London will be hosting the 2012 Olympics later on this summer. Part of the Olympic pageantry, which I am a huge fan, involves the Torch Relay. The Torch Relay starts in Greece where the torch is lit by the power of the sun at the Temple of Hera. From there, the Olympic Flame is carried by symbolic torches designed for each Olympic host city and transported around to all regions, districts, landmarks, and sights in the host country before entering the Olympic Stadium on the night of the Opening Ceremonies where it is used to light the official Olympic Cauldron at the host stadium. While the Olympic Flame has been part of the modern games since Amsterdam in 1928, the Torch Relay was first carried out during the controversial Nazi-run 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. Out of controversy springs a fantastic new tradition, however, that allows each host country to showcase their cultures, landscapes, and histories with the rest of the world in the weeks and months leading up to the Games.
In the UK, the Torch started a number of weeks back and made its way from the southwest of England into Wales and Northern Ireland, stopping at castles, the mountains of Snowdonia in Wales, the Giant's Causeway in N. Ireland, and eventually back over to Britain where it made its way into Glasgow last Friday. Scotland and the UK have been having battling over a Scottish Independence Movement that is currently in full-swing and there was a general buzz of concern whether the Glaswegians would be as supportive of the Games being hosted in the capital city of the country from which many want to secede. The issue of the role of the Scottish nation in the Olympics was recently in the news as the London Olympic Committee told Scotland they would have to take down their National Flag at their National Stadium in Edinburgh while initial Soccer games were being played there. Scotland balked and the London Olympic Committee gave them permission to fly the Saltire, which they said they never forbade in the first place (the International Olympic Committee also said they never would have supported the removal of the Scottish National Flag, for the record!).
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| George Square in the morning, setting up for the nighttime festivities |
The worries ended up being totally unfounded as thousands of people showed up to line the Torch Relay route in multiple different suburbs of the city and eventually into the City Center. There were flags being flown of all countries and people of all different nationalities out supporting their colors, including myself (though I really had to search hard to find a US-themed shirt or jersey or flag in Glasgow, eventually settling on a US Olympic Football jersey).
My friends and I went out to watch the Torch pass the University of Glasgow's Main Gate and then tried catching the subway into town to see it as it passed through on its way to a ticketed concert event in George Square, which we didn't have tickets to, but ate dinner nearby at DiMaggio's (Olympic Pizza special was awesome!) hoping to hear the music. We couldn't hear anything but went elsewhere to watch the Euro 2012 football matches for a little while. The concert ended fairly early and things began to be dismantled in George Square, which soon reopened to the public and we then got some fun photos by an awesome sculpture of the Olympic Rings.
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| Passing on the Torch in front of the University of Glasgow |
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| Olympic Rings in George Square in front of the City Chambers |
The next morning, the Torch Relay started off at the Riverside Museum on the tallship docked there, probably in honor of Glasgow's past and present ship-building industry. My neighbor and I woke up super early (6am) to get to the museum in time where I fulfilled my goal of getting my photo taken with the torch and to touch the torch, which is difficult to do in a non-awkward way because the torch bearers are not allowed to let go of the torch, but I succeeded in my mission! The torch was lit from little lanterns which house the flame when it's not being run along the route or when it's in transit by plane, or boat, or bus, or whatever. With the torch lit, the relay began and the bearer ran around the museum, past a bagpipe troupe, and off through Glasgow on its way up to Loch Lomond.
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| Me with the torch! |
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| The Torch is lit on the Glenlee at the Riverside Museum |
It was a brief, but very celebratory few days and I'm so glad I got to participate in the festivities, even as remotely as cheering on the flame as it passed through a city hundreds of miles away from where the Games will actually be. Photos from the festivities are below! Happy Olympics!
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