2006

February 26, 2018 / thetwinsontourblog / Leave a comment

The Penultimate Day 2/19/2006

Tomorrow we leave for the airport and Kansas City; we hear it is cold there,

but that is okay, we have plenty of long john’s.

Yesterday we headed off to the 2 man bobsled. It would have been great, but

as we were sitting on the train, I looked over at Cheri and asked her if she

had the tickets. She did not. We had to get off the train before it left

and run back to the hotel. Luckily trains leave every 30 minutes, but we

were already on the train and ready to go. IT is only a 12 minute walk back

to the hotel if the people will get out of your way.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

**we just waited over half an hour to use the computer, and now all of the

over computers are free!!! How Annoying!!! Don’t they know this is the

penultimate day? We have lots left to do!!!***

Anyway, we raced back to the hotel to get the tickets and then back to the

train station. Can I just say, we were hot!! We each had on 2 pairs of

long johns and 2 shirts. We were dressed for cold weather, not for running

obstacle courses. By the time we made it to the Bobsled event and made it

through security and partway up the track, we had completely missed the

first of the 2 runs that they were doing. We had to hike all the way up to

the top- all the way- through slush, snow, and mud. It wore us out. We

were sitting at the very start so we got to see everyone bringing out their

sleds and wiping them down, and we got good views of men in spandex. It was

pretty exciting; there was even a spectator from Overland Park, KS standing

right next to me. We weren’t there long enough to get that cold; I never

had to whip out the wool socks and add them on. It was cool to see the

start, though.

Quote of the day overheard after wading through thick, squishy mud to get

into the porta-potty: “Daddy, is that poop?” unfortunately, i did not hear

what daddy said.

Cheri at Bobsled

Mari at Bobsled

Today we have Freestyle. I am going to wear just as many layers today

because we plan on arriving on time. I don’t like to be cold; the way to

make the winter olympics better would be to have them in the summer.

Tonight after the freestyles, we have the task of packing our suitcases. We

have been really restrained and not bought much, but we have been trying to

get all the free stuff we can. We have been by Omega- the official time

keeper of the olympics- every day because they have free pins. There are 12

in all; i think we have half of them. When we finish here, we will head

back there for the second time. Then we will head over to the Sponsor

Villiage to see if we can get another Samsung Pin and any free postcards.

You can tell we have all of this planned out; this is not the first time we

have done this. Then, on the way back to the hotel, we will stop at one of

the department stores, buy something we don’t need and pay with visa, so we

can get a free gift. We are on a budget and are all about the free stuff.

If we get blisters from all the walking, don’t worry, we have free bandaids

from Comspeed, the official wound healer of the olympic games. If we don’t

have enough, they also gave us a coupon for 1 euro off at the pharmacy.

Wouldn’t it be great if we got to use coupons in Italy? We did use a 10%

off discount card the other day when we were eating pizza.

Every time we took our picture at the Omega bobsled we got a free pin!

This is more than likely the final message from Torino; we wont be back to

the hotel until late tonight and then we will have to pack up the snowboots

and long johns so that we can head back to kansas.

love,

thetwinsontour

ps- we need to go find some pizza; i am hungry. My new favorite pizza is

Eggplant- it is surprisingly delicious. who would have thought? the

incredible, edible egg plant. If that fails, we will just have to have some

gelato. we did find out that there is a time when it is too early for

gelato; as we were walking buy them this morning, they were all closed.

what a pity- maybe they will be open now.

pss- free stuff is calling our name!! gotta run!! even though we still

have 26 minutes of paid internet time- daylight is burning!! i hope it is

done raining!!

On the train after Bobsled

Mari on the train after Bobsled

Bobsled fan

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

thetwinsontour at full strength 2/17/2006

February 26, 2018 / thetwinsontourblog / Leave a comment

thetwinsontour at full strength 2/17/2006

That is a little bit of hockey lingo we picked up today. We didnt ask any

Canadians about that, we figured it out on own. Hockey is a bit more

understandable than curling, but i am just not sure why they have 2

halftimes? is that so that they can sell more beer?

did you know that power play is italian for power play. Not sure what that

means in english though…

This morning we went to the Womens hockey between Russia and Switzerland.

