Olympic Park and Imperial Palace - 27 September 2008

Today we went to visit the site of the Olympics, braving the Beijing subway for the first time.  The subway here is relatively inexpensive, costing 2 Yuan (about US $0.30) for a one-way ticket.  Based on the maps we expected to take the 8 line directly to the Olympic park, but when we got to the transfer station for the 8 line were told that you have to have a special ticket to take that line.

Instead, we exited the subway station and walked up toward the park, only to find that you need a ticket there as well.  It looks like the Chinese are trying to recoup some of the cost of the Olympics by running tourist schemes.  We did manage to get some good shots of the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest, though:

For the afternoon, we visited the Temple of Heaven.  Empty it would still be fascinating, but what's really interesting is watching the people.  There are groups doing organized Tai Chi demonstrations, people playing cards (presumably for money), people playing tennis, and improbably enough - sing-a-longs.  There's a long corridor in the Temple named, appropriately enough, the Long Corridor.  There were multiple groups of people with microphones, keyboards, and even accordions doing what I assume to be karaoke.