One week until London 2012

It’s hard to imagine that I will have our Olympic tickets in my hand one week from today.

Peter and I went to London a couple of weeks ago and there are Olympic signs and rings everywhere! We visited St. Pancras station to view the Olympic rings (a replica set) and they were big but it almost looked like they were spray-painted foam.

Replica Olympic ring sets are all over the UK, one of which is supposedly hanging from Tower Bridge which, if true, is pretty neat.

The five rings represent five continents and the colors represent the colors of the flags of the participating countries. For example, blue and yellow represent Sweden while blue and white represent Greece, France, United Kingdom, United States, etc. The way the rings are joined exhibits the nations’ unity.

The London 2012 logo is EVERYWHERE. If you observe the logo carefully, you will see that the four blocks of the logo form the numbers “2012” (20 is on the top half and 12 is on the bottom half). The logo has been very controversial since its introduction, primarily because the cost incurred to create the logo was £400,000.

The logo has also been controversial because of the following:

Bart and Lisa Simpson engaging in something naughty.

Iran states that the logo is racist because it spells “zion” which is a biblical term recognized to refer to the city of Jerusalem.

Personally, I feel the “zion” controversy is a bit of a stretch.

An alternative to “zion” is that some have stated that the logo spells “nazi’ and some have stated that the logo resembles a swastika.

The Tube is littered with Olympic venue signage, however, tourists will still be completely clueless and lost.

Maidenhead continues to get its face lift in preparation for the Games. I spent an hour yesterday walking around and snapping photos of all things Olympic. I felt very touristy and stupid doing this, so just know that there are many more signs in Maidenhead than what is outlined in this post.

There is new Olympic signage below the existing Maidenhead town sign. I drove to this sign and Dexter set off the car alarm whilst I was off parading around the neighborhood with my camera.

London 2012 banners hang on posts on a major road in and out of Maidenhead. I’ve seen these banners in other Olympic host towns and I have been wondering when/if Maidenhead would get them. It’s kind of cool to drive down the road and have these banners line the streets as they are in multiple colors.

Another London 2012 banner for the Paralympics.

The Maidenhead Rugby field is being transformed into a temporary Olympic car park.

I saw this and thought, “Maidenhead has a rugby team”?

And finally, the roadworks crew has parked a giant electronic sign (like the one below) near the entrance to Dorney Lake. It reads something like, “OLYMPICS – ETON DORNEY – AVOID AREA.” Do they not understand I have a dog who runs 13 miles a day in Dorney?

Only seven more days until opening ceremony! I’m so excited!