Where's a skating rink when I need one?
Some of you may know how anal I am about planning ahead. Like decades ahead. I'm serious.
And when someone tampers with that plan it just...I don't even know how to explain it other than the fact that I go into a "frenzy". And "frenzies" are NO good. Trust me.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
Dublin and Belfast
In honour of St. Patrick’s Day this past Friday, I’ve forced myself to finally write about my fantastic trip to Dublin and Belfast. The trip that I took way back in October 2005. Oops.
The plan of this post is to put up some pictures from the trip and some up some the main events of the trip. Or should I say, write out some tidbits that I actually still remember (at this rate, chances are I won’t even remember I went to Dublin in ten years). This post is definitely going to be photo heavy.
After flying into Dublin and taking a cab to the hotel (great location, and quite charming), we set off to explore the city
and get our bearings. We headed down the street towards the spike, wandered the streets (read: scope out the shopping potential), crossed the river Liffy and got to Temple Bar. Temple Bar is a bar, and it is also the general area where the bar is. It’s, simply put, the 
pub/nightlife central of Dublin. There were tons of people, I loved the fact that I was surrounded by English speakers (even though I noticed that a lot of them had British accents) and that I was back in a large city (if only for a couple days). We ate dinner in a pub (obviously) during which I tried some famous lamb stew (I wasn’t a big fan). After walking around some more to soak up the nightlife, we called it a night and promised to get a full day of sightseeing in the next day.
We became the ultimate tourists and got on the "Hop-on, Hop-off" double decker bus (would definitely recommend). Darn the fact that it was gray and rainy, but we were there, so there was nothing we could do about it. It was obviously that fall was in full affect as we passed by this beautiful building.
We were disappointed to learn that the old post office bearing scars from stray bullets was under construction, so we couldn’t see the coolness of it and decided to hop off at Trinty College.
We visited the Book of Kells exhibit, which I understand the significance, but it didn’t really do much for me, but what I really thought was cool was the old library upstairs. It was like I stepping into a movie set (come to think of it, that’s one thing that I’ve really gotten out of all of my travels. I’ve experienced and saw things that I had only seen in pictures or on the big screen. Sure I knew that they must exist in real life, but I never thought that I would really get to experience it. All of these perfect pictures come to life when you can actually step into the scene.). Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the place. They had a collection of old books on display. They had Newton’s Principa, Hooke’s writings about the cell, Priestley’s discoveries about oxygen. It was pretty neat.
Next stop, the Guinness Factory. The museum was really well done. I’m not really interested in the process of making the beer at all, but the set up was really good. Lots of information but well laid out in words and pictures. Good use of visuals and media types.
They had a kiosk where you could send a picture of you at the museum through e-mail to whomever you wanted. Another exciting thing that they had was a message board.
You could write/draw do whatever you wanted with a little card and then post it on the wall where other people did the same thing. I’m not sure how often they take down the messages to give more room for new ones, but there was a lot of Swiss representation on the board at the time, because just a little while before we were there, there was a football game in town against the Swiss National Team. 
At the top of the museum, they had a bar where with your admission, you got a free pint of Guinness. Cool thing: they would draw a shamrock in the top of the head. The bar was quite nice, with glass walls that gave 
you a 360 degrees look of the city all around. I did drink a little bit of my Guinness, and boy was it horrible...but at least I gave it a try. I mean, I was there, I wanted to at least say that I tried it.
After some shopping on Grafton St. and discovering and loving the fabulousness that is Penney’s, we rested for a bit before heading out to Temple Bar again.
The last morning in Dublin. Boo. We were going to take a train to Belfast in the afternoon. I used the last few moments of my "Hop-on, Hop-off" bus pass to see more Victorian fan windows and coloured doors (I loved the fact that they punked Queen Victoria who wanted them to have black doors and the variety of fan windows because they used those to signify which house was their's, and not house numbers like we do) and wandered around St. Stephen's Green.
Random thought: everytime I saw a transit bus, I thought of the "Knight Bus" from Harry Potter.
