One of the iconic images of the 2008 Olympics will surely forever be the Bird’s Nest.

In the latest extract of her Beijing Blog former Simon Langton pupil Esther Irwin, who has been teaching in the Chinese city for a year, reports from inside the 91,000-capacity stadium.

The Bird’s Nest is within an area called the Olympic Green, the grounds of which can only be entered by tube and with a valid ticket for the Games.

But once there it is quite simply incredible.

It is vast, spacious and utterly flat, and on entering you are greeted on a huge boulevard with the Bubble, where the swimming is held, and the Bird’s Nest, the home of athletics. The two structures, standing ostentatiously in the distance, look magnificent.

Having seen the area grow from scratch over the last year, the view possible only from a fence hundreds of metres back, to be so close took my breath away.

Inside the Bird’s Nest on Sunday we sat among thousands to watch an evening of athletics. Not an empty seat to be seen. The torch flamed above us and the atmosphere was electric.

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Watching the process of all the events was fantastic: the walking on, the warming up, stretching, and mental preparation. The speed and power of the athletes was awe-inspiring, and the powerful aftermath of exhaustion or jubilation, or both, was intense.

The crowd, too, were intense and the collective cheers of thousands thrilling. Then there were the emotional medal ceremonies to a soundtrack that could have come straight from a film, with a choking face of a gold medallist displayed on a massive screen. I had goose bumps nearly all evening.

On fleeing the Nest we walked down steps that offered us beautiful views of the Olympic Green and the city beyond.

Bright lights of changing colours lit the night sky and dazzled the Bubble. And the surrounding buildings, far into the distance, twinkled too.

It all made me love Beijing all the more. A lovely end to a brilliant night.