Evidently, no one told the Italian School Children as they were waiving

their italian flags throughout the entire game and would ocassionaly cheer

for italy. They were quite energetic. I would hate to have to play

hockey against them because they are mean and always in the penalty box. Of

course, i would hate to play hockey against anyone because i cant let go of

the rail when i skate. Do you think that would be a problem?? I do

admire how when they fall down, they can just get right back up without

crawling over to the wall.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

That was an early game and we had heard that speed skating is the place to

be. We were going to try and go buy some scalper tickets after the game,

but had all of our hopes dashed to the ground because there is no speed

skating today. What a bummer!!!

The ice hockey palace was close and easy to find, so we decided to go back

for the evening game: Italy vs Germany. It kept us from going shopping,

but they were out of the cheap seats and there were no scalpers to be found

when we wanted them, so we probably spent more money than we would have

shopping, but our suitcases will be that much lighter on the way home.

If you want to watch that game, just watch the first 7 minutes. Germany

scored in the first 27 seconds. it was 3 to 2 within the first 7 minutes.

then it was really boring the whole rest of the game, but of course the

audience was very enthusiastic. Final score 5 to 2. Germany won.

Tomorrow is the bobsled. it is 8 degrees out right now, so hopefully it

will be nice out tomorrow too. That is Celsius by the way and i have no

idea how that translates.

At every event, you have to go through a metal detector and your bag goes

through the x-rays, just like at the airport but you dont have to take off

your tennis shoes. Sometimes you beep, they ask coins and wave you

through. Other times they use the wand on you and say belt? Today, i

didnt even beep, and he told me to hold out my arms so that he could use the

wand.

there is always a prerecorded anouncement that says no outside food or drink

are allowed in the venue. we just ignore that. We always have at least a

bottle of water and some skittles with us. Sometimes we have coke,

sandwiches, chocolate, cookies, crackers, and yogurt with us. They never

say a thing, until today. They didnt say anything at the first hockey game,

but the second one asked us if we had bottles of water? he let us take our

water in, but made us take off the lid!!! (when you buy a coke, they

usually wont give you the lid for security reasons) We have gone through

millions of medal detectors/and xray machines and today is the first time

that they ever made us take the lid off of our water. Of course, the lid

was really tight and i couldnt get it off. I made the security guard do it

since he was the one that wanted it off in the first place.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Earlier this morning at the first hockey game they made us take off the

keychain hook thing. (you know, the oval ones where you push the side to

open it?) We have been using them to hang our baseball hats on outside our

bag. Once again, this thing had been on my backpack for like 3 years, so

it has gone into every other event with me and never been a problem. He

made us take it off and leave it there at security. he said that we could

come back and get it after the game. He had several there in a box, so they

werent letting anybody through with those keychains. I have no idea why

that is more of a security risk than the bottle of water with the lid on

that was inside my backpack. We had a helluva time trying to get back over

there to get our keychains after the game, too, as my italian is a little

rusty. we went through 5 italians before we got them to understand. i

thought we made perfect sense. It is just a keychain, but it was the

point of the matter. Besides, where will i hang my hat if i decide to take

it with me somewhere?

We have big heads, so we never wear hats. We had to buy them at the

snowboard the other day though because it was so sunny and my arm was

getting sore from using it as a visor. it looks really sexy when we wear

the headband over the ears and then put on the baseball caps on top of it.

That is why we dont wear them anymore than necessary and need a place to

hang our hats. everyone needs a place to hang their hats.

That is about it for now. If we see 2 hockey games in one day, does that

make us a fanatic?

We could go to 3 curling matches in one day (But we wont)

Love,

thewinsontour

The Society for the Conservation of Penguins Needs Your Support 2/16/2006

February 24, 2018 / thetwinsontourblog / Leave a comment

We have had several epiphanies about Italy:

1) If there is a fire, you need to remember that you pull the door to

get out instead of pushing like a normal place. It gets me every time. I

can’t get in the buildings either.

