The Water Cube Is Amazing, Swimming Prelims Not So Much

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

As I'm sure you can see on NBC back home in the states, the Water Cube and Bird's Nest are two breathtaking buildings. When we entered the Water Cube on Thursday evening here in Beijing, the sun was still out and the full effect of the amazingly unique structure wasn't visible just yet. But as you can see from the photo I snapped above after exiting the 100-meter butterfly prelims, the Water Cube's aura is ridiculous when lit up in pool blue and purple.

To be quite honest with you, the swimming prelim wasn't all that exciting and simply getting the chance to enter the amazing structure out-shined the actual swimming. The highlight of the action in the pool was clearly getting the chance to watch Michael Phelps in person during the Olympics where he is trying to break history.

More photos of Phelps and the Water Cube after the jump.

We did get the chance to see a few Olympic records broken which made for a tad bit of excitement but overall, swimming just didn't do it for me.

Here are some more photos I snapped:

Phelps is the fourth swimming from the top. You can kind of see the red and white of the flag down his leg in this photo:

Watching the medal races on CCTV has been more exciting than actually being there live in person for races that only determine who gets to race in the semis and finals.

But this view is amazing:

And another:

And a quick shot of the Cube and the Nest together:


Much more on the Bird's Nest to come. I'm seeing an athletics event inside there tonight.