Day 2: Aquatics Centre

2years 320days

Katie was beside herself excited as she realised we were walking towards Olympic Park this morning. She was soooo looking forward to the swimming. She didnt want to go look at the other fun things, she didnt want to do anything other than get to the swimming centre. It was a lovely quiet walk, not too many people around. Walking over the bridge, there was a stunning view of the impressive architecture that is the Aquatic centre. Its going to be incredible when the temporary seating is removed. From the outside balcony of the centre, the view of the Orbit and the Stadium made it worth the ticket price alone. The cup of tea without a queue made it even better.

We climbed the 10 flights of 12 stairs up the seating. To discover another 60 to go. After we'd first been allowed to walk down about 50 rows to take photos nearer the pool, including this one. We got to the top, she had a chocolate Wenlock and Mandeville, danced to the Mandeville video shows and cheered & clapped the warming-up swimmers.

We only had one conversation whereby I had to explain to her that the diving pool was in fact an OLympic diving pool. Not a toddler area. Well, it was empty, she's adorable. I reckon she'd have got away with it.

There was some phenomenal swimming this morning. Some paralympic records broken. A world record broken. A fabulous heat result for GB's Hynd brothers. A brilliant swim by the USA's Jessica Long, smashing the record as she went. She really, to me, showed a wonderful example of the Paralympic spirit. She swam a fabulous swim as, literally, her legs stood beside the pool. It will be the image that stays with me, I suspect.

After the session, we walked through the Park one last time. We headed through to Stratford International for our last exciting Olympic adventure -the 140mph (according to the staff) Javelin train to St Pancras. It summed up our experiences of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games actually. High speed, smooth, incredible, impressive. And over far too quickly. Thankyou London. You did it well.

(We have backblipped our last few days - please take a peek.

London 2012. The Katie Way.