You know, I’ve realized that I like parks. I like walking among greenery. I like sitting on benches in the sun. I like watching people. I like watching the world go by. The park had a section for the visually impaired. It was a lot smaller than
I’d imagined it to be, but it entailed different plants with placards with the genus and species name engraved in writing and in Braille. You could of course feel and smell the different plants. A neat idea, but to get to this section of the park, I think you’d have to be lead there, because I don’t remember seeing any Braille on any of the signs near the entrance.
After some last minute power shopping (seriously...I did some amazing purchases within that short amount of time) and then picking up some lunch from Beshoff’s Fish and Chips (yum), we get on the train to Belfast.
Our hotel in Belfast wasn’t
necessarily swanky or anything, but we had a "Pillow Menu". How curious. I opted for Pillow 5.
There are some pretty cool restaurants in the area (yummy dinner) and we watch Domino. Horrible.
The next day, we tour around Belfast, and boy, is it different from Dublin. You can still see a lot of the history left over, and well, I guess it’s not just history, it’s still the present as well. (Note: I just post the pictures. Don't think that I posted theve specific murals for any reason.)
We also pass by the yard where the titanic was built. Pretty crazy to see. That thing was huge!
A little bit more quick shopping, and then we have to head to the airport to catch our flight home. Darn easyjet delayed our flight though. If I’d known, I would have had more time to do shopping (which I definitely wanted to do). I was so friggin tired by the time we got back to Neuch. I’m glad I had a sleep in the next morning.
So all in all, it was a fantastic trip. I would love to go back, because 4 days wasn’t enough.
*****
Oh yeah E: (sorry, not a great shot)
The plan of this post is to put up some pictures from the trip and some up some the main events of the trip. Or should I say, write out some tidbits that I actually still remember (at this rate, chances are I won’t even remember I went to Dublin in ten years). This post is definitely going to be photo heavy.After flying into Dublin and taking a cab to the hotel (great location, and quite charming), we set off to explore the city
and get our bearings. We headed down the street towards the spike, wandered the streets (read: scope out the shopping potential), crossed the river Liffy and got to Temple Bar. Temple Bar is a bar, and it is also the general area where the bar is. It’s, simply put, the 
pub/nightlife central of Dublin. There were tons of people, I loved the fact that I was surrounded by English speakers (even though I noticed that a lot of them had British accents) and that I was back in a large city (if only for a couple days). We ate dinner in a pub (obviously) during which I tried some famous lamb stew (I wasn’t a big fan). After walking around some more to soak up the nightlife, we called it a night and promised to get a full day of sightseeing in the next day.
We became the ultimate tourists and got on the "Hop-on, Hop-off" double decker bus (would definitely recommend). Darn the fact that it was gray and rainy, but we were there, so there was nothing we could do about it. It was obviously that fall was in full affect as we passed by this beautiful building. We were disappointed to learn that the old post office bearing scars from stray bullets was under construction, so we couldn’t see the coolness of it and decided to hop off at Trinty College.
We visited the Book of Kells exhibit, which I understand the significance, but it didn’t really do much for me, but what I really thought was cool was the old library upstairs. It was like I stepping into a movie set (come to think of it, that’s one thing that I’ve really gotten out of all of my travels. I’ve experienced and saw things that I had only seen in pictures or on the big screen. Sure I knew that they must exist in real life, but I never thought that I would really get to experience it. All of these perfect pictures come to life when you can actually step into the scene.). Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the place. They had a collection of old books on display. They had Newton’s Principa, Hooke’s writings about the cell, Priestley’s discoveries about oxygen. It was pretty neat.
Next stop, the Guinness Factory. The museum was really well done. I’m not really interested in the process of making the beer at all, but the set up was really good. Lots of information but well laid out in words and pictures. Good use of visuals and media types. 
They had a kiosk where you could send a picture of you at the museum through e-mail to whomever you wanted. Another exciting thing that they had was a message board.
You could write/draw do whatever you wanted with a little card and then post it on the wall where other people did the same thing. I’m not sure how often they take down the messages to give more room for new ones, but there was a lot of Swiss representation on the board at the time, because just a little while before we were there, there was a football game in town against the Swiss National Team. 
