The jewels of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Beijing National stadium (aka “The Bird’s Nest”) and the Beijing National Aquatics Center (aka “The Water Cube”), no longer host athletes from the world but still sparkle every night.
We were excited to have Steph’s Dad visit for 10 days in March. While he was here he arranged for us to visit the two buildings. We toured the arenas, along with throngs of bussed-in Chinese tourists. We snapped lots of pictures (seen below) and were constantly ushered along by a small battalion of guards, guides, caretakers and custodians.
The Chinese authorities have been hard pressed to find an act to fill the Bird’s Nest’s 80,000 seats. But just this week the first concert to be held in the Beijing National Stadium was announced. And who will be headlining China’s biggest venue? None other than Jackie Chan. Yeah, maybe you didn’t know it, but Chan is quite the renaissance man. According to Wikipedia, he’s released 20 albums and trained at the Peking Opera School in his childhood. “Jackie Chan & His Friends” will be rocking the Nest May 1.
Lots more pictures after the jump.
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- Not made for soup
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- Dad heading in to Nest
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- Upstairs or downstairs?
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- Escher-esque
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- Pondering the Nest
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- Actually not the nosebleed
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- Where’d all the seats go?
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- Upperdeck or lowerdeck?
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- Curvaceous, cascading chairs
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- Men’s room
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- This guy must be trouble
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- Facing front
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- Crank in fore, Dad in back
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- Cube’s corner
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- Pavement Cubed
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- Bubbly seats
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- Mouse and Dad
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- And you thought lifeguards were mean
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- In the Cube
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- Seriously, what is he guarding?
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- Bubbly ceiling
Are you guys goin to support J. CHAN?
More posts please!!
Craig!! of course Jackie Chan is a singing super star. lol. I think my mom used to listen to him when I was little.
btw, I have been reading some of your posts, and am supremely jealous of you and your travels