After spending our first night at the Days inn Waterloo we began our 12th day abroad on Olympic Quest. Today was also special because it was Mary’s birthday as well and including some morning serenading on the bus! We began the day by continuing our bus tour from yesterday and got to see many interesting sites on the way to The All England Lawn Tennis Club. This is of course the famous home to possibly the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament, Wimbledon. We learned about the beginning of the sport with French and English origins. It was particularly funny the sport began in 12th century France by striking the ball with the player’s hands. At the club we got to tour all of the main courts and lots of special access areas like the press conference room. We also visited court 18 where the longest tennis match in history was played (11 h 7 m) in 2010. Apart from the yearly Grand Slam tournament held every year The All England Club hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics which home favorite, Andy Murray, took home the gold medal. Many of the students took home souvenirs from the gift shop and got to walk through the Wimbledon Museum. The museum taught all about the history of tennis, the Wimbledon tournament, the champions of tennis, and even had the male and female singles champion trophies on display.
After our Wimbledon tour we got back on the bus and drove through the east part of the city toward the London Aquatics Centre, the site of the aquatic events at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. We saw some extremely interesting sites on our way out to the aquatics centre such as Stamford Bridge (home of Chelsea Football Club), MI6 (home of James Bond), and the Kensington apartment complex where the great J.K. Rowling resides. Going inside the London Aquatics Centre gave us the opportunity to see the pool where 25 world records were set in 2012 and also witness a great example of how Olympic venues can be converted for the benefit of the local community after the games have been completed. There were many Londoners enjoying the Olympic sized pool and as well as the smaller adjacent pools. Upon leaving the London Aquatics Centre we headed back toward the center of London. Next, we had the opportunity to walk across the newly constructed “wobble” bridge and get a bird’s eye view of the majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral. Dinner at Fuller’s Pub featured stuffed mushrooms, grilled chicken, and delicious cheesecake for desert. After dinner we had our first experience on the London Underground and managed to successfully navigate our way back to the hotel on “the tube”. Tomorrow, we had heading to the Churchill War Rooms followed by the much anticipated trip to Warner Brothers’ The Making of Harry Potter!
