Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremonies for the Olympics were pretty impressive, with lots of fireworks -- fitting for the nation that brought us pyrotechnics 1,100 years ago, a nod to China's history and mythology and 14,000 performers, 9,000 of them soldiers from the People's Liberation Army.

The main venue for the Games is the 91,000-seat Bird’s Nest Stadium, as seen below. A very cool structure, to be sure, with an outer skeleton comprised of 42,000 tons of steel. The whole thing glows red at night too, which along with its round shape is also a symbol of the sun in Chinese mythology. Not really anything like it in the U.S....

One drawback to the Opening Ceremonies was the heat. It was simply stifling, especially in the upper levels, where we were. I stood for a while and the sweat was dripping down my back and legs, completely soaking my shirt through. The pic below would have had a great shot of the Olympic rings hanging in the air in the background, but they clicked out just as it was snapped..

My favorite parts from the pageantry were the drummers at the beginning who counted down to the official start, the guys who ran around in yellow suits with lights on them, and of course the finale in which a former Chinese Olympic gymnast -- suspended by wires -- mimicked running around the entire inside lip of the stadium with the torch before igniting the cauldron.

I didn't stick around to watch all the nations parade in. Instead, I headed down to talk to fans about a story I was working on about the heat and humidity. I have to say, for a brand new stadium, it was strange to see so little in the way of concessions. I guess I'm just used to what we have in the U.S., especially in the new venues, where you can't walk 5 feet without coming across someone selling something to eat or drink. Here, the concessions were spread nine sections apart and only really had drinks and ice cream. No real food.. There were plenty of water fountains, which were in banks of five set into troughs in the wall. Definitely different.

After so much talk coming into the Games about protests, terrorism, etc., it was nice to see the Opening Ceremonies go off without a hitch. China definitely went all out and it turned out to be a great show to kick things off...