An Olympic weekend - Beach Volleyball and Tennis

After our very exciting visit to see the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony last week, we were lucky enough to spend this weekend in London seeing some more events.

This time we travelled up by train from Angmering. On the way up we met one of the volunteers. One thing that has really stood out so far in our Olympic experience has been the dedication and enthusiasm of the volunteers - all the ones that we have met have been so friendly and helpful. This gentleman was one of a team of people driving athletes and other important people around London, and it was really interesting to talk to someone involved.

We had a fantastic hotel really near to Buckingham Palace. It was also free - one of the advantages of having a husband who travels for work and accumulates loyalty points. We were even upgraded to a suite! We went straight out into the pouring rain to catch the end of the Women's Road Cycling as they sped past. We were almost at the end of the route (the finishing line was ticketed) and the three ladies in the lead were very much ahead, it felt like a good couple of minutes before the next group came along.

We had an early dinner before heading to the Beach Volleyball. There were long queues to get in (and once inside even longer queues for refreshments, although we take our own so that didn't bother us!) which meant that we took our seats just as the play was beginning. The stadium was in a fantastic setting, with clear views of the tops of the London Eye and Big Ben. Some people were perhaps a little unimpressed by the understandable lack of tiny bikinis on a chilly evening, but the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. I loved the loud bursts of music each time a point was scored, and there were many scantiliy clad ladies (and gentlemen) in attendance to entertain the crowd with dancing in between games. There was plenty of drinking going on, and a group of young men in our block were entertaining the crowd by passing around towers made of plastic beer cups and encouraging people to add more and more until it fell over, it all made for a very merry evening.

After a lovely lie-in the next morning we headed to Wimbledon for the tennis. We had Centre Court tickets with a reserved seat all day, and we didn't realise until we arrived that we could also go and watch games on any other court apart from Court 1. It was a very long day but packed with some excellent tennis, including Federer in the men's singles and the Williams sisters in the doubles. The atmosphere was quite a contrast to the night before, no moving around during play, and just whispering and polite clapping.

We took a free shuttle bus back to Wimbledon station, and walked straight onto a train. Although it was busy, I don't think it was really any busier than a normal rush hour would have been and we managed to find seats on the train for our journey back home. Now for a few days rest and a chance to reacquaint ourselves with the children before we are up there again next weekend!