Beijing Boyce

After watching the United States edge Brazil 1-0 in a hard-fought gold medal women’s football match, I went on a short tour of the area around Workers Stadium:

Drei Kronen 1308: This new place makes its own (very good) beer but had a dearth of customers. Perhaps business might have been better if the bar’s front sign were illuminated. I tried to point the place out to a bunch of German football fans (their team had won the bronze medal earlier that night) and we walked right past its darkened facade! By the way, Bella Italian restaurant, just down the street, had the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen in the place.

The Den: Packed downstairs, it had some space upstairs, where I scarfed down the combo plate of fried mushrooms, onion rings, potato wedges, and more while arguing the merits of the Fuwa with a fellow patron. One of the three TVs there featured the US-China women’s football game from the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 (!). We managed to get the channel changed to something more current, i.e. the Beijing Olympics.

Kokomo: Packed again - has any rooftop in Beijing hit capacity as often as Kokomo since the Games began?

Given I had been out to rowing and to the football game, partaken amply of the five-kuai beer at the staidum and have been out almost every night to 3 AM or 4 AM, I packed it in early. I can say the streets around Tongli Studio were busy, though not as much as I expected, and that China Doll had a lineup as usual (the place will hold its “Ai Wan in Jamaica” party tonight - it would be fantastic if some athletes from that country showed up).