Beijing Olympics - Rowing

Melanie and I went to our first Olympic event on Saturday - Rowing.  Specifically, we went to the first day of the event.  I must thank my friend Mike, from High School, who was actually supposed to visit me here in Beijing during the Olympics, but couldn’t due to prior commitments.  He was able to give me the tickets he purchased via proxy.  Here are my flickr photos. Unfortunately, we didn’t think to bring Melanie’s good camera! As you can see from the photo above, the weather was eh.  I think it was fog ?  But being there was certainly interesting - I’ve never seen a rowing event in person, and of course, this was my first Olympics.  There was a sort of energy in the crowed when the rowers came by.  My only complaint - the sport is a tad on the slow side.  Our seats were very near the finish line (although not directly at the finish line) and because the track is 2km long, it taks about 5 or so minutes for the boats to get into view.  Then another 2 minutes for them to pass in front and glide across the finish line.  And because we weren’t directly in front of the finish line, we couldn’t tell who won! ;-) But certainly an experience!  Thanks Mike! Oh, if you ever go to a rowing event, it’s way out in Shunyi - about 50+km from the city.  We didn’t do our due diligence to find that there were free buses - we paid 150 RMB for a taxi out there! Ouch!  We took the bus back, though. Next up: Boxing!