Sunday, August 10, 2008

First Event

We have all determined that we have calf muscles. After the climbing the Great Wall the day before yesterday, and walking about 10 hours yesterday, and doing the balancing act for 50 minutes on the bus each way...WE ARE SORE! We even ate at the KFC and found the proverbial squat toilet. It is difficult in the best of circumstances but with sore legs...almost impossible. You can see a picture of this lovely invention in an earlier post.

There is NO one in Beijing tourist or otherwise who has seen more of the city in the time we have been here. NO ONE. We started yesterday by riding our favorite Olympic #2 bus to the city. We saw a nanosecond of the women's road race. We took in Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the new $300,000,000 renovation of the Old Beijing Historic District, the exotic foods at the Donghuamen Night Time Street Market where you can find the best sheep penis, starfish, dung beetles, fried bees, scorpions, seahorses and other delicacies. Of course, we all tried everything...NOT. But we did try Lotus Blossom (fried potatoes, lo mein, and meat/fish balls) to name a few. Yes, we are a bit pedestrian in our willingness to try things. Karen R and Peggy were very brave. Greg refused the sheep penis although he was assured it would ... oh never mind.

And through most of it there was rain...rain...and rain. We holed up in a nifty little internet bar and cafe and had a few Tsing Tao's. Then hoofed it (in the rain because it never really stopped) to shop the market and go to an official 2008 Beijing Olympic store for souvenirs.

Then we tried to find a taxi in the pouring rain. Two hours later after no luck, we were slopping through the puddles back to our bus stop on our trusty Olympic #2 bus. Then Peggy and I posted our third video and another is in the making. Peggy deserves all the credit. She has been a filming fiend and a great editor. So you youTube buffs are seeing some good stuff. Also, when you see me in any of the video, remember the camera puts on 50 or 60 pounds :)

TODAY (Monday), we see our first real event. We have tickets to Pool B women's volleyball. We'll see USA vs. Cuba and Brazil vs. Russia Federation. Yippee!!!!

1 comment:

Cincinnati Public Relations said...

The videos are great...get some footage from the markets. I want to see some live haggling!