Saturday, 4 August, and Sam and Dad were up early and on board a train to that London. We were heading for Wembley Stadium to watch a quarter-final in the men's Olympic football competition. We had planned that the game would feature Team GB, but they only went and unexpectedly won their qualifying group, doh! So we were treated to Mexico versus Senegal.
At King's Cross we found this enormous and impressive...."thing". Thousands of revolving yellow and black balls, which, if aligned properly, played sounds. We never did work out the secret to making the sounds, but it was certainly eye-catching.
Whether it's just in place for the Olympics we don't know, but if you get the chance, have a play with it before it disappears....
On the tube we started to spot lots of very suspicious-looking "Mexicans". Many looked as if they were wearing false 'taches, surely not? And the range of bizarre sombreros was impressive.
We wish we'd thought of dressing like Mexicans....but Sam was again wearing his current favourite, his England goalie shirt - he never takes it off!
The first view of Wembley and Wembley Way from the top of the steps is impressive, it's certainly a huge and beautiful stadium....
....but you get a better view if you cross the road and peer out from the the bridge - and it's less crowded. Plus, you don't get loud-hailered by Underground staff!
Sam wanted to try some perspective photos, so we tried to snap him balancing The Shard on his finger. You'll have to click on the pic to enlarge it....
....not sure we managed it really. But it was fun trying. You don't realise how for out from the middle of London that Wembley really is. Must be eight or nine miles?
I was always impressed that Everton's Goodison Park contained escalators in one of the stands, it struck me as very modern and posh.....but at Wembley there are escalators in every part of the ground. Two massive ones to get you into the top tier.
Security was touted as being incredibly tight for all Olympic events....but it wasn't really as bad as we were warned. I was searched, Sam was very annoyed that he wasn't searched, and we had to hand over the lids of our water bottles....
There was a queue - and a security man watching - around the water fountain!
Sam has been to Wembley before, but four years ago and I think he'd pretty much forgotten what it was like. Just before we walked up the last few steps to exit our vomitory he was almost shaking with excitement, which was fabulous to see. Mind you, it really is a "wowzer!" moment when you first set eyes on the pitch and the interior of the stadium. We had seats on the side of the ground where the national flags were hanging.
An enormous "Inspire a generation" banner did the rounds before kick off.
Eventually the teams emerged to deafening applause. The crowd figure was 81, 855, and it was LOUD. Sam really liked the Mexican waves (very appropriate). We judged Mexico to have the best anthem, a jolly, bouncy number, while Senegal's was about as dull as the UK's.
The teams played a very entertaining match. Mexico took a two goal lead, Senegal drew it back to 2-2, and then extra time loomed.
Sam was desperate for the extra time to end in stalemate, as he is really keen to see a live penalty shoot-out. He didn't get his wish though as Mexico, aided by some eccentric Senegal goalkeeping, scored twice in the added time and won the match 4-2.
Overall the day was extremely exciting, the Olympic feeling was everywhere and felt almost euphoric, and Sam & Dad had another Most Excellent day out!
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