Day 14 - Thursday 9th August

Mid-morning, the three girls went for another shopping expedition. In the afternoon, they went out again after Amelia's nap. I took the opportunity to catch up on my blog and photo sites.

John had managed to get two tickets to the women's Olympic basketball match tonight at the North Greenwich Stadium (the O2 Arena). It was a semi-final match between Russia and France.

Nicky had decided that she wouldn't go because it doesn't start until 9pm and she felt this would be too late for her. So they asked me if I wanted to go instead.

John works at Canary Wharf which is only one station away from North Greenwich station and so John was going to meet me there at about 7:30pm. John booked a table for us at the Rodizio Rico Restaurant in the stadium complex at 7:45pm.

I caught a Northern line train to London Bridge where I changed to the Jubilee line to go to North Greenwich. There were huge crowds at the station because one match had just finished - Australia vs USA (we lost).

The crowd control was excellent. The queue leaving the stadium was five or six people wide and snaked its way between the roped walkways as those heading to the station followed a parallel path in the opposite direction. There were plenty of volunteers to assist.

The stadium is just next to the exit from the station. I arrived early at about 7:10pm and waited near the station for John. As usual we had to go through security checks before entering the stadium complex.

O2 Arena is an impressive complex - much more than just a stadium because it contains various entertainment features including a dozen or more restaurants. Most of these are in a group on the right of the entrance called Entertainment Street. It reminded me of Acer Arena in Sydney.

Ridicio Rico is Brazilian style restaurant. People normally go there for the all-you-can-eat-meat menu. There is a salad bar where you help yourself. However the meat is provided by waiters who go from table to table offering different types of meat. Most of the time, they carve the meat from a large skewer. John ordered a bottle of Italian wine to accompany the meal. It was a very enjoyable meal.

The stadium was packed with an enthusiast audience. The match itself was fairly close. In the end, France beat Russia by about 10 points. It was a great experience.

John had ordered a hire car to take us back to East Finchley and it was almost midnight before I flopped into bed. I was exhausted.