Beijing 2008 Olympic Village

Aside from spending time with Steve, the highlight of the Beijing stay this time around was visiting the Olympic sites.  The Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube are open to the public to visit and I was able to spend a lot of time walking around and inside these two phenomenal venues.  You can’t really appreciate the design and architecture of the Bird’s Nest until you stand right under it.  I was just amazed at how someone was able to come up with the idea of a stadium like that and how it was actually able to be fully executed.  Once we got inside, I did a lap around the track and then just sat down in the middle of the field and chatted with my friends and some Chinese people who were equally in awe at the grandeur of the Nest.  I went back a couple of days later to check out the Water Cube and in the short time had a few thoughts racing through my head: First, “this is where Michael Phelps and the U.S. Men’s swim team owned the world,” and second, “if Dad were here, I’m sure he would have put his jammer on under his clothes in the hotel, would have found a phone booth inside the stadium and pulled a Superman. He would have stripped down and fought through security, jumped over bleachers, and dove in the pool, once again showing American dominance in the water.” I actually thought a lot of that up just right now, but I did imagine my dad drooling at the sight of the pristine water.