Just Days until the Olympics

On Friday, the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony will be in full swing. Which means, it's time for me to choose a sport or two so that in a months time I can tick off one of the items from my 2012 List - to follow an Olympic 2012 sport über religiously... a sport that I honestly don't care about right now.

Surprisingly for someone as indecisive as myself, I do have the sport I'm going to follow picked already - and there I was thinking I might have to pick one out of a hat. After chatting about it with Norngirl and my sister-in-law, it was decided the main sport of the summer is going to be:

*Drum roll please*



Synchronised Swimming!

A sport that perfectly fits the bill - I know nothing of the rules and until now, it's something I truly didn't care about and something I've never bothered to watch.

My current understanding of synchronised swimming (before I read the wiki page I just linked to there anyway) is that groups of people hold their breath underwater whilst 'dancing' with their limbs to make pretty patterns set to music. People holding their breath for a long time is impressive but it's not quite free diving, I'm sure I'll appreciate the skill required but will I care? I'm soon going to find out and the Olympics coverage is going to be my guide of sorts.

After just checking the scheduling for when the events are happening and it is quickly apparent that it's only a women's sport at the Olympics, with just 2 events - the Women's Team event and Women's Duet.

The schedule (according to the BBC site) is as follows:

5th-7th August - Women's Duets Event

5th: Qualification technical routine 3pm-4.50pm
6th: Qualification free routine 3pm-5.25pm
7th: Women's Duets Finals 3pm-4.13pm (seems a bit precise)

9th-10th August Women's Teams Event

9th: Final Technical routine 3pm-3.50pm
10th: Final Free routine 3pm-3.59pm

So a couple of problems there - first is that it seems these are very short events and awkwardly timed for watching live given we'll be at work at the time. The second is that the events only run for a few hours spread over a few days.

With these problems in mind, we'll have to hope that TiVo can record whichever of the BBC Olympic channels will likely be showing it at the time or that there might be highlights, extended highlights or full coverage on demand somewhere. I've also decdided to closely follow a 2nd sport closely.

This other sport is going to be Handball. I picked it because it runs from the practically the start of the Olympics for a long time, the best part of 3 weeks. I think it might be interesting to try and see what the millions of fans in Europe like about this game.

I hope by following these sports and keeping up with others that I might get into the traditional spirit of the Olympics because so far I've not been impressed by the build up to it all.

The Olympic flame came to Belfast but we had other things on whilst it was in town.
There has been a lot of doom and gloom in the press (sometimes I do wonder if they're all manic depressive or believe the populous are) though rightly so in some cases - such as the case of the private security company who are still trying to keep their 57 million management fee even though they 'failed to manage' to the point the army have had to be called in. On TV, the ads from 'official sponsors' have been driving me to shout at the TV screen, each brand seemingly trying to outdo each other in making any tenuous link to sport that they can.

Putting aside all that and then some, hopefully the Olympics will go well and we can enjoy the occasion for the sport.

I best get reading up the likes of this guide from the BBC site.

Come on team GB and Northern Ireland... flail? throw? lob? swim? tread-water? your way to gold!

Dusk on Top of the Rock

Back in February we decided to visit the Top of the Rock - the observation deck of the GE building at the Rockefeller Center. The first time we were in New York City we visited the Empire State building, so this time we planned to give the Top of the Rock a try. For although the top of the Rock isn't as high as the viewing areas at the top of the Empire State building, being further uptown does give it different views. Views that include a better view of Central Park.

As well as views of the Empire State building itself.

I have to admit, once we bought our ticket and had made it through security, we only took a quick glance around the information, history on the walls and the videos you can watch - we decided to breeze through it to make sure we were at the top for sunset but there was a lot of information about the construction and history of Rockefeller Center and the GE building. To get a sense of scale, here are a few photos of the GE Building (the top of which is 'the Top of the Rock') which I took earlier in the week that we were there.