2) If you try to walk through a family, they will decide to hold hands

so that you get clotheslined and can’t get across the street

3) It is never too late or too cold or too anything to eat gelato. If

you are Japanese, you can buy your second ice cream cone before you have

even finished the first one.

4) it is late, i am tired, i have forgotten my epiphanies, but don’t

worry, they are definately profound

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So, we went to a real restaurant for dinner. We had gnocchi and wine and

cannoli. It was real authentic Italian food and a branch out from our

typical choice of pizza. The restaurant has a wide pizza menu, so we may go

back tomorrow. The waiters won’t let you put your coat on by yourself, if

they see you puttng your coat on by yourself, they make you stop until they

can help you with the other arm. It is great, i was trying to race the

waiter, to see if i could get my coat on before he noticed, but a different

one came running. there is no fooling them; i think they could get the gold

medal for coat-dressing.

We saw one of the greatest things ever today; it was fabulous and we have

the pictures to prove it. Even more exciting is where we were when we saw

it- the train station. What could so captivate our vivid imaginations and

love of the quirky? THE BATHROOM!!! It should have been on the world’s

best toilets on the travel chanel. It was space age- it looked like an

elevator. You had to push the button and and then the door slid open like

an elevator and you stepped in and then it closed. It was an enclosed area.

You had to push a button for the toilet paper- ten pushes maximum. The

soap and sink were in the toilet stall, too, and they were both automatic.

Never have i had automatic soap before. (Cheri says that is because i

didn’t go to Avila.) Oh well, it was new to me today. You have to be quick

about doing your business, though, because after 5 minutes the door will

open automatically. When you are ready to leave, you have to push a button

to get out. Then the door closes and locks so you can’t get back in because

it is self-cleaning and sanitizing. Of course, it got water everywhere and

there was no coat hook, so it has a few kinks to work out, but it was neat.

I think it needs a rapid dryer, though, because it still left the toilet

wet. Maybe even better was once we had figured all of this out and the

Italian ladies came in and asked what it was, what if you are

claustrophibic, how do you get in, and once you are in, how do you get out?

Have no fear- with our flawless italian (ha, ha) we explained it all to

them.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

What does any of that have to do with Penguins, that is the question of the

moment, hmm?

Well, after we had shopped at 2 different olympic stores only to find that

they were both out of what we wanted but somehow still managing to spend 140

euros, we were walking back to the hotel, when people asked if we spoke

english. I usually ignore them and walk real fast, after shaking my head

that no i don’t speak english (but how could i answer if i didn’t know what

they said?) Well, Cheri stopped because the people were cute- they were

wearing Penguin Costumes!!! They were from the Society for the Conservation

of Penguins. Last time i checked, penguins were not native to italy; they

said it is a real organiziation and charity; they help with the rehabilition

of penguins injured in fishing nets, i think, and orphan penguins. Very

Worthwhile, but i am not sure where the penguins are. WE have seen a lot of

things in italy, but no penguins. They were selling penguins made out of

nutshells. i am a sucker for things made out of nutshells (just one of my

many collections). This penguin had the olympic rings painted on his belly

and on the bottom of his feet, it says Torino 2006. They are hand-made,

unique, one of a kind knick-knack treasures. Cheri said to them that we

would only buy them if we could take a picture of the 2 supporters from the

Society for the Conservation of Penguins. We feel that this is probably a

worthy cause that everyone should support, but even if it is not, it is a

great gimmick.

Time is running out, so we gotta go bye, bye.

can you believe the shoe store is open until midnight, so we stopped in and

bought shoes before coming here? They are cute- special shoes for the

olympics- of course, they are spanish shoes, but that is okay. now i have

olympic socks and olympic shoes, but i don’t think they match each other

well enought to go together….. what a pity

gotta go

thetwinsontour

ps- women’s ice hockey tomorrow- not sure who is playing but it is the

quarter-finals. should be exciting, i hope….

