Day 8: The Olympic Park!

Saturday was my last day in Beijing and we saved it to see the Olympic Park from the 2008 Summer Olympics. I was waiting for this for a long time and was very excited. I followed those games quite closely and remember all the talk and news about this somewhat controversial construction and the debatable athletic results. 

Before that we had to make a pit stop at Hollister. The store opened at 10am that day. Unfortunately we were too late to see that actual opening at 10. That would have been quite a sight. However, when we got there at 10:30 the line to enter the store was already snaking through the plaza. 

Just as I had to visit a Chinese McDonalds, I also had to visit a Starbucks. The dollar value of the menu was similar to the American one (maybe even a bit more expensive!), which means that in China it is pretty expensive. However, the line was quite long and consisted of Westerners and locals. Like at McDonalds, the menu was considerably smaller but there were some Chinese twists suck as this green tea sesame cookie.

So, now we were ready to see the most modern Beijing.

There were many field trips here.

After posing as cross country skiers I remembered that this was the sight of the Summer games (duh) and so we switched to gymnastics.

It was pretty cool to see this site. I've seen the sites of Calgary, Squaw Valley, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Munich and Rome but most of these sights left little to feel of the Olympic Spirit. I was in Salt Lake City six months after the Winter games and there was not a trace of the event left in the city. However, Beijing is maintaining the Olympic aura as was evidenced by the intense advertisement and abundance of school trips. 

I was happy to see this site because I've seen it so much on TV that seeing it in person was pretty breathtaking. It was less abstract than the Great Wall of China because the 2008 Games are still fresh in my memory. Anyways, I'm just saying that this was a great sight to see.

Cheers,

Nina.