London, episode 18. In which Mari learns some colorful Portuguese.

Words cannot describe how suspensefully and nervously excited I had been those five years between our first visit to London until our first day of Olympics action on August 5, 2012. I find it also difficult to describe how thrilled and relieved Mari and I both were to find one of our favorite cities so beautifully on display for the world.

I don't just mean the gorgeous city and its fanciful juxtaposition of centuries-old monuments and technologically glamorous industry. I'm referring to the beauty of the people of the United Kingdom and their wonderfully welcoming energy, their exuberant enthusiasm, and (especially for me) their outstanding organization.

What we all see neatly packaged on the small screen in our comfortable homes is the result of years of hard work and incredible organization that even a fastidiously amateur travel guru must admire with all his heart.

Thank you, gracias, e obrigado, London.

Pictured above is one of the daily travel cards both Mari and I received with our CoSport event ticket purchases. A full-zone travel card was issued with each event ticket to keep visitors moving smoothly throughout London as we made our way to sporting venues throughout the city. One less thing to worry about and an efficient way to speed things along. For hoarder-collectors like yours truly it also makes a colorful souvenir slash future-scrapbook-memento.  

Back to the very serious business of fleamarketing. Before using our final travel cards to head out to Wembley Stadium, Mari and I were busily browsing and chatting up the street vendors on Portobello Road. While Mari loves browsing vintage and unique jewelry (that's jewellery for our British friends), I am a big fan of what has been colorfully coined as Asiana by collectors. I blame my first snuff bottle for turning an eclectic mix of colorful, historic, and easy-to-pack collectibles into a favorite collection. I'll confess that the impetus behind our themed guest bath remodel nearly 10 years ago was to expand the display space for my eclectic collection that was still in its nascent stages.

Much of my collected Asiana is at home on glass shelves in a two by five foot lighted display that was magically recessed (by a very clever and handily-talented handyman) into the wall opposite the sink in which my ever-expanding (as I get older) morning rituals are performed to a disco beat.

Pictured are a few items I've temporarily plucked for a quick photo shoot. At top are two carved stamps made from very bright and opalescent stones. They are deeply and richly carved on the bottom with symbols which will appear when inked on a stamp pad (remember those?). The one on the left is a four-inch tall obelisk filled with columns of writing on the three sides not pictured.

On the right, is a three-inch tall oval stamp with similar writing meticulously (its meaning mysterious to me) illuminating both sides.

On the bottom is my Portobello pick for that Saturday, our first visit to the bustling market of antiques vendors on the street. While not a stamp like the others (picked on two separate occasions at New York's defunct Antiques Garage) the two-inch stone immediately caught my collector's gaze through its delicately carved cameo-like layers, seemingly glowing when I first picked it up from the young street vendor that morning. It now hums its gentle glow on the small glass shelf where it has been recollected with delicately carved siblings I have selectively gathered during our travels.

In other words, like my beloved Charlie Brown,

I got a rock.

The day is at hand, alas, for us to leave our London2012 journey in the well-storied past.

Before we move on, however, I wanted to share a final look back to that exciting and very busy Saturday.

Mari and I managed this selfie just as the soccer final was about to begin. Little did we know that our end zone seats would prove to be among the best vantage points for the action that day.

Those of you following me on FaceBook have the option of viewing two video compilations I put together from my two-hour-plus iMovie home movie.

The first is mostly our Saturday soccer game experience which includes a brief sampling of some of the more colorful commentary shouted by a trio of Brazilian fans seated a few rows above us. It appeared to be two brothers or best friends and a tween son who didn't seem to mind his father's and uncle's exuberance.

Although Portuguese is my mother tongue, I was hard-pressed to translate for Mari some of the more colorful expressions, particularly through my constant bouts with uncontrollable giggles whenever the Brazilian boys' unrestrained passion erupted behind us.

It certainly didn't help that Mexico scored its first goal before even the first minute of the game had elapsed.

I was just about to stow my video camera when a mad scramble downfield caught everyone's barely-focused attention and I managed to record that crazy and decisive moment.

Unfortunately, the formidable and (perhaps) overly aggressive Brazilian Olympic team never recovered from that opening goal by Mexico. My own delicate nature has barely since recovered from the relentless barrage of vehemently shouted scorn from a few rows back!

Despite leaving the enjoyably memorable game before the medal ceremony, Mari and I did experience one final ceremony that evening at Earls Court where Brazil would defeat Team USA in women's volleyball.

The second video compilation you will find on my FaceBook post (October 22, 2017 blog link) is a brief recording Mari and I made while we watched the preparations for the volleyball medal ceremony. We reflect on our overall experience while giving you a view of just how much effort is involved in putting together such an event.

The behind-the-scenes experiences we had at the London Olympics were new glimpses for us into otherwise familiar spectator spectacles. As I've attempted to convey, dear reader, since I began this Olympics journey with you, experiencing the Games in person had been a dream of mine since childhood. A combination of pride, nationalism, sentiment (always sentiment), and a festering travel bug made this trip-of-a-lifetime a reality.

I am ever thankful for every divinely amazing circumstance that supports my festering travel bug and for the wondrously supportive Mari who always manages to locate our smiles in every selfie (even without a stupid selfie stick).

We return to London for a quick layover next time.

For those of you not members of the FaceBook community,

you may find my video compilations on YouTube.

youtu.be/ZgN5TufQRCc

youtu.be/nmxOvCazeRw