After the visit to the Bird’s Nest, we walked over to the Beijing National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube.
25 world records were broken in the Water Cube during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The outer wall is designed to resemble bubbles in soap lather.
The design of the wall allows more light and heat to penetrate, resulting in a 30% saving of energy costs.
The pillars make a good photo opportunity.
The initial capacity of the Water Cube was 17.000 during the games. However, it had been reduced to 7.000 after the game as half of its interior was revamped into a water park.
A different view of the pool.
If I remembered correctly, the buildings at the background are some 7-stars hotels.
It’s a long walk along a wide boulevard back to the main road. We stopped halfway to rest our tired feet and to enjoy the performance of a street singer. Among the songs that the street singer sang were popular songs by Teresa Teng and I was surprise to hear him sang a Canto pop song by Andy Lau.
I was at the Olympics venue in 2010, but our tour group told us they (bird’s nest and water cube) weren’t open for visitors? So all we got to do was walk around the outside (not even close enough!) and take pictures… How did you get in?
Hi L.S., I was there in November 2011. They were opened to the public during my visit.