" I am feeling very Olympic today, how about you? " Sanka from Cool Runnings

Today, I decided it was finally time to see the Olympic Green and Forest Park. I have been wanting to go for a long time and today was just the perfect weather. Plus, Bartholomew has had cabin fever for awhile. He's still mad at me for not taking him to the Great Wall. They built the Line 8 Subway just for the games in 2008 and I was able to find it after a few subway transfers. There are only three stops on the route and I got off at the first one that said Olympic arenas. Bird's Nest here I come! Not quite so fast. I found the Olympic Center and wandered around for about an hour trying to see if I would ever find the Bird's Nest. I listened to China's National Anthem over and over again on the speakers while I walked past tons of soccer, golf, and track and field fields. There were students and athletes running around everywhere. I learned I was actually in the training center and not close to the Olympic Green. I walked back to the subway and decided to try the next stop. At least I got a good walk in!

After playing some enee meany miny mo, I decided to take the exit that said "National Aquatic Center." Bazinga! I walked outside and was able to see the Bird's Nest again in the distance. I walked through some tent villages until I was able to get through security to make it on to the green. It was so cool seeing all the buildings that I watched on TV in Hawaii with Kelsey and her family two years ago!

I bought my ticket to get into the Bird's Nest. I felt excited, like I was actually going to see an Olympic meet or something. I had fun walking around inside the stadium thinking about all the thousands of people that must have been in the building for the two weeks during the Olympics. I even went to see the museum of wax figurines of all the IOC presidents. Wax figurines are always a bit creepy and silly to me at the same time, but this time, they were also a bit educational. I then found the stairs to get to the nose bleed section where I was able to truly imagine seeing a competition. I was also able to see a lot of the Olympic Green from up high. It was very fun.

Next, I went across the street to the Water Cube. I got my ticket and walked inside, and felt so cheated because right inside, all one sees is a huge aquatic park. It looks like a lot of fun, but I wanted to see the pool Phelps swam in. A girl has her priorities! Luckily, I walked around a corner and there was the Olympic Competition Pool. There are two pools, one for the divers and one for the other swimming competitions. There really is not much seating compared to what I imagined there to be. I bet it was hard to get tickets to get to a swimming meet. Bartholomew and I had fun taking pictures and pretending we were rooting for Phelps. I walked around the rest of the center. The 2008 Olympic Water Museum was closed for the day... at least... and I wasn't able to go in to see that. Maybe another time.

I waited a bit until they lit up the Bird's Nest. It's so pretty! I ran out of time to get to Forest Park, but I hope to see it soon!

If you are interested, here's my link to the pictures I took today on my facebook account:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2384940&id=11515731&l=99b6b97ac0

Sorry that the IOC presidents are all out of order!