Day 7- Volleyball, ZOMG GABBY DOUGLAS, banana and nutella crepes & PINS!

Sorry for the day late post, guys. Honestly, I've been tending to some business back home that has left me drained in every sense of the word. Once I'd finished dealing with it last night, I was more in the mood to break something than I was to blog, hence the no-post. 


So- yesterday! My alarm went off at 6:45 AM so that I could fix my hair and would have plenty of time to get ready. If you read my previous post, I was awake until almost 3 AM the night before. As I've said before, I can run on little to no sleep, but little to no sleep for me is about 5 hours of tossing and turning, or 4 full hours of solid sleep. I can't remember the last time I tried to function on less than four hours of sleep. Because of this, I don't really know what I was thinking when I went to be on Wednesday night thinking, "eh! I'll be fine!" 


Amy and I had tickets for the morning session of regular volleyball at Earl's Court. I say regular volleyball because we've had beach volleyball, too, and I don't want anybody to get confused. After quickly getting breakfast at the McDonald's by our hostel, we boarded the tube and arrived at Earl's Court around 10 AM. 

There were two games in the morning session: Germany v. Serbia followed by Australia v. Bulgaria. Serbia dominated Germany through much of their match... I think. I'm actually not sure. Remember how I said I only got about three hours of sleep the night before? My body decided to make me pay for it as soon as I sat down. I literally couldn't keep my eyes open; everytime I tried they closed right back up and I fell back asleep. Amy tried to keep me awake, but realized it was a lost cause after about five minutes. She did say that I would conk out, but then briefly wake up when people cheered, though. She said it was actually pretty hilarious. 


So yes, I did sleep- yes, sleep- through most of the first two sets of an Olympic volleyball game. I know, that's pathetic, but I couldn't help it, y'all! Three hours of sleep. Never doing that again (famous last words). 


I did manage to wake up a little more in time for the final set of Germany/Serbia. Serbia was dominating Germany, but Germany managed to tie it. Germany got to match point about three separate times, but every time, Serbia would get the point. Germany FINALLY got a fourth match point and delivered the win for their fans. 

Pretty much the only time I was awake for more than ten seconds at the match. 

Germany fans.


The second match was Australia/Bulgaria. There's not a whole bunch to say about this one other than Bulgaria kicked Australia's ass. I'm also happy to report that I was fully awake for this one. 

Australia and Bulgaria lining up. 

After volleyball, we headed back to the tube to head to- you guessed it- North Greenwich Arena, but not before stopping outside Earl's Court station to chat with our new friend, Steve. 

Steve is one of the many Gamesmakers (title always makes me LOL and think of Hunger Games) hired to help during the Games. The Gamesmakers help Olympic guests with everything London, from directions to crowd control to tips only the locals know. London did an excellent job with hiring the Gamesmakers, EVERY SINGLE ONE we have met along the way has been incredibly nice and incredibly helpful. We ran into Steve twice in two nights on Oxford Street- both times having chatted with him a bit about everything from the location of the nearest Travelex to American TV (he loves America, but has never been to Texas. He is also a quizmaster!). He casually mentioned on Wednesday night that he would be stationed at Earl's Court- which just happened to be where we would be- so we made sure to take a picture with him before getting on the tube. 


At North Greenwich Arena, we went back to American Bar & Grill to watch the Women's All-Around. We sat on the bottom floor with other Americans who couldn't get tickets despite the BLOCKS of empty seats visible on TV (SMH). Long story short, Gabby and Aly KILLED IT. Gabby got the early lead by hitting her Amanar, whereas Russia's Victoria Komova took about four steps sideways on hers. Gabby maintained the lead throughout the entire meet, and while we thought it might be close at the end, she beat Komova and went on to become the fourth American woman to win Women's All-Around gold.

You know I teared up when the final score came in! Truth be told, I didn't think she could beat Komova, so this result was a huge surprise. Aly Raisman kicked ass and took names, too, and for a while there it looked like she was going to medal. If you can see the scoreboard, she tied Aliya Mustafina, but got fourth based on the bullshit tiebreaker rule that looks at your E score. We all know Aly is good at many things, but artistry is not one of them. 


After the meet, we did a little more schmoozing in the North Greenwich Arena lobby:

Elsa Garcia- Mexico.


We spotted John Geddert just outside the bar while the medal ceremony was going on. He walked into the bar for a few seconds and then walked out just as Gabby was getting her medal. We were going to ask him for a picture, but I didn't think it was a good idea since we'd seen tweets earlier in the day that he was particularly crabby that day. Amy got an inconspicuous pic over on her blog. Not trying to start drama, but interesting that he left despite a USA gymnast winning gold, right?


Once gymnastics was over, we headed back to our favorite post-gym ritual: Oxford Street! We hit up John Lewis, and then got snacks from nearby food stands. Amy got a waffle from a Belgian waffle stand called Wafflemeister. Right next to Wafflemeister is a little food stand that looks like the hot dog stands you see on the streets of NYC. Instead of hot dogs, however, this stand serves crepes. I got a banana and nutella crepe- which was amazing. I was gonna take a picture of it, but I ate it before I could. 


We hopped on the tube again to head to Hyde Park. Truth be told, I like the Hyde Park store's selection of Olympics merchandise better than John Lewis. I bought a coffee cup, a hat for my Dad and a volleyball pin. We left Hyde Park about 9:30.


Before getting back on the tube one final time, we stopped at Boots on Bond Street to get dinner. I got a chicken caesar wrap with chicken, bacon and cucumber. So good! Despite not blogging, I was still up until 2 AM, but was sure to get plenty of sleep. 


I'm about to follow up this entry with what we did today- so enjoy this entry, leave me comments and I will see you in like- thirty minutes! 


One last pic before I go:

YEA GABBY!!!!