5.31.2008
We knew the Olympic Torch was on its way when vendors suddenly popped up all over town.
T-shirts sold for 15?($2).
Stickers and flags sold for 1? each.
Schäfer scored numerous free flags and stickers. We tried to not accept too many, but people thought we were being really polite and insisted we take them.
Olympic Mascot balloons were everywhere. Get your Huan Huan! Get your Ning Ning!
We made our way to the final destination of the torch. We’d been asking around to find out what time things would start. One person said 7am. Another thought 8:30.
Finally, Hubs asked a couple of guys wearing official torch badges. “At 7:30am the opening ceremony will start. At 7:58 the ceremony will end. At 8am the torch relay will begin.” Got it!
We tried to get on stage and get a photo of Schäfer with the mascots, but they had a very strict no-mounting-the-stage policy.
This is where the torch will end its relay in Yichang.
The torch will run in three different cities in Hubei province: Wuhan, Yichang, and Jingzhou.
Since the weather was so great, we decided to walk over and see where the torch would begin. This is the stage where the Yichang relay will start.
This little boy passionately supported the torch relay!
Yeah! The Torch Relay is tomorrow!
Of course, everyone wanted pictures with Schäfer.
We were amazed at how young the vendors were. They were traveling city to city ahead of the torch just to sell their items. All of the vendors were very friendly and willing to chat.
The stage is all set for the opening ceremonies!
I need that T-shirt… looks like fun… what great adventures and memories… I see Schafer’s charm got him so freebies… hehehe… from all I read that for the most part the Chinese are friendly…
Very exciting! I hope Schafer got a cool t-shirt!