Posts in “Olympics Venues” Category

I, personally, have never been in a bird's nest! Well, that was until five days ago. We got tickets to the second day of athletics. Even though it's not our favorite event, we just wanted to see what the Chinese National Stadium or the "Bird's Nest" was like.

 
First, we took the subway to the Olympic Green stop.  See how crowded it was at the exit of the subway!

Today is the big day of the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing.  My family is all excited about watching it on TV (we could only get one ticket to the opening ceremony, and decided we'd rather watch it together at home together).

Everyone knows that these are called the Beijing Olympics. But that's not all. Since Beijing doesn't have enough stadiums and facilities to host all the events themselves, they've enlisted the help of other cities. These cities are called the "co-host cities" The co-host cities are: Qingdao ("q" is pronounced like a "ch" in English), Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao.

Qingdao, is going to hold the sailing events, as it is a good to place to sail because of its location on the ocean. The equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong. Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao will hold soccer matches that Beijing can't have played there.

In my previous post, I've already told you about the equestrian events in Hong Kong, so let me tell you a little bit about the other Olympic co-host cities.

Qingdao is a beautiful place with beaches, mountains and the ocean. It also has a seaport and naval base.

Tianjin used to be Beijing's seaport in the time of the emperors.  It has many foreign settlements there with lots of interesting non-Chinese looking buildings. It's also very close to Beijing so if you have time, you should check it out. They just finished a high speed train so spectators can get from Beijing to Tianjin easily.

Shanghai is the economic center of China, just like Beijing is the political center of China. Shanghai is also another seaport and has many remnants of Chinese history (i.e. The Bund and Foreign Concessions).

Shenyang is the capital of Liaoning Province, with a railroad station and airport. The city has maintained its history throughout the years and the government is trying to turn the city greener.

Qinhuangdao is another seaport as it borders Bohai Bay. It also boasts the eastern most part of the Great Wall.

I'll write more when I've actually attend a canoeing event next week!

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong. Now, the air distance from Beijing to Hong Kong is about 1230 miles (1979 kilometers)--that's almost as far away as New York City is from Miami, Florida!

The reason they decided to hold the equestrian events in Hong Kong is because the Hong Kong Jockey Club has lots of experience in taking care of horses. However, part of the complication for these Olympics is getting the horses to Hong Kong. The horses used in these events are really expensive (over a million U.S. dollars) and they are treated like athletes. Horses aren't exactly stupid, so when they are loaded on a plane, they sense danger and need to be calmed down.

To prepare for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Beijing has set up different competitions to test the new Olympic venues, such as the MLB playing in the Wukesong Baseball Stadium. Another of these pre-Olympic competitions was the 2008 FINA Diving World Cup held in May of this year.

My parents got three tickets to the Women's 3-Meter Springboard Diving at the Water Cube so I got to go! The reason the Water Cube is so special is the fact that it was built as "green" and environmentally friendly. The bubbles in the structure allow the Water Cube to collect rainwater, and it uses the sun to heat up the pools and the pool areas.