So we were soon at the lifts (aka Elevators). It may just have been the time of day or it may be the lifts are just speedy but there was a very short queue for the lifts to reach the observation decks. As we waited in the short line, the guy managing the lifts was friendly and chatting to everyone, it was quite relaxed and it wasn't long before we were being hauled skyward. The lift was awesome! Unlike the Empire State Building's lifts, this one has a transparent roof with a projector and lights - so you can see where you're heading - it's as close as I think I'll ever get to be in Willy Wonka's great glass elevator. So as you're lifted up the remainder of the 70 floors, you get a fancy light show that looms towards you. It was also cool on the way down being able to see how far you've descended!

At the Top you have an indoor area and a couple of outdoor areas on different levels.

We started off by heading up to the top to take in the view. It was kind of windy up there on the day we went and so it was quite a challenge to take some steady shots of the skyline.

On the day we were there, being February and all, the wind-chill factor meant it was icy cold on the very top level. This was fine whilst the sun was out but as the sun set, it suddenly became apparently that in retrospect I should have brought gloves with me as I soon couldn't feel my fingers very well. It wasn't as grand a sunset as that we were lucky enough to see from the Empire State Building a couple of years back but it was still very pretty.

Though far away, you can see the Statue of Liberty in the distance to the South.

The urban sprawl of Brooklyn in the distance to the East.

And the more industrial areas of New Jersey to the West.

New York is awesomely picturesque as an urban scene. One of the best photo opportunities of being at the top of the rock is the almost uninterrupted view of Central Park but on this day, although mild at street level, up there, something like 250m up, it was rather chilly. We soon saw the results of that cold air meeting warm as some big dark clouds loomed from the North that quickly enveloped Central Park.

As the clouds got closer, darkness fell and the city began to light up.

Besides the views there is also a shop and an awesome room containing some more flashy lights which we hung around in to keep warm whilst the rest of the city lit up.

As the snow swirled around in the wind, the Empire State Building was illuminated - it was a sight that my photo below really didn't do justice.

Eventually we had to get a move on to head for food so got back in the lift and made our way back down to Earth but it had been well worth the entrance fee. I think if we were to choose between the Empire State and the Top of the Rock observation decks again (Both being must do's but for the sake of choosing one for a repeat visit) I'd probably pick the Top of the Rock.

Visiting the Winter Brooklyn Flea

On Saturday 11th February we wandered from our hotel down to the Skylight One Hanson building which this year was the winter location of the Brooklyn flea market.

In some ways it really wasn't my thing, I was curious as to what was going to be on offer but it was kind of dull for someone who doesn't like shopping, but in other ways it was still worth going to.

Skylight One Hanson used to be a bank and wandering around an ornate old bank and it's vaults was something I don't get to do very often - in fact this the first time I'd done that ever.

In regards to the flea market part of it I think this whole thing would have been more fun outdoors and in summer. Perhaps on a bigger scale, like it is said to be in summer, and with more food on offer to choose from and with stalls maybe a little less focused on a profit margin - it was advertised as a flea market after all and not an antiques fair - or was it? I think that's maybe where I could be confused?
On the day we went there were only a few food stalls and lots of bric-a-brac and craft stalls. Granted there were plenty of awesome items and kooky objects but nothing I could see I think I'd have too much trouble finding online if I ever needed such a thing and for the most part, online could be a lot cheaper.

I guess the fun for people is to browse through the objects and being able to take it home there and then but to be honest at the prices I saw, thrift store shopping is much more fun - mainly because because I can afford to buy things there. Some of the craft objects were nice to look at, like the homemade jewellery which we bought for our friend for her birthday.

As I mentioned at the start, the most fun part of this experience for me was wandering around the building. The stalls were set out in the main hall but also in the side rooms, on the balcony and even down the stairs in the big vaults.

I've never had the opportunity to wander around the entirety of a bank before. Especially one that must have been quite the sight in it's heyday given all the fancy decorations.

It was a fun novelty but I don't think I'd be back to the winter flea, it's maybe one I'll leave to financially better-off enthusiasts, but I'd be more than willing to give the summer flea/smorgasbord a try!