Too bad I didn’t wash my hair today 2/16/2006

February 24, 2018 / thetwinsontourblog / Leave a comment

Today was another exciting day of CURLING. We had tickets for the morning

session today, so we had to be up and ready at the butt-crack of dawn. In

an effort to save time and sleep a little longer, we both decided to forgo

the hair washing. We made it to curling right on time, but the crazy

Japanese crew had already taken our seats. They wanted to be there so that

they could be closer to the Japanese Curling Action. This is the real

excitement at the curling matches–watching the Japanese cheer on their

team. They had crazy Carmen Miranda style flower hats. they are so huge

and shiny. just wait till you see the pictures we took. we even asked one

of them to pose with us. he saw that i had an olympus camera, so he said,

“Olympus made in Japan. Very GOOD!” We said, “Go Japan!” they realy are

quite entertaining. Then on the other side of us was a whole section of

Itailan school childern. it looked like they drew flags for their art

project at school this week because they had itailian flags, japanese flags,

and one girl even had a british flag. they spent the whole match screaming

I-TAL-YA I-TAL-YA. then the head japanese guy went over there and got them

to scream JA-PO-NE JA-PO-NE. it was really all quite entertaining.

Japanese curling fans are the best dressed!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We werent near any canadians today, so no further enlightenment into the

mysterious world of curling. Today we got the opportunity to spread the

Canadain knowledge. 2 american girls from washington dc currently living

in Moscow sat behind us, so we filled them in. There was some great

stratigizing going on today. Did you watch it? Exciting stuff.

We saw the TODAY SHOW again. Why did matt laurer have on orange pant and a

matching orange scarf? i think he has been in italy too long. They

interviewed Tody Dawson (Bronze medal Moguls or maybe more recognizable

from the Frosted Flakes Box) He came out and was making his way around to

sign autographs. he made it 3 quarters of the way around, then they made

him leave. he had to leave before he got to us!!! HOW HORRIBLE. We have

several boxes of his Frosted Flakes. I think he would have stayed, but the

Today Show needed to make Canoli and he was in the way. How Very, very,

very distressing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Dry your eyes because there is a happy ending to this story. I guess it

could be an ending to this story, or it may be its own new story.

We happened across an autograph session with ALBERTO TOMBA LA BOMBA. Yup,

that is right!!! ALBERTO TOMBA LA BOMBA!!!!!!!! (no one better have to

google him. but he is not on any frosted flake boxes) we were waiting

in a mob at one of the entrances when they came and closed the door. they

said something about 10 minutes and sent everyone away. it was most

distressing. We went back a few minutes later and saw that there was an

old lady laying on the floor surrounded by the green cross. (for some

reason, their paramadics wear vests that say croce verde) I don’t know if

she got stampeded or just fainted after meeting The LEGEND: TOMBA LA BOMBA.

We decided that they were never going to open the doors because he was

scheduled to leave in less than a half hour. We went into the next

building, and when we came out, Mari said, “the doors are open!! lets go!!”

We went back through the doors that we had been waiting in the mob at and

then were informed that the line formed out the door on the other side of

the building. We had a few moments of tension as the 5 oclock hour

approached. do you feel the tension? We were on tenterhooks and feared

that due to the typical italian effeciency, we would miss our chance to see

TOMBA LA BOMBA. Would it be that hard to tell people waiting at one door,

that they should really go to the other door? The 5 oclock hour came

and passed. TOMBA LA BOMBAs Really hot assistant started pointing at his

watch. would he stay a little while extra to compensate for the time that

old lady wasted by falling down? Did she ruin it for everyone?

The answer: HE STAYED!!!! i HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG BECAUSE WE DIDNT CARE

ONCE WE GOT OUR AUTOGRAPH AND PICTURE WITH ALBERTO TOMBA LA BOMBA!!!! DO

YOU KNOW WHAT HE SAID TO US? “SISTERS?” YUP. HE TALKED TO US!!! HIS

HOT ASISSTANT HAD ALREADY ANNOUNCED THAT WE WERE GEMELLI.

