European Adventure Day 19–Welcoming the Olympics before Preparing to Leave

Saturday morning we slept in and then just took it easy in the morning for once.  After catching up on American television for a while with the Armed Forces Network, we finally got around for the day at noon.  Mike and Melissa were taking us to a lunch cookout being hosted by some co-workers, basically all Americans from the base.  There was a good crowd and the kids at the party would cycle between inside and out as the rain allowed.

America!

After some good food at the party, everyone packed up and moved over the Newmarket, a city nearby to watch the Olympic torch be run through town.  There were some vendors selling British flags and plenty of police patrolling the street to keep the crowd back before the event.  Once the torch parade started, there were more police motorcycles followed by some support vehicles and a couple sponsor vehicles.  Another small break later, the torch runner came through surrounded by a couple other escorts.  We didn’t know who the runner was, but he was nice enough to slow down to a walk right in front of us so Susan could snap some good pictures.  The procession started and ended at the edges of town before loading onto a bus and moving on to the next town.  I had (maybe romantically) imagined that the relay continued from town to town on foot, but logistically I’m sure that would be a nightmare nowadays.  It’s really more of a travelling parade.  Susan’s cousin Mike also took a video of the torch runner going by us.

The BBC interviewing our group    &    Part of the parade

Stopped for a photo op

…and back to running by!

The crew in Newmarket

Video of the Olympic torch relay in Newmarket, UK on July 7, 2012 (Thanks, Mike!)

Once the torch relay was complete it was back to the car and onto Cambridge.  Mike and Melissa took us to Cambridge to grab dinner and to catch the train back to London for the night.  The final stop of the day for the torch was Cambridge so the town was buzzing.  Luckily we beat the dinner rush since we sat to eat while others were out watching the torch parade, then we caught the first available train back to London.

The rest of the evening was spent getting back to the apartment and getting ourselves ready to fly back to the states tomorrow.