At the top of the museum, they had a bar where with your admission, you got a free pint of Guinness. Cool thing: they would draw a shamrock in the top of the head. The bar was quite nice, with glass walls that gave 
you a 360 degrees look of the city all around. I did drink a little bit of my Guinness, and boy was it horrible...but at least I gave it a try. I mean, I was there, I wanted to at least say that I tried it. After some shopping on Grafton St. and discovering and loving the fabulousness that is Penney’s, we rested for a bit before heading out to Temple Bar again.
The last morning in Dublin. Boo. We were going to take a train to Belfast in the afternoon. I used the last few moments of my "Hop-on, Hop-off" bus pass to see more Victorian fan windows and coloured doors (I loved the fact that they punked Queen Victoria who wanted them to have black doors and the variety of fan windows because they used those to signify which house was their's, and not house numbers like we do) and wandered around St. Stephen's Green.
Random thought: everytime I saw a transit bus, I thought of the "Knight Bus" from Harry Potter.You know, I’ve realized that I like parks. I like walking among greenery. I like sitting on benches in the sun. I like watching people. I like watching the world go by. The park had a section for the visually impaired. It was a lot smaller than
I’d imagined it to be, but it entailed different plants with placards with the genus and species name engraved in writing and in Braille. You could of course feel and smell the different plants. A neat idea, but to get to this section of the park, I think you’d have to be lead there, because I don’t remember seeing any Braille on any of the signs near the entrance. 
After some last minute power shopping (seriously...I did some amazing purchases within that short amount of time) and then picking up some lunch from Beshoff’s Fish and Chips (yum), we get on the train to Belfast.Our hotel in Belfast wasn’t
necessarily swanky or anything, but we had a "Pillow Menu". How curious. I opted for Pillow 5.There are some pretty cool restaurants in the area (yummy dinner) and we watch Domino. Horrible.
The next day, we tour around Belfast, and boy, is it different from Dublin. You can still see a lot of the history left over, and well, I guess it’s not just history, it’s still the present as well. (Note: I just post the pictures. Don't think that I posted theve specific murals for any reason.)
We also pass by the yard where the titanic was built. Pretty crazy to see. That thing was huge! A little bit more quick shopping, and then we have to head to the airport to catch our flight home. Darn easyjet delayed our flight though. If I’d known, I would have had more time to do shopping (which I definitely wanted to do). I was so friggin tired by the time we got back to Neuch. I’m glad I had a sleep in the next morning.
So all in all, it was a fantastic trip. I would love to go back, because 4 days wasn’t enough.
*****
Oh yeah E: (sorry, not a great shot)
Women’s Long (Thursday, February 23rd, 2006)
- One last journey. I think it was dawning on me that this was the last time that I was going to the Olympics. Who knows if I’ll be able to go again? Of course there’s a huge chance that I will, but this was such a special thing for me. It was a long process which had started on January 26, 
2005. No hiccups on the way there. Just reminiscing, thinking, reflecting, enjoying and savouring every last moment.- Hooray for Joannie Rochette! She almost pulled a Buttle (but I like her skating better), but the ladies decided to skate well tonight (unlike the men who
were in the running).- The paparazzi was out in full force. There were so many photographers in the pit tonight.
- I really wanted Carolina Kostner to come out and steal the show. It would have been so exciting to be among the home crowd. She didn’t.
- Took my picture with Neve and Gliz, the Olympic mascots during the first flood.- Sarah Hughes and family relegated to the 300 level, just one level above Brian Boitano and Nancy Kerrigan. Sure, it was a last minute trip over, but I would have thought they’d have some kind of connections to
better seats. - Brian and Nancy look on as the last group warms up. They got shafted to the corner this time (while I was happily sitting in almost the middle again). Still didn't have the courage to talk to them. Although, it would have been really fun to sit close enough to them to hear their opinions on the event.
- Sasha Cohen cracks again. The gold medal disappears. Who predicted it? I did.- The Russian fans were out in full force tonight. "Ru-ssi-a! Ru-ssi-a!" I kinda wish that I’d purchased some of their gear (the zippy especially), but I didn’t have time to wait in line to get into the Mandarina Duck store that was converted into the Russian Federation Merchandise Store for the duration of the Games. Oh well. Too late now.
- I had really wanted Irina Slutskaya to win for some reason. After everything that she’s been through. I don’t want her to have to pull a Michelle Kwan (although I do feel bad that she had to pull out).
