My father's family ventured over the Atlantic from Wales sometime before the Revolution, and watching the opening ceremony made me feel those long distance/long ago roots to the British Isles.

The part I loved was the Peter Pan episode where the British celebrated their health care system and honored its doctors and nurses whereas we have the most dysfunctional system on earth.

I tuned in just as the "Queen" and Bond were in a helicopter during the day then somehow jumped out at night. I tuned back in to see them celebrating the musicians. The Chinese celebrated a country, not some select individuals.

Nothing will beat Beijing 2008....

I am with elguevon1. Beijing rocked.

it seemed pretty good for me.. I was impressed, cuz I don't really put a lot of expectations into the whole deal.. Well, i guess it is a big deal..

It was one of the few opening ceremonies I liked and understood.The historical drama of steel-making into the Olympic rings was a wow moment. The richness of Britain's literary history (including children's authors) were well -done. What other country could proudly honor it's socialized medicine to the world with trampoline beds and dancing? The marching of the athletes was faster even with over 200 countries participating. The Brits didn't have to compete against the spectacle of Beiging. They had a drama and spectacle all their own.

London's opening ceremony was always going to suffer in comparison to the stupendous spectacle Beijing put on in 2008. And it did. A very ho-hum affair - other than the commendable celebration of Britain's universal health care system. That was a hoot! I wonder what "Mitt the Nit" (as one UK paper referred to him) thought of that celebration?

Maybe there was a UK paper that called him "Mitt the Nit" but the one they reported on the news and showed a picture of, was titled "Mitt the Twit." People have their own opinions of whether the ceremony was well done or not. I thought it was decent, and also was amused at how much time they spent on their national socialized medicine presentation. It must have been just a tad embarrassing to Romney sitting there knowing full well that the health care industry has bought and sold many of our politicians at the expense of our citizens while the United Kingdom health care system functions, apparently, well enough to garner this much attention. I wonder if we could have the same results, if everybody pulled together?

It was trult a First Class Hollywood production The Brit's deserve our praise and support. Comparing it to China ,seems apples and oranges as each had its own magical moments.We loved the costumes,music, digital special effects and divergence of themes. I do feel sorry, that some athletes competing the next, as well as the ones who weren't, had to stand for hours and hours, in some cases not be there, because of it.As a war veteran, in does my heart good, when we can see the world together in peace and harmony.