Queen springs surprise for second day
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, July 30, 2012
Fresh from her starring role in the opening ceremony, Britain's Queen Elizabeth explored the Olympic Park on Saturday, bringing extra magic to the experience of visitors from around the world checking out the venues for the first time.
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II waves to spectators inside the Aquatics center during a visit to the Olympic Park. |
While workers dismantled the set of Danny Boyle's triumphant opening ceremony in the Olympic stadium, the queen surprised park visitors by riding the lift to the top of the tangled red Orbit Tower and giving a wave to roaring fans in the Aquatics Centre as she appeared on the results screen.
Richard Hewitt and his family joined a crowd of people lining the royal route from the Orbit to the Aquatics Centre to see the British monarch, dressed in blue, and the Duke of Edinburgh sail past in the royal car.
"I was very surprised because she was jumping out of a helicopter last night," said Hewitt in a reference to Friday night's opening ceremony in which a stuntman dressed as the queen leapt from a helicopter in a James Bond vignette.
Spectators at the Aquatics Centre cheered the queen as she took in a bit of the swimming. The smartphones were out almost instantaneously, underlining the breath-taking speed and breadth of individual communications in the first summer Games to truly harness the power of social media.
"I just posted it on Facebook," said Stephanie Ellis as she sat with her family in the tiered seats overlooking the swimming competition with her husband and two children.
Smartphones, cameras and video cameras were in the hands of most visitors to the park that has been so wired up for video, sound and communications that telephone company BT estimates it has laid enough cable to reach from London to New York.
From the Stratford Gate to the Street Market outside the basketball stadium, along London Way and down Britannia Row, visitors strolled around the 2.5-square-kilometer park, hitting the sports venues that were open, eating the food, taking pictures, cheering on the athletes, picnicking and reveling in an enthusiastic atmosphere that has been seven years in the making.
Queues were surprisingly short to get into the park, get food, drinks and into venues to watch the basketball, handball and swimming on offer in the Olympic Park on Saturday.
Some of the most popular spots were the grassy knolls of the Live Park East and Live Park West on either side of the River Lea, which cuts through the park. In the center of the river a three-sided giant TV screen with a stage showed live sports going on at various venues around the country.