- Oh my gosh...Shizuka Arakawa! AMAZING. What’s with the trend of underdogs winning the gold in the ladies event?
- Yipee for Fumie Suguri! WAY too undermarked. I wanted her to medal.
- Chatted with "Ross the Intern" as we were waiting for the ceremony to begin.
- After tonight’s competition, I realized that I wish that the audience could get an immediate look at the protocols. I wanted to compare the levels and GOEs of Irina, Sasha and Fumie. I wasn’t sure if I was completely happy with the results. The problem with the new system is that your average spectator will have no idea what’s going on and has no idea about the Technical Panel’s role. One thing that was cool 
about these Games was that I got to witness many "boos" from the audience. It was pretty fun, but of course none of them were justified. I hope the judges knew that too. Plus, when it comes down to it, the judges are responsible for a lot less than they used to be. I think winners and losers are made from the Technical Panel.
- Witnessed my first medal’s ceremony. Hmmm...nothing too earth shattering.
- Congratulations Shizuka. Definitely deserved. No weirdness in judging here.
- Spotted Billy Bush doing a segment for Access Hollywood during which he interviewed Scott Hamilton.
- Was building up the courage to chat with Barb Underhill and Paul Martini...if only they would get off their cell phones! (I wonder if they were catching up with their little ones.)- Spotted Sasha Cohen’s mom and dad.
- Felt a little sad watching Scott Hamilton leave...would I get to see him in person again?
- Miki Ando posing for photos and signing autographs outside the venue. The paparazzi are weird. They just say anything to get people to look and smile. It’s so slimey and schmoozy. Carol Heiss Jenkins was in the background watching her student get mobbed. I was more interested in her than I was in Miki. We were standing in the presence of greatness but most didn’t know it.
- Waiting for Shizuka’s parents to come out of the venue. As soon as she’d won, they’d all descended to the area where they were sitting (just a couple seats away from Sasha’s parents strangely enough – no, there wasn’t a parent area). It was really interesting. I’d never seen anything like that before.- Yummy gelato!
- Hung out in the same café as Sunday night.
Women’s Short (Tuesday, February 21st, 2006)
- The journey was "eventful". I missed my train from Neuch (saw it pull out of the station as I ran towards it)...after freaking out (HARD-CORE) and other crazy thoughts, I ended up jumping in a taxi to rush to Bern to try to catch my next train. I just barely missed that one too (stupid one-lane highways, with no potential to pass – I do give credit to the driver for driving – safely – as fast as possible) and ended up getting the rest of my tickets reimbursed and purchased a new set: Bern-->Zurich-->Milano Centrale-->Torino Porta Susa. I was scheduled to arrive at 6:41pm (all skating events start at 7pm). Boot out of the station and cab it to the rink. I arrive as skater number 3 is finishing (darn it, missed Tugba Karademir and Kimmie Meissner), but thank goodness I can to see Joannie Rochette. Oh, and I would have only missed the warm-up if there weren’t so many other people who arrived late as well. Grrr...I had 7 hours to travel...what was their excuse?
- Stands DEFINITELY a lot fuller than last week (have heard that the second week of the Olympics is usually busier)...and remained in my correct seat (for once).
- I guess I’ll never get to see Michelle Kwan compete live ever. I’m thinking she’s going to retire now. At least, I hope so. For her benefit.
- Spotted Nancy Kerrigan sitting with Brian Boitano just a couple seats away from me. Couldn’t get the courage to say hello.
- Mira Leung just doesn't do anything so me. Her face is so blank, and she needs some make-up. It's true, on TV, it does make a difference.
- Elena Sokolova's disapointing skate broke my heart. She's a skater who looks better in person than on TV.
- Spotted Ross "The Intern" from the Tonight Show. Ha ha ha. (Interesting: While randomly looking on the website for stuff about this guy I found his blog from the Olympics in which he mentions that while sitting in the level 100 seats – the ones that I ranted about – he "looked up one level (to the expensive seats with backrests)". So my seats were more expensive, but higher up. They obviously didn’t make this rink for figure skating fans…although he was right, my seats were a lot more comfortable – with armrests and a backrest...they just sat on benches.) Frig, if I’d known, I would have been able to save money AND have a better seat…oh yeah…those seats weren’t available to the public. After some more research, I’ve now figured out that the level 100 seats were the same price as mine.
