Slideshow: Beijing Olympic Architecture
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Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Called China’s “coming-out party” by too many journalists, the Olympics brought heaps of new construction to Beijing. (Continuing the cliched metaphor, you might think of the new buildings as a deb’s new wardrobe.) The most famous examples of Beijing’s new architecture were, of course, the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) and the Water Cube. They featured prominently in TV coverage of the Games all over the world. But those of us actually in Beijing couldn’t get within a block of the stadium all summer. Unless, that is, we had tickets to swimming, track or another primo event. I could only afford a measly handball ticket, so I didn’t get to see the buildings up close and personal until I went back to Beijing last November. Now that the Games are over, you can get close enough to touch the buildings, and even get inside. In the bright autumn sunlight, they were spectacularly beautiful — definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in Beijing.
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To see the Olympic sites in person, take subway line 10 to Beitucheng (北土城) and change to the Olympic line. Go two stops to the Olympic Green, which will deposit you right outside the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.
This is the latest in a series of weekly slideshows spotlighting places I’ve been on my travels, in China and beyond. You can also view this album, along with more photos, at To China and Beyond’s Picasa page.
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