Some pictures from the drive back to Vancouver from Whistler. Beautiful
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
hmm
Well I am all packed and I am going to get a few hours sleep before I head to the airport for my 7am flight... :(
I don't want to leave yet! I know that when I get home I will be glued to the tv to watch the rest of the olympics and I won't get anything done haha
I guess the one thing about being here is you miss a lot of what is seen on tv... interviews and all that so it will be good to see all of that on tv at home.
Speaking of interviews though... well I have 2 things... first off I was up at Whistler again last night... a friend of Julia's has a place up there so we went up to party a little bit. We ended up walking past a swiss tv station that was doing in interview... we got right up to the front... and I was on tv for almost the entire interview! lol ... they were interviewing the Ski jumper Simon from Switzerland who won both ski jumping events and as far as I know he won both last year as well! Anyways.. we kept talking to him in between the interviewer asking him questions.. he loved us! And he let us TOUCH AND HOLD ONE OF HIS OLYMPIC MEDALS!!!! It was AMAZING!!!! And we got a picture with him! Soooo crazy!
My second thought though... is I have now seen 2 of our athletes apologize for their non-podium finishes and I have heard that Patrick Chan also apologized. I know that we want to do well at our own Olympics but since when is a top 5 or even a top 10 finish not good enough? Since when do athletes need to apologize to their country because they didn't win? This should not be what the Olympics are about and I think thats what the media is making it out to be. The atmosphere here in Vancouver is nothing but excitement.. and no one is disappointed in our athletes finishes. Sure we feel sad, but thats more for them! Because we know they perhaps wanted more. Our media needs to change its avenue and the way that it is reporting our results... top 10 or top 5 is not a "disappointing finish for Canada"
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Only at the Olympics
Well I have no more event tickets.... could try to get one for today but I think it will be too expensive. I might be headed to Whistler - Julia's friend has a place up there and they didn't rent it out so we will stay there.
Yesterday was a pretty weird day/night. I went shopping for a bit in the morning and then I found a nice restaurant called Earl's and sat at the bar for a few drinks. They had TV's and projector screens all playing the Olympics so I figured it was a good choice!
I ended up meeting a woman and her boyfriend and his brother at the bar while they were waiting for a table. They started talking to me about pin trading... yes pin trading. People buy Olympic pins and then trade them for other ones.... it's actually a HUGE thing at the Olympics! People have pins from other Olympics they have gone to and it's just insane.
Anyways, they invited me to sit with them at their table, so I did. We got some appetizers and shared them all and then 2 more of their friends came and joined - one was a thai masseuse and I was really tempted to ask her for a massage!
We were there for a few hours - we had the best seat in the house! Right at the corner of the restaurant which is at the corner of the street and you could see all the people walking buy. We ended up wracking up a pretty big bill... I'm pretty sure it came to a couple hundred dollars - at least over a hundred for sure - and they only made me pay $20! Because I'm a student and they didn't want me to be spending all my money!
One of the girls had a friend who was having a few ppl over at an apartment downtown... and at this point Julia was driving around trying to find parking so I decided to stay with my new friends and walk with them rather than walk alone until I found Julia. They were really nice and made sure that I got a hold of her and that I knew where I was going and everything. Somewhat of a sketchy situation normally, but at the Olympics its just what everyone is doing! You walk around and meet people and hang out with them for several hours... then you will never see them or talk to them again! It's crazy when you think about it.
I took a cab to the Shangri La - where Julia was meeting her friends. And I had to go to the concierge and say I was going to the 61st floor. They were like "Oh yes, mister michelsons, right this way..." - I felt so important! They open the elevator for you and push the button for you and everything! lol
Anyways I found Julia and her friends... and then we went to walk down Robson street - the main street - and wow... I'm glad I did not walk that alone! Drunk people everywhere... the streets actually looked like a giant mess, it was so dirty! Cops walking in groups of 5 or 6.. and they were all about a block apart... walking up and down the streets. By this point it didn't seem like the Olympics anymore - just a massive party. But it was actually very dirty! This is the part of the Olympics they DON'T show on tv!
We only stayed for a bit and then walked back and got Julia's car and came home. A crazy weird night.... only at the Olympics! haha
Friday, February 19, 2010
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