Hence the reason it is too bad that i didnt wash my hair today. it was

not a great hair day for meeting ALBERTO TOMBA LA BOMBA. Not Awful, but

not great either.

We are now off to the Olympic store to see if they have restocked what we

wanted.

Stay tuned for more exiting updates from thetwinsontour now that we have

found an internet place convenient to the action and our shopping needs.

Love,

thetwinsontour

ps-mullets are the thing with teen age boys. especially if you sort of comb

the top into a quasi mohawk. mohawk italian mullet–now that is stylin!!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Secrets to Curling 2/15/2006

February 18, 2018February 18, 2018 / thetwinsontourblog / Leave a comment

So, we went to Curling today. We were excited because it was an inside

event and we are so tired of being outside in the cold, but oh my gosh, it

was like an icebox. We never took our coats off for the 3 hours we were

there. When we go back tomorrow, i will definately have on the long john’s

and hand warmers.

pause- for a product critique-

Hand warmers work great, but seem to work better once you are on the train

and are beginning to defrost. The toe warmers, are not worth crap. They

did not get hot until 2 hours after i took off my wool socks. All they do

is get in the way and make it harder to walk. we have enough trouble

walking as it is- my middle name is not Grace.

pause- product critique is over

Return to Curling.

So, today Cheri discovered the Secret to the Mysteries of Curling (or, as i

like to refer to is, Shuffleboard on Ice.)

What is the grand secret to comprehension of this quasi sport? They don’t

sell lightbulbs at the souveniour stand……

The secret is to find a CANADIAN!!! Ask them!!! Cheri asked the little old

lady wearing her stocking cap that said, “I love Life” and her grandson.

The little old lady thought it was rather boring, but she has been watching

it on tv and has been getting into it. Her grandson on the other hand, is a

fanatic and loved to share his knowledge. He just kept talking and talking,

or rather, enlightening and enlightening. It is a very strategic game.

Here are the main points for those of you watching at home without your own

personel CANADIAN.

*Only one team scored per round-inning- whatever you call it

*the team with the stone closest to the center wins, and then every stone

they have closer than the other teams closest stone, earns a point (we never

saw anyone with more than 2 points.)

*whoever scores does not get to be the last to throw-curl the stone in the

next round-inning

*it is best to get to go last because then you can knock the other person

out (sounds like a vicious sport-eh? )or get closer

**pause** They are playing Bon Jovi in the Book Store!! it doesn’t get

better than that….livin’ on a prayer. ….. livin’ on a prayer……

**end pause**

Back to more Curling- that is the secret too- you have to break it up- too

much curling at a time will make you go bonkers…..

*so sometimes you choose not to score so you can have the last stone the

next time for the chance to get some more points, or sometimes you might let

the other person score so you can try for more the next time

great strategy- but there were 4 matches going on at once- we missed some of

it, but if there was going to be any exciting curling action, our own

personal CANADIAN let us know and explained the magnificence of it all to

us.

the lady the pushes the stone for the norwegian team is quite possibly the

most famous female curler in the world- her name is dorothy- we were in the

same room as her- we were witnessing greatness and had no idea what was

going on, until the CANADIAN explained it. Go Canada!! Canada wasn’t even

competing while we were there, but go CANADA anyway!! The US was there, but

they were on the other side of the room. It was much easier to see the

Great Brittain versus Sweden match that was right in front of us.

Tomorrow- MORE CURLING- but we won’t have our own personal CANADIAN anymore.

we will be on our own to discover and relish the secrets of curling.

