tickets. Our friend Adam spent every night for almost a week staying up until 2 a.m., and got here with none. My awesome Dad is still checking for me every day.

So that's why, when we were in the Chase Visa VIP lounge last night, and someone mentioned that there were LOADS of tickets on a website, we all laughed good-naturedly and agreed to take a quick look. Somehow, in a few minutes, we got volleyball tickets for this morning and tomorrow night. We were so excited, we immediately rushed to the office, and didn't care that our tickets were actually not together, and that the USA wasn't even playing in the game. That's how big a deal getting the tickets were.

We arrived today, repressed from lack of tickets, 300% American, even though the Americans weren't in the match. I wore my cowboy hat with a red, white, and blue hair extension peeping out, we all had American flag game faces on, and our exuberance was palpable.

I can't even describe how amazing the atmosphere is at the Olympics. There is this incredible sense of international camaraderie. We're always offering to take photos for people. Everyone has a smile on their face. Everyone greets each other. Today in Starbucks (USA! USA! USA!), we met a German who just told us he was going to follow us to the game, and we had him as a tagalong (and photographer) for 45 minutes. You ask everyone where they're from. If you've ever wanted to go to an Olympics, do it. Go into debt, sell your car, do whatever you have to do, because they're THAT amazing!

So, the game today. We arrive at volleyball to find that, due to the fact that all of the events are half empty, even though our tickets were in three locations, we were able to sit together and never move. We also decided to go with "breakfast beer" AKA cider, for our 9:30 a.m. drink of choice. They went down so smoothly, we had 6. Too bad there wasn't a medal for that.

Our first match was Poland vs Australia. I chose to cheer for Poland. I love Poland, and not just because I sometimes want to mouth kiss my Polish cleaning ladies because they're so amazing. We cheered "Polska, Polska, Polska" just as much as we would have done for the USA. They didn't win, but the fans for those countries were great. Then Russia played Serbia. Of course, we cheered for the little guy. Poor Serbia lost. Pretty badly. The crowd was pretty quiet during that game, except when they had these crazy breaks where people banged on a bongo drum. I'm going to video it tomorrow so everyone can see how awesome bongo time is.

Awesome Poland fan.

Americans in the Olympic house. Yes, those are loads of empty seats behind them. :(

Team Poland

My Olympic volleyball moment

Lara, enjoying a breakfast beer.

Erin, the only one enjoying real beer.

Adam kicking it with the ladies.

"This is a moment" ---Adam Swart

I wish this photo were better, but I'd like to call your attention to the blown up kangaroo. With the neck-kerchief on.

The Americans were here.

America.

It's always OK to do a Usain Bolt, particularly when you're in Bolton Gardens.

A kiss for the birthday girl. Her blinking light said to kiss her, Lauren doesn't just kiss us all the time!

I told my mom today that Lara and I were making special memories together, and Mom said "Oh, no, what's wrong?" Because she thought I was messing with her. But I'm serious. I'm not sure we've ever had such fun together. And we've had a lot of fun together....