Beijing—Olympic Bird Nest, China(北京奧運會鳥巢)-兒歌薈萃-萬維博客-萬維讀者網（電腦版）

網絡日誌正文

		Beijing—Olympic Bird Nest, China(北京奧運會鳥巢)	2020-07-21 06:46:02

2018-08-17

【Aiden in English】

You are going to find that this trip will contain lots of food and simply me eating my way around China. As I said before, food stands as a significant part of Chinese culture. You can't expect me not to absolutely freak out whenever it's mealtime. It's been a few years since I've had authentic Chinese cuisine. In addition, many of the meetings between two Chinese friends occur around a table filled with edible goods. When you're in the greatest country of cuisine in the world, you kind of enjoy the meals more than everything else.

Alright, the fun part is over. Today's flight also got canceled. What fun! But seriously, we booked a flight that ran directly into a typhoon. Luckily, Nanjing only got some severe rains, nothing ridiculous. However, that does come with the unfortunate extra two days in Beijing. But as I continue to eat my way through the city, my opinion on the delay slowly shifts in the other direction.

While I've been to many attractions around Beijing already, I’ll focus on history and culture, much like many other countries I've passed through. To throw in a small change-up here isn't bad, so Mom and I decided to visit some birds. The Bird's Nest, that is.

2008, Summer Olympics, the Bird's Nest featured some of the greatest athletes of all time. An impressive stadium even to date, the style modeled after a nest really still awes many visitors. Its shape is hard to say: it's more of a wavy oval than a circle. The odd shape comes from the 'twigs' of the Birds Nest, which rimmed around the top. This feature may be the highlight of the stadium because it gives the characteristic of the nest.

Today, the nest also features me, another great athlete... not really. While I may not have stepped onto the turf at this time, I was fortunate enough to explore the inner structure and its upper floors.

But why is it called a Bird’s Nest? Well, if you see it, the most logical explanation would say it looks like a bird's nest, and that's pretty much it. This is one of the rare Chinese attractions without an elaborate backstory tied to it. It's also one of the more recent attractions, built exactly one decade ago.

We climbed the floors and entered the spectator’s area, only speculating what a packed Bird's Nest full of sweaty sports fanatics could look like. By the time Mom and I made it to the top floor, we were profusely sweating, mostly because of a sudden blast of humidity from inside the stadium. I can't imagine feeling the air when the stadium was full. Looking up, the Bird's Nest twigs seemed even more prominent, making the rims of the roof curve and twist. On the inside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary from a normal sporting arena. There were a few straggler tourists checking out the area, but not many people were inside. The Bird's Nest is still used for sporting events today, which explained the movement of equipment. It just goes to show how well a job the Bird's Nest is and probably the final nest of anything surviving in Beijing.

Looking at the weather forecast, tomorrow is the last day of rain, and it's supposed to clear up. Our flight is almost certainly by then, which marks the last day of Beijing. Don't worry, we'll be back the day before going home, mom and I will revisit the best restaurants.

【紅霞譯文】

你會發現這次旅行將跟吃結下不解之緣，我隨心所欲，走一路吃一路。之前我曾說過，美食在中國文化中舉足輕重，因此每到飯點的時候，千萬別怪我樂得手舞足蹈，我已有好多年沒吃到過正宗道地的中式宴席，何況但凡兩位同胞聚在一起，肯定少不了美味相伴好酒相佐，既然置身全球食尚大國，你肯定享受山珍海味帶來的幸福感。

可惜好景不長，今天飛行又被取消，下雨天留客天留我不留！說真格的，我們預定的航班正好處於颱風登陸地區，多虧南京只是下幾場暴雨而已，實在不足為奇，無意之間竟讓我們在北京多呆了兩天，咱才下舌尖卻又上心頭，我對延遲的態度終於出現大反轉。

雖然京城附近已參觀過不少景點，但我還將把注意力投注於歷史文化方面，跟去世界其它國家旅遊差不多，這回我心血來潮，想和媽媽一起看鳥，於是就選定了“鳥巢”。

2008年夏季奧運會，鳥巢孕育出好些史無前例的運動員；時至今日，標新立異的體育場仍然震撼着每位遊客，很難確切講明它的形狀：與其說是圓形，不如說是波浪起伏的橢圓形，奇特之處要算搭在鳥窩頂部的“樹枝”，這也許是體育場亮點所在，正因如此方才體現鳥巢的特徵。

今天，鳥巢又營造出我這樣一位了不起的運動員（瞎起鬨），儘管沒法到綠茵賽場上小試身手，但能進體育場內並參觀頂樓建築結構我已倍感榮光。

究竟為何叫鳥巢呢？假若你親眼見過，那麼最合乎邏輯的解釋便是它形如鳥巢，直截了當。縱觀中國名勝古蹟，極少有像鳥巢這樣的景點沒有天花亂墜的背景故事，它屬於新興建築之一，恰好於十年前建成。

我們爬樓梯進入看台，禁不住揣摩起塞滿了狂熱體育迷的鳥巢會變成啥樣。待到達頂樓的時候，我和媽媽早已大汗淋漓，主要因為體育場內蒸籠般濕氣突然撲面而來，簡直無法想象體育場爆滿時怎麼喘氣。仰頭觀望，鳥巢樹枝顯得更加參差不齊，致使屋脊彎曲，其內沒有什麼超乎尋常的東西，若干閒逛的遊客東瞧瞧西瞅瞅，呆在裡面的人並不多。如今鳥巢仍用於體育賽事，難怪器械動來動去，說明繼續發揮餘熱，而且極有可能成為北京倖存的最後一個築窩。

查看天氣預報，明天停雨，應該雨過天晴，我們的飛機總算可以起程，意味着今日是我們滯留北京的最後一天，別擔心，我和媽媽在返美回家的前一天又將重歸北京，屆時再去最好的餐館。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2018: Beijing—Then & Now for 30 Years, China(北京—今昔卅年)

2018: Beijing—A Bite of Peking, China(舌尖上的北京)

2018: Beijing—South Luogu Lane the Cultural Alley, China(北京南鑼鼓巷文化街)

2018: Beijing—Raffles City, China(北京來福士商城)

2018: Beijing—Olympic Green, China(北京奧運公園)

2017: Waal River—Distributary Rhine, NLD(荷蘭瓦爾河—萊茵河分流)

2017: Nijmegen the Oldest City, NLD(荷蘭最古老的城市—奈梅亨)

2017: Zaltbommel @ the Waal, Netherlands(荷蘭瓦爾河畔—博梅爾)

2017: Dordrecht the Sheep's Heads, NLD(荷蘭多德雷赫特—羊頭商城)

2017: Kinderdijk Windmills, Netherlands(荷蘭孩童堤防)