The Egg

The National Centre for the Performing Arts also known as the Egg is one of the most unique buildings in Beijing.

It is an ellipsoid made out of titanium and glass. It is surrounded by an artificial lake. The lake reflects the dome and makes it look like an egg floating in the water.

The entrance to the dome is through a hallway under the lake.

Olympic Green

One of the fun things about the Olympics was the Olympic Green. The Green was filled with fun activities. The sponsors had buildings with fun displays and activities. This building was shared by Coca-Cola and Kodak.

Inside there were huge Coke bottles, one for each province that were designed by local artists.

Many of the sponsors also had photo ops. Omega had this fun kayak to sit in.

Another sponsor had a huge set of Friendlies.

I really like Friendlies.

Samsung had an Olympic torch. We actually got in line to pose with it by accident. Most of the buildings had lines to get in the building. We thought we were standing in line to enter to the building, but it turned out to be a line to take pictures with the torch.

I don't know if this was supposed to be a photo op, but it was still fun.

Bird's Nest

The Bird's Nest is the nickname given to the Beijing National Stadium. It is considered one of the most unique designs in Olympic history. There is no distinction between the decorative and the structural portions of stadium.

The outside consists of enormous beams that resemble silver twigs making the stadium look like a huge bird's nest. Although, the design was inspired by the study of Chinese ceramics.

The 24 main columns weigh between 500 and 800 tons each. It is the world's largest steel structure, containing 110, 000 tons of steel.

The stadium was host to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as Track and Field events and Soccer finals.

Thanks to NBCOlympics.com and Wikipedia for the details.

Water Cube

The Water Cube is the nickname given to the National Aquatic Center in Beijing. The swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming events were held inside the Water Cube. Its design was inspired by the shape of water bubbles.

There are over 3000 bubbles on the outside. They are made of a lightweight, but very strong material called ETFE. They are 0.008 of an inch thick. Each bubble or air cushion is also independent allowing for easy replacement when needed. The bubbles serve more than just aesthetic purposes. They are also used to provided solar power to heat the water or inside the cube.

During the day, you can see the Bird's Nest reflected in the water bubbles.

And at night, the Water Cube is lit by an LED system with over 16 million tones that turn it into a rainbow of colors. Mostly, water tones are used though.

The water bubble theme was carried over inside on the ceilings...

And on the walls...

A look at the busy lobby area...

The pool is 13 meters deep and was kept at 82.4 degrees.

The Water Cube took about 4 years and cost around $200 million to build.

Thanks to NBCOlympics.com for all the interesting facts.

Field Hockey

The last event I went to see was Men's Field Hockey. Until we got our tickets, I didn't even know that men played field hockey, but here they are playing.

Our tickets were for early Sunday morning. They included 2 games. The first was Great Britain vs. Canada.

Here is some action in the goal.

In the end, the game ended up tied 1-1. No winner.

The second game was South Korea vs. Belgium. South Korea won 3-1.

None of the teams that we saw made it to the medal round, but they were still fun to watch.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival. It is a day for giving and eating Moon Cakes. It is also a day for spending time with family.

Moon Cakes come in many different sizes and flavors.

Here is one in a little box.

Inside the box is a packaged Moon Cake.

Moon Cakes are often given in large boxes with elaborately packaged Moon Cakes inside.

But they basically all look the same inside the packaging.

They come in many interesting flavors. I have no idea what flavor this is, but it is a traditional favorite.

I prefer the fruity flavors. The little strawberry ones are particularly good.

Swimming

After Water Polo, we made our way to the Water Cube for Swimming. We saw heats for 4 events, but no finals or semi-finals.

The first event we saw was the Women's 50 Meter Freestyle. Here is one heat preparing to start.

Here they are swimming. There were 2 great things about the 50 meter. First, it is a quick race, so you don't have to worry about getting bored. Keep reading for more on getting bored. Second, there were 12 heats with about 90 swimmers total so we got to see swimmers from all over the world swim.

The second event was the Men's 1500 Meter Freestyle. 1500 meters is 30 laps, and there were 5 heats. That is a total of 150 laps. This is where I got a little bored. It was a lot of back and forth across the pool. Back and forth and back and forth and... Here they are with 25 more laps to go.

The third event was the Women's 4X100 Medley Relay. Here the women are getting ready to start.

And here they are swimming.

And here they are passing off from one swimmer to the next.

The last event we saw was the Men's 4X100 Medley Relay. Here they are swimming.

And no, we did not see Michael Phelps swim. He swam in the 4X100 Medley Finals, but not in the heats. None of the US swimmers that swam in the heats, swam in the finals, but I hear that everyone that swam in the heats or the finals got a gold medal.

Water Polo

We woke up Friday morning without any plans for the day. We were thinking of going to a museum or the ruins of the old Summer Palace, but I decided to check online to see if there were any tickets available for that day before we left. I was able to find tickets to see swimming in the evening at the Water Cube which were more expensive than most of the tickets but not too expensive. I was also able to find tickets to Water Polo in the afternoon. Water Polo turned out to be one of my favorite events. I didn't know much about the rules before we went, but I learned a lot watching. It seems to combine rules from a lot of different sports all in one.

Here is a full pool shot.

Each match started with the ball held in the center. As the swimmers swam toward the ball, the red ring would retract under the surface.

It was amazing how they could swim across the pool and keep the ball with them the whole time. They are amazing athletes.

Our tickets included 4 games. The first was The Netherlands vs. Australia. We arrived about halfway through the game after traveling across town to pick up our tickets. Australia beat The Netherlands 10-9.

The second game was USA vs. Russia.

Here is a shot of US Goalie. It is amazing how far she was out of the water.

USA played a good game. They won 12-7. Here they are scoring a goal.

The third game was Hungary vs. Greece. Hungary had a large cheering section. I wish I had some good photos of them. Greece had about 3 fans, but they kept at it. Hungary beat Greece 10-4.

We missed the last game which was China vs. Italy. I would have loved to stay for that game, but we also wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to make it to the Water Cube for our swimming tickets.

In the end, The Netherlands ended up with Gold, USA got the Silver, and Australia beat Hungary for the Bronze. It is exciting that we got to see all 4 teams that competed for a medal play.

Softball

I think my least favorite event was softball. I don't know if it was softball itself that made it the least favorite or everything that lead up to the game. We left early for the game, planning to stop for the lunch along the way. We got out of the subway for our lunch stop, and everyone was hanging around the subway exit. It was pouring outside. We didn't have time to wait around, so we pressed through in the rain. By the time we got to the restaurant, we were soaked. After trying to call and check if the game was still happening, we decided to just go to the stadium and find out there. We also decided to buy some rain ponchos. We couldn't find any normal rain ponchos, but we were able to get some made for riding a bike. After what seemed like forever, we finally made it to the stadium and found out the game was delayed a hour and 15 minutes. Now, on to the game...

Here is the field. We had nice seats on the 3rd baseline.

The first game was The Netherlands vs. Japan.

Here I am, all decked out in my bike poncho.

There were some serious Japanese fans at the game. They had their own cheerleader with gloves and all. By the end of the game, I could even say a few cheers in Japanese.

In the end, Japan won the game. The final score was 3-0. And Japan went on to win the gold medal.

Our tickets included a second game. It was Chinese Taipei vs Venezuela. We thought about staying for the beginning of the game, but after realizing it would be 30 minutes before the game started added to the fact that we were cold, tired, and still a little wet, we decided one game of softball was enough for the day.