Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Big O By Night

The Bird Nest, National Stadium, Olympic Green, Beijing

Finally, this thing called the Olympic Games is almost on autopilot and that means two things: more than three hours of sleep a night and time to enjoy the occasional event.

My first outing: a trip to the Olympic Green to the see the famous "Bird's Nest", "Water Cube" and the Men's 200m Butterfly starring Michael Phelps.

The ladies got into the action too with a little 200m Freestyle.


The National Aquatic Center or "Water Cube" is an architectural feat with a design based on the natural form of soap bubbles. It's a stunning venue.

Architecture aside, the highlight of the evening was watching Michael Phelps compete in the 200m Butterfly. That man is a machine. I think, perhaps, even the Chinese were rooting for him. There he is, lane 4, Team USA.

Reflecting pools are everywhere.

And the "Bird's Nest'' at night is spectacular.

Home to the Opening Ceremony and the upcoming Athletic events.

You know me and night time photography - I just can't let the thing sit there.

The Olympic Games are definitely "Made for TV" - hope you are enjoying it!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

"just can't let the thing sit there". Too funny. :-) Love the shots and your comments. The Chinese really outdid themselves and I'm saying that just seeing pics. Can only imagine how much better it is in person. And yeah, that Phelps must be part fish.
:-D

kjpweb said...

Nice to see the birdsnest from a different perspective! And cool to get some other different sights to see! As supposed to the always repeating images from the US Media..
Thank you for sharing and Cheers, Klaus

Lana Gramlich said...

The "bird's nest" is so cool, but so is the "water cube" & of course I LOVE the idea of lots of reflections!
Thanks for another round of delicious & enlightening photos!

Louise said...

Great photos. Love your nighttime interpretation of the birdsnest.

Thanks for sharing your "reports" which are so much different than what we see elsewhere!

Anonymous said...

What an incredible athlete Michael Phelps is. My son is in awe of him. I was so interested to see your photos of the Cube. Stunning!

Mary said...

Dear Tim,

Does this mean the bulk of the work is behind you and you can enjoy the event and sleep at night? Hope so! What you share is glorious. I want more!

Tonight I plan to post about Michael Phelps and how I remember him.

Your photos are extraordinary, Tim. The color! Keep them coming!

Doug Taron said...

The Water Cube is incredible. Thanks for giving me a few moments of being virtually there.

Carol Michel said...

Incredible pictures. I came via Mary's View. The Olympics have been very interesting so far...

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

L'Adelaide said...

I found you from Crayons and ended up reading for half an hour of your journeys in China! Fascinating to have your perspective on a very complicated, immense country. My son recently returned with his wife, who is Chinese, and can't wait to go back, EXCEPTING that terrible smog problem they must come to grips with!

Anonymous said...

WOW, Tim! Love the new perspective from your outing. Glad you got out and hope you are getting more sleep and get more photo outings! Steven says he may be interested in going back to China. Uhmmm, that's a hopeful sign it could happen since he said he'd never ride in my smart car and he has:) Steven just came back by my computer again, and commented on China again.
Xie Xie. Keep sharing my friend, Saun

Greg said...

Thanks for another perspective--love your shots of the stadium and the water cube! I'd missed hearing about the soap bubble concept until this.

(Hey, any chance you can get a shot of one of those potted bamboo things trained to look like an urn that were in the background for the gymnastics scoring the other night--they look really cool!)

Phelps is Aquaman!!!!

Glad you're having some fun now...

coolwaterworks said...

Wow, it's great to see these photos from another perspective...

Wonderful adventures!

I am adding you to my blog roll....

Prêt à Voyager said...

What a great blog you have too, TR! I can't tell you how incredibly jealous that you not only attended the Olympics but worked for it too! (That and that you got to see Michael Phelps swim!). It's my goal to work for the Olympics is some capacity one day... Great photos!!!!

Anne

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