By Melissa Shortal
The Olympics are finally here – yay! After so many years, months, weeks of build up the Games have started and I’m pretty excited about it!
The topic of discussion last week at work, home and with friends was definitely the Opening Ceremony. Where were people going to watch it? Who would light the cauldron? And would Daniel Craig REALLY parachute into the stadium?! I had decided some time ago that I wanted to watch the Opening Ceremony at home – because I take this Olympic stuff pretty seriously and I needed to be able to concentrate! But at the last minute we got offered tickets to go to the Opening Cermony party at The Fringe 2012, a pop up members club right next to the Olympic Stadium!
After (12) years of listening to my parents banging on about how great the atmosphere was in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics and how people partied in the street and everyone got so into the Games, it was a once in a lifetime experience… blah blah blah. I decided that watching the ceremony with other Londoners right next to the stadium was exactly the type of thing that they were talking about and I needed to get over my idea of watching it on the sofa, and as the Aussie in me would say, just ‘get amongst it’.
The Fringe really didn’t disappoint. It is a converted 4 storey warehouse right on the canal with fantastic views of the stadium. It’s a huge venue, with a massive outdoor area which has bars, foodstalls and a stage with live music. All the indoor areas have screens showing coverage of the Games and the outdoor area has a huge screen too – which is where we watched the ceremony.
We were very lucky that although there was a little bit of rain before the ceremony started, it eased off for the rest of the evening. Being right next to the stadium we also had a fantastic view of the red arrows fly past, and with such a fantastic atmosphere – everyone was SO excited when the ceremony started!
I thought the entire ceremony was great, but one of the highlights was definitely the section with James Bond and the Queen, and then being able to actually see the parachuters drop out of the plane was awesome!
I felt very proud to be a Londoner watching the ceremony, but of course I felt extra proud when the Australian Olympic Team came into the arena.
From where we were sitting outside we could see all the fireworks from the stadium, which was super exciting and it was such a great night, although I paid for it the next day! What a great venue, great night, and great experience! Enjoy!
[ Source: Australian Times ]