- I’d seen this little one on TV competing in the Europeans (just about the only competition we get to see on TV here, other than the Olympics and Worlds) and was impressed by her jumping ability and little trick here and there. I also noticed that Tatiana Tarasova was her coach, and so I thought I should keep my eye out for her in the future. So, I obviously noticed her at the Olympics. Tatiana wasn’t
at the boards though, but even still she was (like most little ones are) a jumping machine. Blank face throughout, but I was still impressed with the overall package all the same. I give her two more years.
- Sarah Hughes and fam were in the stands cheering for Emily. Didn’t spot her in person, but she was on the jumbotron a bunch.
- I want Irina to win. Sure, I’m not totally a fan of her style, it’s a little choppy to me, but after everything that she’s been through, I’d like her to win. I’m surprised that there aren’t more ladies doing Beillmann spins, given the new judging system. I think the big pick from the skaters is the change of edge in spins. I predict that everyone will be doing ALL the same spins really soon. There’ll be no variety anymore. What a shame.
- Silvia Fontana must have also come back just to skate at home in the Olympics. The Italians really beefed up their team with oldies.
- I’m so happy that Fumie skated well. I’ve always loved her skating. She’s such a pure skater. All parts of her skating are strong, and she has such great flow, even coming out of her jumps. I know that her Federation puts a lot of pressure on
her, so I’m happy after all of the difficulties she’s had in the past couple of years that she had a great skate. I’m rooting for her in the long.
- Carolina Kostner FLIES across the ice...and has crazy wipe-outs. Her face doesn’t really light up when she skates, but she’s got a really unique look to her, partly because she’s so limb-y and she has such a quick, trotting stroking technique. Too bad
she bombed...it would have been great for her to skate well at home.
- I wish I was in the 100 level for this one. I mean, from watching her on TV, I feel like I would have been much more impressed by Sasha if I could see her facial expressions and the little nuances in her carriage that I just couldn’t see from being in the 200 level. Even still, I could make out that she did have some amazing extensions.
- Well, she won the short, but I predict that she won’t win the Gold medal. Not that I don't want her to win, I just think that she’ll do something to ruin it for herself. She always does. I’m happy for her that she’s in the lead right now, but it’s so close that it won’t matter.
- Walked around town after the event was over...and ate yummy gelato. I was feeling pretty awake, so I just wandered for a bit.
- I’d visited this place during the weekend, and been disappointed. I thought that (after waiting in a pretty long line up) it was have lots of stuff about the 2010 Olympics, or stuff about BC or Canada in general, but turns out, the outside was more interesting than the inside. The front was a log cabin (this is obviously the back) which would be donated to the city of Torino (I’m not sure for what
purpose) by the 2010 Organizing Committee. Once inside, I was given a Canadian Flag lapel pin (you know the ones) and a Vancouver 2010 luggage tag. I chatted with a mountie about what she was doing here, and how she was enjoying her experience, and then was told that all there was to do inside was to visit the HBC Store and buy Team Canada paraphernalia. Forget that. I took off. I know that they’ll close the BC House and have special events there for Team Canada, but obviously you had to be invited to those things.
- I knew right from my first visit to Torino (even before the Games started) that I would never have to chance to see the Today Show. Too bad. I think it would have been pretty neat to see, but whatever. It’s just another sacrifice that I’m more than willing to make to even watch the Games in the first place.
- ...and then there’s the Canada House. Each country (or at least the bigger ones) has a House where athletes, team members, organizing committee, and nationals can visit and relax. I’ve read crazy things about the Russian House and the House of the Netherlands and I was pretty excited about visiting the Canada house as well, because I was told great things about it and how welcoming they were to Canadians (with a valid passport). Well, when I ended up visiting this place, I was very disappointed. The Italian security guards downstairs were plenty welcoming, but after going upstairs and chatting with the people upstairs, to have access to the leather couches, big screen TVs, refreshments and of course the parties you had to "get a wristband". To get a wristband you had to be a friend/family of someone on Team Canada. I think if I tried hard enough, I could get in touch with
the person that told me about all of this, but given my commuting schedule and the fact that I probably would never actually have any free time when the Canada House was open (I’d visited it on the weekend), there wasn’t really any point. Still, it would have been cool. Instead, the only access I had was a room with pictures of Canadian medalists thus far, and results of all the Canadians. Oh, and of course the chance to purchase any HBC paraphernalia...again. I heard from other people who’d gone to other Olympics, that usually the Canada House is much more exciting.