NO MORE CURLING

until tomorrow that is

so, my mother is worried because we haven’t talked about shopping. we

haven’t had time to do that much shopping because it takes so long to get to

and from events. as the delta pilots we befriended on the way to the luge

said, “it shouldn’t be called the Torino Olympics; it should be called the

somewhere west of Torino Olympicx.”

today, i went into a tobacco store to buy some POSTCARDS- not tobacco. All

i wanted was postcards and somehow i spent 84 Euros. Those were some

expensive postcards. You can buy souveniours, stamps, candy, bus tickets,

postcards and tobacco at tobacco stores. we went to the olympic store and

had to wait in line outside to get in. it was crazy. then, they were sold

out of half the stuff that we wanted. it was crazy. now we have to go to a

different store to find the stuff i didn’t buy earlier. we did buy polar

fleece blankets to wrap up in at the bobsled event on saturday.

it is cold, and even though we have on hats, scarves and gloves, we still

had some GELATO. it is truly never too cold for GELATO.

well, we are running out of time for the internet, so ciao ciao for now.

thetwinsontour

Japanese curling fans are the best dressed!

Venue

Our personal Canadians that taught us the secrets to curling

The curling venues have gotten a little bigger since 2006

My awesome snowboots will never look the same 2/15/2006

February 12, 2018February 22, 2018 / thetwinsontourblog / Leave a comment

We bought awesome new snowboots. i could expound on their virtues for

hours. lucky for you, i only have 26minutes left on my e-mail time, so we

will pontificate later.

Why will my boots never look the same, you may ask. (you should be asking

this to yourself now)

Yesterday we went to the mens downhill combined event. bode miller got

screwed, but that is not the point of this story.

we rode the train to OULX for an hour. then we took a 45 minute shuttle

ride on the bus to get to Sestiere where it was being held. the bus let us

off right at the security checkpoint and right in front if the slalom hill.

( i think that is the one with the gates that they claim bode missed one

of). then we had a 1.5 km DOWNHILL hike through snow, slush, mud, and some

definite sludge. it was slow going. especially for 2 girls from nice

flat kansas. (i may be quoted in bode milers hometown newspaper the

littleton courier saying, “im from kanasas. it is flat there”)

anyways it was treacherous. some people had muddy backsides. i was not one

of them. i managed to keep the mud all over my once beatiful boots and the

hem of my pants only. i was super glad that i decided to wear my jeans one

more day instead of putting on my last pair of clean jeans. that would be

horrible had i gotten my last pair of clean jeans dirty with a week left to

go. for those of you that are counting, we wore a pair of jeans (not the

same pair) and then brought 2 clean pairs each along with a travel bottle

of febreze. (some one please pick my aunt bonnie up off the floor.) it

works quite well. my boots are now a muddy, muddy mess. that is

why i say they will never look the same.

quote of the day from one of the olympic volunteer workers telling people

which direction to go:

go slowly. we have medical services, but is much better to see the

event.

the downhill skiing event was awesome. we had great seats right even with

the bottom of the course. they start way, way up at the top of the

moutain, so you can only see them once they get to the last jump and then

cross the finish line. the rest you watch on the jumbo tron screen.

also, there was a german oompa band in the audience, so it was fairly

lively. i think they may have only known one song. it was beautiful

beautiful weather. i wasnt cold at all, but i think that may have had

something to do with the mecca that we made down the hill. sweat was

pouring off me by the time we made it to our seats. the down hill event

really is down the hill.

notice we kept saying down. you know what you have to do to get out of

there? yup, thats right–you go up. very very very steep up. downhill

was treacherous, but uphill was tortorous. by this time, most of the snow

had melted leaving icky mud. we were huffing and puffing all the way.

we did make it though. then we had 2 hours to wait outside in the cold

for the next portion of the event. it was cold, damn cold. we got out

all of our warm weather gear. put on the extra pair of wool socks, tried

those worthless toe warmers. got our pocket warmers ready. put on the

hat, gloves, and scarf. used my cardigan swearter as a lap blanket.

then we were warm for about 5 minutes.

