Ghost Park

9/4/2013 - London 

A sign at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park simultaneously welcomed me and apologized: "We are delighted to be able to open a small area of the Northern Parkland for you to enjoy... The remainder of the Park is still under construction and will be fully open in spring 2014." It wasn't clear why most of the park is inaccessible, as the Olympics were only a year ago. The park was almost entirely fenced in. There were more constructions workers and security guards than anyone in the "small area of the Northern Parkland."

Since the rest of London has been so amazing, it was especially jarring to see that the Olympic Park is a ghost town. On my phone, I could see huge facilities and parkland on Google Maps. When I looked up, I saw distant skeletons of buildings, hidden behind fences and bulldozers that were demolishing the roads into the park. The closest sign of civilization was a mall with a Mexican restaurant called "Wahaca." I waited until I got back to Central London before I had lunch.

Pictured: View of the "River Lea" and the rest of the Olympic Park in the distance.