WITNESSING CHINA WIN THE GOLD

We woke up Sunday determined to get into the fenced off indoor stadium. After all, can you really claim to have "gone to the Olympics" without getting close to the Birds Nest, Water Cube, etc.?! We set off to find tickets….

SEARCHING FOR TICKETS
But first, we got distracted with our morning coffee and a few hours of hanging out with Jim. Alas, caffeine up, we set out. Our first stop was near a subway. It was fascinating to watch the co-existence of scalpers and police officers. Apparently it's legal to buy, but illegal to sell. So scalpers had signs that said they wanted to buy! We also learned to look for groups of people. Since it was the first weekend, the "scalping scene" had yet to be defined. There were quite a few tickets available, but most were for later in the evening (after our flight) or other days. Every ticket was at least 1000RNB ($150 US) - even though face value was 35RNB-200RNB. Having no luck by the subway stop, we walked the massive Beijing blocks to the main entrance of the indoor stadiums. Beijing is MASSIVE for those who don't know. A "block" is about 3 American blocks. Something that is "right around the corner" is about 10minutes away - sprinting. Ok, we're exaggerating - but not much!

GIVING UP
There were a lot more people scalping at the main entrance, but a lot less tickets. We walked up and down trying to find something - anything - for the afternoon. We finally took down some telephone numbers of scalpers who said to call back at 1:30. In the meantime, we went for lunch at this awesome restaurant place that Jim likes. We were a bit bummed we couldn't land any tickets, even though the day had been quite fun so far.
THE RACE TO MAKE THE START
With no expectations, we called one of the scalpers who actually had found diving tickets for 2:30. He called us a couple of times, asking if we were coming because he had people offering more than we paid (1250 RMB - so about 1000RNB scalping fee). While far more than we wanted, it was at least getting us into the stadium area. We raced back to the stadium to find all the streets around the venue were blocked for the street bike race. We were dropped off "nearby" which means about 2 miles from where the scalper was with 20 minutes until the start. The stadium area is fenced off, so we couldn't even shortcut in because first we needed to meet scalper guy for the ticket.
Once we finally got the ticket, getting through security was really easy given how well it's organized.

TICKETS FOR WHAT?!
It was only when we finally arrived at the Water Cube did we realize we were seeing Synchronized Woman’s Diving. We were a bit late to the start, but only missed the first of 5 rounds of dives for the 8 participating countries. The venue was awesome - so much more of the Olympic spirit. The event finished with the medal ceremony. It was particularly exciting as China won the Gold (Shanghai's first!), Russia won silver, & Germany bronze. We think China is still learning to be expressive. The audience and medal winners were far less rambunctious than the minority foreigners in the house.
We hung around inside the water cube - closer to the pool - watching the men's diving group warm up. Unfortunately we were kicked out for the next event, but not before Lila poked on the air-filled plastic walls of the water cube. It's really an interesting engineering approach to construction and gives the water cube a very dynamic shape.

THE INSIDE SCOOP
We were so excited to be walking around the inner area of the Olympics. We took pictures of the Birds Nest, went into some sponsor buildings, saw the National Indoor Stadium, the sculpture garden, the Olympic tower, etc.. We did notice, however, there were no stages or live music, or people tail gating. Definitely a more protected and serene environment, but didn't feel too Olympic.
As we were preparing to leave, there was a MASSIVE downpour. We hung out in some volunteer's tent, manned by University students. They helped us translate with Jim's driver to get picked up. Overall, the masses of volunteers were so warm, friendly, and helpful throughout both days.
Once the rain let up, we found Jim's driver and headed to the airport. Traffic was still wonderful. We like the half-capacity program where even and odd license plates alternate which days they are on the road. Overall, an absolutely wonderful trip - attending the opening weekend of the Olympics.