  We investigate the role of the initial condition used for the hydrodynamic
evolution of the system formed in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions and
find that an appropriate choice motivated by the models of early-stage
dynamics, specifically a simple two-dimensional Gaussian profile, leads to a
uniform description of soft observables measured in the Relativistic Heavy-Ion
Collider (RHIC). In particular, the transverse-momentum spectra, the
elliptic-flow, and the Hanbury-Brown--Twiss correlation radii, including the
ratio R_out/R_side as well as the dependence of the radii on the azimuthal
angle (azHBT), are properly described. We use the perfect-fluid hydrodynamics
with a realistic equation of state based on lattice calculations and the
hadronic gas at high and low temperatures, respectively. We also show that the
inclusion of the partonic free-streaming in the early stage allows to delay the
start of the hydrodynamical description to comfortable times of the order of 1
fm/c. Free streaming broadens the initial energy-density profile, but generates
the initial transverse and elliptic flow. The data may be described equally
well when the hydrodynamics is started early, or with a delay due to partonic
free-streaming.
