Today my job finally paid off. I met two gold medal swimmers in one day. Yes, this is the part where I get to gloat a little about meeting awesome athletes.
In the afternoon we had a quick visit with Cullen Jones. Although he now holds a gold medal for the mens 400 free relay and is , he is still really down to earth and has just shot to the top of my "Favorite Olympian List." (Please note: this list is very unofficial and Cullen is currently the only one on it) I truly think he and I could have a wonderful future together.
Right after that, I headed to this fancy, schmancy Imperial restaurant to help with a shoot with Peter Vanderkaay. He trains in Ann Arbor and is from metro Detroit, so I definitely know the family name. Plus he's a two time Olympian and won a gold and a bronze medal in Beijing this past week. Didn't get to spend much time with him, but overall I can say he was kind of shy and very midwestern, but also very nice and easy-going.
Now on to the good stuff...this restaurant we went to was pretty ridiculous. There is this special cuisine in Beijing known as Imperial Food – more specifically food eaten by the emperor in the last imperial Qing dynasty. It is known to be very bland and a little strange. Emperors often ate venison, sea cucumber, and lots of animal innards. We tried the venison which was delicious, the goose (which I really didn't like, I can compare the taste to one thing...you know the way dogs smell when they really need to be groomed, if you could eat that smell it would be similar to the aftertaste of goose), we also had the standard veggies and dumplings and a salad made of flower petals (very yummy) but stayed clear of the sea cucumber and boiled deer placenta. If anyone has tried deer placenta, please let me know I would really love to hear about the experience seeing as there is no way I will EVER try it.
You don't just go to this restaurant for food, you go for the ambiance as well. The restaurant is in an old house that the emperor's second son lived in, so needless to say it is beautiful. The tables are both inside the different housing quarters and outside in the beautiful gardens. Of course Vanderkaay, his girlfriend, and sister sat with the reporter in this wonderful island pavilion. Whereas Jessie (another runner), Peter's agent, and I sat at another table, off camera. Unfortunately for our tushes, the chairs were little cement stools with no cushioning, making the 2 hour dinner experience a little painful. When we sat down at our table and put our bags on the ground, the waitress came around and draped large pieces of fabric over our belongings to protect them. I'm still not exactly clear on what the reason for that was, but it was a nice thought and a little unusual. What really completes the Imperial atmosphere is that all the wait-staff are dressed in traditional qi pao (gowns/robes) that were worn by empresses, concubines, and royal servants. The whole evening you are literally treated like royalty, dine like royalty, and entertained with live shows and music like royalty. It is all very elaborate making it a hot spot for westerners to check out while visiting Beijing. (P.S. This segment should be on Monday night on the Olympic Zone, so check it out!) Also if you want look at this website, you can see even more about the restaurant.
Pictures to come soon...gotta go to bed now, it's almost 2am.
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