Like billions across the globe, we watched the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony Friday night–the entire 4 hour broadcast! I have to say that the best part was from the beginning up through Rowan Atkinson’s performance of Chariots of Fire. After that it became a test of endurance. (Was anyone else amazed that the drummers could perform for that long without cramping up??) I had no idea there were so many tiny, obscure countries competing in the Olympics. There were several I had never even heard of before. The Parade of Nations was a visual lesson in geography and culture.

The children’s choirs were inspiring and dreamy. Great Britain has a heritage of rich, beautiful music! The historical re-enactment of the change from simplicity to the Industrial Revolution was cool, but, of course, the Queen parachuting out of a helicopter to join the games was awesome! What a good sport the Queen of England is! 🙂

In spite of all the great elements, my favorite part was Rowan Atkinson and the London Symphony Orchestra. Here’s a clip of it in case you missed it (or need to watch it again, like me.) <iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/46529786″ width=”500″ height=”281″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/46529786″>Rowan Atkinson at Olmypics 2012 Opening Ceremony</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/baburao”>Babu</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>