we decided to scavenge better seats because we were all the way over to the

right, which would have been perfect had they come down the right side track

rather than the left one. we scooted over 2 sections. we were pretty much

the only people in the entire section. this old italian man came up and

tapped mari on the shoulder to say that we were in his seats. the whole

section was empty!!! we looke at him, got up, then sat in the row directly

in front of him. unfortunately, mari lost her seat cushion under the grand

stand during this little fiasco.

we stayed for an hour. it started at 5pm. at 5;45, cheri said can we go

at 6? mari didnt even hesitate on that one. it was so damn cold.

during our next outdoor event, we will be wearing 2 pairs of long johns and

take our new fleece blanket. we will leave those worthless toe warmers

behind though unless someone can tell us a secret of how to get the fool

things to work…

we didnt feel bad about leaving early. we usually stay till the bitter

end, or maybe that should be bitterly cold end, since we did pay good money

to see the event. bode miller was in first place where he belongs, and we

were excited, and distraught about being cold and wanting to leave before

the final run at 730. then he got disqualified, so we said screw it and

left at 557. that about sums it up, and ive only got 3 minutes left.

ciao for now!!!

love,

thetwinsontour

ps-stil only eaten at mcdonalds once

ps-hot pink is a great color for the men in our audience

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Monday 2/13/2006

February 12, 2018February 13, 2018 / thetwinsontourblog / Leave a comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ahh, we have finally had time to track down the internet. This was the

third place we tried before we found it. Torino seems to have a shortage of

internet and payphones. We found free internet the other day and wrote a

fabulous message- pulitzer prize winning, possibly- but there was a glitch

with the hotmail and it would not send or save.

So, we have been busy, busy, busy. We haven’t even had much time to eat

gelato- no matter how cold it is, it is never, ever too cold for limon

gelato.

Today we were at the women’s halfpipe snowboarding. go USA!!!!!!! Gold

and Silver- it was pretty cool. Of course, our tickets were “a piedi.”

That means on foot. They wanted us to stand “on foot” on the side of the

half-pipe. It was very steep and solid ice and snow. We are from Kansas-

we do not have the ability to climb snowy mountains for a very limited view

over other people’s heads to see the action. We lasted about 5 minutes and

only made it up a quarter of the way before we quit. Quitting actually

turned out to be a good thing for us as there was some GA seating off to a

bit to the side. From there we could see the whole thing- it was a bit

further away- but we got to see more and we could see the jumbo-tron for the

instant replays. i have no idea how cold it was. i heard them say it was

negative 3 celcius- anyone want to do some math? i just know i was cold.

cheri contemplated giving up and leaving before the final round of 12. We

stuck it out though, and as soon as the finals came started, the sun came

out and was shining bright- it was almost toasty.

Yesterday was the Luge. Now that was definately a hike. From the bus

stop we had to walk up, up, up to the entrance gate. Then we had to walk

up, up, up to the bottom of the run. Then we walked up, up, and up to what

we thought was the top of the run. Most people were too chicken to walk up

that high, so we had plenty of room to move about- this was standing, too,

but we had our own rail to lean against. We got there at around 2ish and

did not leave until it was all over, which was after 8. We were soooooooooo

cold. It was great fun though. We tried to take pictutes, but we just

got a lot of nice pictures of ice. it will make for a great slide show.

Look, we just missed the Latvian luger. Look, we just missed the german

luger- georg hackl- i had thought he was retired.

There is a record-book-tv type store here- FNAC- it is a chain, like a

european best buy. they are open 24 hours during hte games- hw fabulous is

that??? anyways, there were a lot of people in there wathcing the figure

skating pairs final on the big screen. we didn’t have time to watch because

we were searching down an internet. WE saw the short program on saturday

night. That was a great show, but i really missed the commentaries from

scott hamilton- he makes you appreciate it more. and, the seats were not

meant for comfort- they were meant for sardines. we were packed in so tight

we couldn,t move, and the seats didn’t have backs so it was a long night.

fortunately a big huge group of people from ernst and young left early, so

we flew down into their seats before they were all even gone. then we could

spread out into 3 rows; it was almost as good as sitting in a lazy boy at

home when you compare it to what we had. we were in front of a group of

noisy russians- were we on tv? russians are a rowdy. they cheered very

louldly everytime they russians took the ice and they booed when the

russians didn,t get first place.

