The Olympics begin

The Paris Olympics began with an opening ceremony featuring the Seine and a great deal of rain. Swimming and basketball were on the first day’s program. 

We are looking forward to a bit of an Olympics binge.Trying to find a suitable blip image for this, I went back to Beijing. When we were there in 2007 there were shops full of the mascots for the 2008 Olympics. Google tells us that they were called Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. Each name repeats the same syllable: a traditional Chinese way of showing affection to children. Linking the five names forms the sentence “Welcome to Beijing” (Bei Jing Huan Ying Nin).