The Olympic Park

Today I did a walking tour around the Olympic Park - five years on since the Olympic Games were held in London, the park has undergone some changes and is a hive of activity with redevelopment, cranes everywhere and construction of residential and office buildings taking place.

The famous Aquatic Park designed by Zaha Hadid has had its 'wings' removed -they were unbolted and sold - this provided extra seating for 15000 people during the Olympic Games, but now is no longer necessary. You can see the changes in the extra photos.

It was fascinating to see the changes there - apparently the people who lived there before the Games are unhappy with the loss of parkland for buildings, and although you have the very upmarket and swish Westfield shopping centre there providing every retail delight you can think of, there is still not much soul in the newly developed area - no pubs! 

The older area around the canals is also being developed for use by businesses. I did notice so much graffiti on all the buildings - some call it art, but in some places I think it is just vandalism of buildings and signs(see extra).