Athens Olympic Torch Relay Days 15-32

Cape Town and London 

This was my one week break and my wife joined me for the first three days in Cape Town, we were staying at the Table Bay hotel a five star establishment within the Victoria and Alfred waterfront. The service was outstanding, the location was outstanding and I was back with my wife again things could not be better. After this it was back to the UK for four days with the children before setting of on the second leg of the trip.

Amsterdam, Geneva, London, Rome, Berlin, Stockholm and Helsinki

 

The long range flights ended as the aircraft arrived in Europe and the relay changed its pace. The days started early with the relay teams leaving the hotel by 6AM with the aircraft leaving at about 7AM before arriving in the relay city at about 8AM. The relay ran from about 10AM to 6PM and then they were back to the hotel for some food and sleep before starting the entire thing again the following day.

 

I left home again on the evening of day 20 and spent the night in a hotel at Amsterdam airport before sorting out the arrival. Unknown to us all the airport had planned a water cannon salute and as the aircraft turned onto stand with the emergency escape hatch open and the Dutch flag blowing in the wind the fire engines powered up and started to spray water. The flag disappeared and the hatch closed very quickly.  As soon as the aircraft was put to bed I was round to the terminal for my flight to Geneva where I had to finalise the arrangements for the arrival the next day. 

 

Day 22 started with the arrival of the aircraft in Geneva and having sorted out the aircraft I took the opportunity to go and see the relay in action running around Lausanne.

 

The format of the relay was very similar to the London 2012 relay; there is a briefing for all runners the night before where all the details are explained to the runners on the day the local police secured the road the sponsors vehicles preceded the relay by a few minutes the relay is preceded by a minibus with the runners on board this minibus dropped them at the prearranged spot ready for them to run. The torch relay comes through which is loosely surrounded by the Torch security team in our case runners and the motorcycle outriders, this is immediately preceded by the film truck that records every moment on the relay for later transmission or resale. As each runner approaches the next the runners come to a halt and the security team member running with them conducts the changeover, this involves starting the gas running on the new runners torch, kissing the two torches together until the flame transfers to the new runners torch and finally cutting the gas supply to the old Torch so that it goes out and thus the flame is symbolically transferred to the new runner who then sets off. The old runner waits a few moments and is then collected by the “broom wagon” and returned to the muster point where they are given the opportunity to purchase their torch for a not insubstantial sum of money. Once the relay has passed the road is reopened and normality returns. At the end of the day there is a relay “celebration” usually consisting of a concert of some sort. Shortly after this starts the fame is re-housed in its lantern and the cauldron turned off and the relay team leave to return to the hotel whilst leaving the local relay team to manage the remainder of the celebration.

 

 

Having seen the start of the celebration I also made my excuses and returned to Geneva and the hotel for some rest before the 5AM start the next morning.  With the aircraft dispatched to Paris I caught a flight back to Gatwick and then a bus to Heathrow for the final briefing for the London stop. With this complete it was a bus back home for the night. Day 29 started very early start for the drive to Heathrow and the royal suite. In 2004 permission to use the Royal Suite was only granted by the Foreign office and this was one of the first times that it had been used for a none state event. The entrance to the suite is deliberately not well signposted on the basis that if you need to ask where it is then you don’t need to be there. Once inside there are several rooms for waiting in, VIP rooms for VIP meters and greeters and less formal rooms for the Police, Military and other “operational” meters and greeters. London was one of the bidding cities for the 2012 Olympics and wanted to make a big show as the IOC was going to be watching.

 

 

 

It had been made clear that the Relay was an Athens 2004 event and was off limits for 2012 campaigning and it was a case of, to quote from Faulty Towers, “don’t mention the war” everything that could be done was done but no one was allowed to mention 2012 especially as Paris had got into trouble the day before for not removing signs saying Paris 2012 candidate city. With the aircraft put to bed I was straight home to sit in front of the TV and watch the London leg of the relay.

The next day was an early bus back to Heathrow where unusually the flame was leaving on a separate aircraft to Madrid which was a last minute insertion to the itinerary as it had been discovered it was the only 2012 candidate city that was not planned for a visit and it was important not to put them at any disadvantage. The main aircraft departed to Barcelona a couple of hours later where it was planned that the relay would start as soon as the flame had been extinguished in Madrid. With this done I caught a flight to Rome where I arrived before lunch.

The next day was Rome and with the aircraft all sorted out before 10AM several of us decided to do the tourist thing in Rome, it’s a fantastic city and everywhere you turn there is another world famous historical sight. It was hugely hot at about 40C but well worth the effort and hopefully I will return there in 2013 with the family. Another city another day.... The aircraft were dispatched to Munich and I caught a flight to Berlin, The following day was relay day in Berlin much the same as any other European Day but this time as soon as the aircraft were put to bed and the relay was away I flew on to Stockholm where the relay was due the next day. I had an airport hotel and being tired never left it, I have been to Stockholm numerous times but never been into the city, this is something I will have to correct one day. The next two days were Stockholm and Helsinki again standard European Relay days.