CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

CdM Today Reader’s Olympics Spectator Digest

By Gianna, Dee and Dee Kerrison

It’s become routine now that we gather every morning at Starbucks to plan our adventure and reminisce about the previous day. Our little village of South Kensington is quite famous with its close proximity to Kensington Palace, the home of Princess Diana. There are other notables that lived here in town, such as author Beatrix Potter, writer Virginia Woolf and British funny man Benny Hill. The area was largely undeveloped until the mid-19th century but now has lovely homes with museums and a university.

Excellent Taekwondo at Excel Stadium

TaeKwondo was simply amazing. Both men and women martial artists battled to become Olympic medalist for their country. There were dramatic, sudden death match points and moments of drama, as challengers were at time fighting with painful injuries. Though our seats weren’t center stage we did sit close to talk interviews with the Olympic broadcasting station. There we witnessed first hand how fiercely exhausting this sport truly can be. Though we didn’t see a U.S. athlete compete, we picked favorites and placed bets within the family with a draw between father and son.

The Tate Modern

Our sojourn of cultural pleasures continue with a visit to the Tate Modern museum. I can’t explain the pure joy in watching my husband do the 100m dash for a museum. His athleticism in maneuvering through streets to prepare entry into a museum is as beautiful as an equestrian dressage. Focused, inquisitive and vocal to share commentary with the docent, his sidekicks (wife and son) usually smile in the background with admiration. Since childhood, he has been exposed to art, as most New York children are to this day.

Memories of a young couple racing to visit an exhibit in New York called Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection made me smile sweetly as I viewed Damien Hirst’s retrospective at the Tate. The October 1999 Brooklyn Museum exhibit of 90 paintings, sculptures, photographs, and installations by 42 artists caused quite the controversy back then and attracted a record number of visitors to the sleepy museum. I looked at Dee and said, “Boy, we’ve been together a long time!” Still sensational plus having our son view the exhibit of Hirst’s The Natural History series of animals preserved in cabinets and tanks or the installation A Thousand Years of 1990 with real objects in the gallery creating a literal enactment of birth, death and decay produced lengthy discussion by all.

Truly the World’s Greatest Department Store!

Harrods the shopping mecca located in Knightsbridge has been our lunch spot the entire trip. What’s not to love with it’s enticing meals, smiling, friendly, ever so helpful staff and gorgeous decor. I’m hooked on British fudge and Turkish sugary delights. You can enjoy a Thai meal, steak dinner or roasted duck, food from India, Morocco or freshly made sushi, along with breads, rolls, buns, and desserts that will challenge any bakery.

The Kerrison family lives in Corona del Mar, and Dee Kerrison will be a Corona del Mar High School freshman in September. They have agreed to supply Olympic spectator updates as often as possible during their trip to London to see the games.

Photos courtesy of the Kerrison family.