We had a very exciting day yesterday, after resting most of the day on Saturday, we hopped the sky train and headed downtown. We had no trouble finding the crowds, the US vs. Canada hockey game was on every tv in Canada. The "Live" set up - another huge screen tv and theater set up on a corner near the hockey venue. We decided to go to the bar across the street which was on the second floor - lots of televisions and a pretty good view of the screen at Live. We carried our US flags proudly, but we were risking our safety among of a sea of red & white! Anyone who walked in with an American flag were soundly booed. One swaying drunk Canadian was by the washrooms (not restrooms here) and high-fiveing everyone who walked by. When I showed him my US flag, he leaned down and whispered "thanks for coming." That seemed to be typical of the Canadian friendliness. Many Canadians told us how glad they were we were here, thanking us for coming, and hoping we enjoyed our visit. We took a hilarious picture (on Kim's camera so we can't download it yet) of us posing with two giant guys on stilts dressed as Canadian hockey players along with a menacing looking ref. They kept congratulating us on a silver medal in hockey - and this was way before the game was over.
We got to the BC Place for the Closing Ceremonies several hours before they actually started - good thing too, we were actually able to get some drinks before the lines became impossibly long. The food, disappointingly, was typical stadium food - hot dogs, chips and such. We were hoping for the sausage varieties we had up on the mountain. Each seat had a goodie box taped to the back of the seat, a snowglobe from Russia and a box printed to look like a suitcase complete with handle. Inside were our audience participation props. At 4:30, we had a "rehearsal" on how and when to use our props. It was hilarious seeing everyone trying to manage the different props in the box, especially since the seats and aisles were so close together. We had a white poncho so the projections on the audience would show up, these we all called the dentist bibs. They were a little stiff, so we were constantly adjusting them to keep from covering the face of our neighbors. Then we had a colored cardboard that folded out to about 2' x 3' with an eye hole in the center. We were to hold them up when given a cue by our audience leader, and they even had an "a" side and "b" side. To turn them over with our ponchos on, our suitcase box, and any food & drink we had quite a feat into itself. Then we were to hold up our snowglobe on cue, then our moosehead hats, then attach a flashing lite to our mooseheads. Whew! It was a busy night.
It was really fascinating to see the whole ceremony live - it was amazing to me how quietly each new group or float came in to the arena. I also never saw intrusive cameras - all the cameras & cameramen were covered in white. I was videoing, but I tried to put the camera to the side so I could experience the events "live." That was really the Olympic experience, soaking it in with panoramic clarity, letting the visual, sound, and emotions soak into to the body.
Some words of advice to anyone contemplating going to the Olympics in the future: you have to calculate the toll of getting to and from the events in your planning. Bus rides, subway rides, pushing through security, the crowds, the food lines - all take it's toll. Kim planned our week with that in mind, the days off were truly needed to rest our weary bones.
So with a wonderful experience behind us, we are nearly ready for our final mob experience - getting home through an airport full of tired spectators.