- Ended up in the train station after awhile. It was packed!
- Stands DEFINITELY a lot fuller than last week (have heard that the second week of the Olympics is usually busier)...and remained in my correct seat (for once).
- I guess I’ll never get to see Michelle Kwan compete live ever. I’m thinking she’s going to retire now. At least, I hope so. For her benefit.
- Spotted Nancy Kerrigan sitting with Brian Boitano just a couple seats away from me. Couldn’t get the courage to say hello.
- Mira Leung just doesn't do anything so me. Her face is so blank, and she needs some make-up. It's true, on TV, it does make a difference.
- Elena Sokolova's disapointing skate broke my heart. She's a skater who looks better in person than on TV.
- Spotted Ross "The Intern" from the Tonight Show. Ha ha ha. (Interesting: While randomly looking on the website for stuff about this guy I found his blog from the Olympics in which he mentions that while sitting in the level 100 seats – the ones that I ranted about – he "looked up one level (to the expensive seats with backrests)". So my seats were more expensive, but higher up. They obviously didn’t make this rink for figure skating fans…although he was right, my seats were a lot more comfortable – with armrests and a backrest...they just sat on benches.) Frig, if I’d known, I would have been able to save money AND have a better seat…oh yeah…those seats weren’t available to the public. After some more research, I’ve now figured out that the level 100 seats were the same price as mine.
- I’d seen this little one on TV competing in the Europeans (just about the only competition we get to see on TV here, other than the Olympics and Worlds) and was impressed by her jumping ability and little trick here and there. I also noticed that Tatiana Tarasova was her coach, and so I thought I should keep my eye out for her in the future. So, I obviously noticed her at the Olympics. Tatiana wasn’t 
at the boards though, but even still she was (like most little ones are) a jumping machine. Blank face throughout, but I was still impressed with the overall package all the same. I give her two more years.- Sarah Hughes and fam were in the stands cheering for Emily. Didn’t spot her in person, but she was on the jumbotron a bunch.
- I want Irina to win. Sure, I’m not totally a fan of her style, it’s a little choppy to me, but after everything that she’s been through, I’d like her to win. I’m surprised that there aren’t more ladies doing Beillmann spins, given the new judging system. I think the big pick from the skaters is the change of edge in spins. I predict that everyone will be doing ALL the same spins really soon. There’ll be no variety anymore. What a shame.
- Silvia Fontana must have also come back just to skate at home in the Olympics. The Italians really beefed up their team with oldies.- I’m so happy that Fumie skated well. I’ve always loved her skating. She’s such a pure skater. All parts of her skating are strong, and she has such great flow, even coming out of her jumps. I know that her Federation puts a lot of pressure on
her, so I’m happy after all of the difficulties she’s had in the past couple of years that she had a great skate. I’m rooting for her in the long.- Carolina Kostner FLIES across the ice...and has crazy wipe-outs. Her face doesn’t really light up when she skates, but she’s got a really unique look to her, partly because she’s so limb-y and she has such a quick, trotting stroking technique. Too bad
she bombed...it would have been great for her to skate well at home.- I wish I was in the 100 level for this one. I mean, from watching her on TV, I feel like I would have been much more impressed by Sasha if I could see her facial expressions and the little nuances in her carriage that I just couldn’t see from being in the 200 level. Even still, I could make out that she did have some amazing extensions.
- Well, she won the short, but I predict that she won’t win the Gold medal. Not that I don't want her to win, I just think that she’ll do something to ruin it for herself. She always does. I’m happy for her that she’s in the lead right now, but it’s so close that it won’t matter.- Walked around town after the event was over...and ate yummy gelato. I was feeling pretty awake, so I just wandered for a bit.
