day 274: [北京 (Beijing)] = 0km

We didn’t have any tickets for Olympic competitions, and of course we didn’t have any tickets for the opening ceremony either.

So we got a bunch of friends together and went to 地坛公园 (ditan park) in the east part of the city:

Behind a gate with a security scan and some police, there was a square with two large screens and a reasonable crowd – and the best thing: there was no need for any tickets to get in!

Lots of adorable babies…

…and little kids…

…and teens…

…and a bunch of media-people:

There was really not much to do before the beginning of the show, so people just chatted or took pictures or played cards.

Meanwhile, the crowd was swelling up:

By the end of the day, an approximate 20.000 people would have passed the security check, and there were 20 cops and 80 security guys safeguarding the area:

Some dude was trying to tell the crowd to behave orderly, but we were all very nice to begin with, so he eventually just did some “中国加油!” (“Go China!”) chants:

Then he went away, and the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games finally started:

I loved the show.

Maybe it was a bit too much to fully appreciate everything at times, and the number of countries was definitely a bit too high, but I thought the whole show was awesome.

I especially liked the little children who did the singing and the piano playing…

There we were, and it seemed somewhat like New Year’s Eve – the moment everybody had been waiting for:

I thought it was interesting to take notes of the reactions of the crowd around us in 地坛公园.

Here’s who we cheered for the most (in order of appearance):

- Chinese City of Taipei,

- Hong Kong,

- Cuba,

- Iraq,

- Afghanistan,

- France,

- Russia,

- USA (++),

- Vietnam,

- South Korea,

- North Korea,

- Singapore,

- Italy,

- Germany,

- China (+++).

Interesting collection, I thought.

And here’s who we booed:

- Nicolas Sarkozy,

- George W. Bush (++)

I was wondering what our German chancellor Angela Merkel was thinking right now. It seemed like she was the only head of state who hadn’t shown up to the party. Maybe she was mad at herself, or maybe at her advisors. Or at the press. Or maybe she was just watching the whole thing on the tele, thinking: nice fireworks, and those little kids are so cute!

Anyways, we were having a very good time here in 地坛公园, with or without any VIPs:

In fact, the most important people were already right here:

All of us.

Robozwerg says:

“Yaaay Germany!!”

Soundtrack: Chingy – “Right Thurr”

—total: 3555,1km