on the outside looking in - Stratford

The Olympics and Paralympics are fast approaching - kicking off in about 6 weeks - and as I don't have a ticket to any of the events it seemed like a good idea to go down to Stratford to see the Olympic park while they add the finishing touches. The park obviously wasn't open so we went to snoop from afar.

The red structure on the left is The Orbit designed by Anish Kapoor, to the right is the equestrian centre and between the two is the Olympic Stadium. 

I rarely, if ever, travel out as far as Stratford, the furthest east I tend to go is shoreditch or hackney and the site of the Olympic Park couldn't be more different with it's numerous new builds - modern flats, bridges, the gargantuan shopping centre Westfield, public sculptures and art pieces and of course the Stadium itself and it's accompaniments - the Orbit, equestrian centre, international train station, water polo building, basketball arena and the Olympic Village. The work that's been completed is simply vast! It sounds silly but I really had no idea how big the Olympic Park was going to be - the scale of the construction is insane! But then again, it's got to hold however many millions of visitors between the end of July and beginning of September.

View from outside Stratford Station -Titanium sculpture and the Stratford Centre

As we were in the area we stopped by Westfield for lunch. I've not been to either of the Westfields in London before and the one at Stratford is absolutely huge - it's quite overwhelming how much choice there is and not just in the World Food Court. It's like Oxford Street over three floors! Whilst in the biggest shopping centre I've ever been to I was of course super tempted to buy stuff. Being v.restrained I came away I giant ball of yarn in order to start my first ever knitting project and one of the vests Orla Kiely has designed for Uniqlo :)

And, so you really can appreciate how big the yarn ball is...with a beardy update for good measure.