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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
thetwinsontour 