Did anyone watch the Today show on Friday? We could have been on TV. We

were in the audience. Katie Couric and Al were there. We were hoping to be

on TV, but since it was filmed live, we couldn’t call mom to have her record

it because it was too late.

The opening ceremony was neat. We had an obstructed view, but it was

still cool. We were sitting behind the olympic rings were the athletes came

in for the parade of nations, so half of our view was of the rings. we were

in the very top row of the second level, so the third level hung down over

part of our view, too. We were able to scavange some seats here, too. we

moved up one row and it was amazing how much that improved the view.

Our hotel is okay, but this is the first one i have ever stayed in where

they don’t provide toilet paper. very odd. We had to go to the supermarket

to buy some. it is a one star. it doesn,t have toilet paper, but we have a

tv. very odd.

That is all for now i think.

Tomorrow is the DownHill. It is also Valentine’s Day. We will be on the

lookout for Bode Miller.

there are 2 parts to it tomorrow. one part is at noon and the second part

is at 5. i hope it is warmer tomorrow; we will have to see how long we

last.

thetwinsontour

mari and cheri

ps- we have only eaten at mcdonald’s once. we have actually only found one

mcdonald’s so far, and that took us a couple of days.

pss- we haven’t had much time to shop yet- that is very sad to me- but the

events have kept us very, very busy.

Ice skating

Our seats at ice skating

Ice Skating venue!

ice skating

Katie and Al from The Today show

Part of a luger

Mari at the Luge

Luge!

At the luge venue

Michelle Kwan on the Today Show

Our view of the ceremony

Our view of the opening ceremony

Alberto Tomba with the torch

Cheri with the flame

Mari with the flame

Opening ceremony

With the flame at the opening ceremony

opening ceremony

At the Luge

Torino 2006, Here we come!! 2/8/2006

February 12, 2018February 12, 2018 / thetwinsontourblog / Leave a comment

We have just discovered that if procrastination were an Olympic Medal Sport,

we would be double gold medal winners. Who would have thought that hotmail

will only let you send a message to 50 people at a time. Who would have

thought that we knew that many people??? So, our previous message was a

masterpiece, but now, this is what your are getting- the last one deleted

itself.

For those of you that don’t know we are off to Tornio, Italy to witness the

spectacle that is “The Winter Olympics.” Our suitcases are loaded down with

toe warmers and hand warmers and the thickest socks we could find- that

don’t itch. Don’t worry about us not being able to shop while we are there-

we have extra suitcases inside of our suitcases.

We purchased Opening Ceremony tickets off of E-bay last week- from England.

This is not recommended for the faint hearted. The Royal Mail service has

tracking numbers that they can’t track once the letter leaves England. The

tracking number continuously states, “your package is being processed for

shipment abroad.” What good does that do anyone??? And the United States

Postal Service can’t track a tracking number that isn’t theirs. Cheri

nearly had an apoplexy stressing out about the mail service. Thank

goodness, Peter Rabbit the mailman delivered them yesterday. (Imagine a huge

sigh of relief right here.) We know exactly the moment they arrived because

mom sent the NEIGHBOR over to sit in the driveway and wait on the mail to be

delivered.

We are attaching a powerpoint with more excitement for your pleasure. As

previously mentioned we are procrastinators, so if we missed anyone or

forgot anyone, we apologize.

thetwinsontour

mari and cheri

thetwinsontour

Every day is a new adventure

Month: February 2018

The Penultimate Day 2/19/2006

thetwinsontour at full strength 2/17/2006

The Society for the Conservation of Penguins Needs Your Support 2/16/2006

Too bad I didn’t wash my hair today 2/16/2006

Secrets to Curling 2/15/2006

My awesome snowboots will never look the same 2/15/2006

Monday 2/13/2006

Torino 2006, Here we come!! 2/8/2006