- I’d visited this place during the weekend, and been disappointed. I thought that (after waiting in a pretty long line up) it was have lots of stuff about the 2010 Olympics, or stuff about BC or Canada in general, but turns out, the outside was more interesting than the inside. The front was a log cabin (this is obviously the back) which would be donated to the city of Torino (I’m not sure for what 
purpose) by the 2010 Organizing Committee. Once inside, I was given a Canadian Flag lapel pin (you know the ones) and a Vancouver 2010 luggage tag. I chatted with a mountie about what she was doing here, and how she was enjoying her experience, and then was told that all there was to do inside was to visit the HBC Store and buy Team Canada paraphernalia. Forget that. I took off. I know that they’ll close the BC House and have special events there for Team Canada, but obviously you had to be invited to those things. 
- I knew right from my first visit to Torino (even before the Games started) that I would never have to chance to see the Today Show. Too bad. I think it would have been pretty neat to see, but whatever. It’s just another sacrifice that I’m more than willing to make to even watch the Games in the first place.
- ...and then there’s the Canada House. Each country (or at least the bigger ones) has a House where athletes, team members, organizing committee, and nationals can visit and relax. I’ve read crazy things about the Russian House and the House of the Netherlands and I was pretty excited about visiting the Canada house as well, because I was told great things about it and how welcoming they were to Canadians (with a valid passport). Well, when I ended up visiting this place, I was very disappointed. The Italian security guards downstairs were plenty welcoming, but after going upstairs and chatting with the people upstairs, to have access to the leather couches, big screen TVs, refreshments and of course the parties you had to "get a wristband". To get a wristband you had to be a friend/family of someone on Team Canada. I think if I tried hard enough, I could get in touch with
the person that told me about all of this, but given my commuting schedule and the fact that I probably would never actually have any free time when the Canada House was open (I’d visited it on the weekend), there wasn’t really any point. Still, it would have been cool. Instead, the only access I had was a room with pictures of Canadian medalists thus far, and results of all the Canadians. Oh, and of course the chance to purchase any HBC paraphernalia...again. I heard from other people who’d gone to other Olympics, that usually the Canada House is much more exciting.- Ended up in the train station after awhile. It was packed!
Monday, March 06, 2006
Original Dance (Sunday, February 19th, 2006)
- Horrible weather outside! I had a lot of time to kill before the event, so walked around a bunch (looking for some good food), and got cold and wet in the process. Yuck. All the other days had been really really great weather, so I guess eventually that would have had to change.- Tried to sell my tickets again, but offered even less money than the day before. Darn it. Maybe I should have taken the money, but you know what, even if they’re just pieces of paper, they’re just too special to do that. I was considering giving them (for free) to people who were significantly involved in the sport, but unfortunately hadn’t bumped into anyone again recently. Oh well. I honestly think that if I don’t get any money back from the ticket that I wouldn’t be able to use, it wouldn’t matter. Call me crazy, but it was worth it.
- Spotted Marina Anissina again. So fab.
- The Latin Combination theme is so fun! Music that you can really get into, some great dancing and of course, some great costumes!- It’s true, with the new system, all the couples are starting to look the same. If I see another Biellmann lift, I’ll scream (especially one with a bad position).
- Out of all the Latin music in the world that the skaters could have picked, how did a couple teams end up picking the same piece? Although, it was a pretty fun one.
- The athletes definitely get the shaft in the seating domain. Stuck in the top right hand corner? At least the Canadian’s still came to cheer their teammates on.
- Marie-France’s fall was so scary. There was no way she could have broken her fall. I really hope she’s okay. - The Italian face-off was the funniest thing ever. Did they show it on TV?
- Splatfest central for the final group. What’s up with that?
- Ended up hanging out in a café all night. Met a bunch of really nice people, stayed awake, read my book and was a lot more comfortable than I could have been elsewhere. Call me crazy yet again (might have been the cold, being so tired or just plain happiness that I was at the Olympics), but after some lengthy introductions and banter, I ended up giving away one of my tickets that I couldn’t use and will see if I get any money in the mail. Life’s all about taking calculated risks right? I couldn’t lose anything in this case (except for a piece of paper that I would cherish forever), but this way I could add a new experience to my collection book and my memories of Torino would be more colourful because of it. I’ll let you know what happens.
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