Aug. 15, 2008
Hey Friends! Sorry for the late entries to our blog. The adventures in Beijing have been very exciting but have become quite exhausting. Matt and I seem to be very tired from our travels around Beijing. As soon as we make it back to the hotel from our ventures, we immediately pass out!
Wednesday, August 13th-"Adventures INSIDE of Olympic Green"
Wednesday began much like the other days. We woke up early, checked our email and had a wonderful breakfast buffet at the Days Café.
Once breakfast was over, we walked to the subway station, where we hopped on the line 5 transferred to the line 10 and moved again to the line 8. Beijing's public transportation is very crowded, so it's easy to mingle with others. On the train, we met a nice American family from Charlottesville, Virginia. They shared their Olympic experience and directed us to the entrance of the Olympic Sports Complex. We all were able to clear security and hopped on the final subway ride to the access of Olympic Green. The train stopped and we walked up the stairs to the entrance of the Park. As we entered, we were able to witness the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube and the Olympic Rings, instantly giving us chills down our spine. We thanked our new friends for their help and departed ways.
As we walked into the gate to the National Aquatics Center, we saw20a family taking pictures with an American flag. Matt and I forgot to pack the American flags, (Ooops!!!!) so we had to ask the family to borrow their flag for a few photos in front of the cube. When we were finished taking pictures, we entered the aquatics center and explored the facility.
Immediately, we found the warm-up pool, where we watched USA Swimmers Michael Phelps, Amanda Beard, Allison Schmitt and Brendan Hansen prepare for their upcoming races. I think Matt and I would have given anything to swim in the pool that day. Matt's quote of the day had to be, "I wouldn't mind getting run over by those guys, as long as I could swim in that lane."
After taking pictures of the athletes and the rest of the facility, we headed up to our seats located in the nose bleed section-section 206, row 47. We ended up setting next to a family from California, a family from New Jersey, and a man from Centerville, Ohio (My hometown-What a small world!).
At 10:000am the races began, the first heat of the men's 100 freestyle semi-final walked on the pool deck. It was time for the "real" Olympic experience to begin! The events that we had been waiting to see for months were going to start in a matter of seconds. My heart was beating like crazy; it was all just so exciting! It almost felt like I was on that pool deck about to swim my own race.
The first heat went off, WORLD RECORD. The second heat went off, WORLD RECORD! The Women's 200 freestyle final walked out, WORLD RECORD! Finally, the Men's 200 Butterfly final, an event Matt and I had been waiting to see for weeks was about to perform. Phelps ended up dominating the field with the fourth WORLD RECORD of the day. The Women's 200 Individual Medley final stepped to the blocks, WORLD RECORD!
Matt and I couldn't believe what we were seeing; five world records almost back to back and we still had the Men's 800 Freestyle Relay Final. We expected that to be a phenomenal swim, possibly another world record. Matt and I cheered, Phelps, Lochte, Berens and Vanderkaay on each length as they dominated the field. It was so exciting to see the Americans swim such a strong race and achieve another WORLD RECORD! Watching Olympians from all over the globe break world records was amazing, but to witness the Americans winning gold and breaking American Records and World Records had to be the highlight of our entire trip.
The Victory Ceremonies were also very impressive but emotional. It was so rewarding to hear our national anthem played over the loud speakers in Beijing, China. I think every American in the pool sang the "Star Spangled Banner." It was such a proud moment to experience Phelps `personal victory as20well as Team USA's!
As the events in the National Aquatics Center came to an end, we took a few more pictures, soaked everything in and headed out to Olympic Green. We took photos of the venues, browsed through the largest souvenir shop I've ever seen then hit up the McDonald's for a late lunch.
When lunch was over, we decided it was time to just relax, grab a few beers and hang out on Olympic Green until the evening. Of course, we had hours till we could see the Water Cube lit up, so we came up with a game to entertain ourselves. The game was named... "How many pictures can we take with other nations? " The rule had to be that they had to have the nations flag or some sort of mascot of that specific country. That night we ended up taking pictures with Australia, Great Britain, Brazil, Italy, New Zealand, China, America, Sweden, France, Trinidad and Tobago, Russia, Germany and Korea. Everyone we met seemed to be very friendly and wanted to hear our plans for our time in Beijing. Around 8:30pm the lights to the Water Cube, the Olympic Rings and the Bird's Nest quickly appeared. The evening view gave the park a completely different vibe, making it very relaxing and surreal. I couldn't count how many times Matt and I said, "Do you realize we are in China right now! This is so BEAUTIFUL!"
We left the park about 9:00 and headed back to the hotel. I don't think Matt and I have ever been so tired. Overall, the day was one of the best we had in Beijing. It ended up being very long but one that we would never forget.
Thanks for reading! We will have a few more entries up soon enough!
Our next adventure will be our experience at Ming Tomb & the Great Wall of China!
Wendy & Matt
