Note, this is somewhat more of a memoir than a post. Take that as you wish.
3:50am First alarm rouses my deep sleep. I hit the alarm and the blaring stops.
4:00am Second alarm starts ding-ding-dinging.
4:05am DING! DING! DING!
4:06am I turn off the alarm, stumble to the kitchen and turn on the stove to make some espresso. There is no way the husband is going to get up without coffee.
4:27am Leave the apartment and call our friend to let them know we’re on our way to pick them up. No answer.
4:28am I call our friend again…and again…and again.
4:45am We ring up to their apartment, still no answer. Sadly we leave without them.
6:09am I call a guy in Canada about a ticket he might have for the men’s figure skating training session that starts at 7am. He says he can sell it to me.
6:30am Approach the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at the Peace Arch.
6:31am Get asked too many questions by the border crossing guard. Guard seemed very suspicious that my husband didn’t want to go to the figure skating event with me. How very, very suspicious of us.
7:00am Take a wrong turn at Marine Drive in Vancouver. I start getting stressed that I’m missing the the start of the training session.
7:20am Meet with guy at Chevron and buy my ticket from him. Section T on center ice, not bad.
7:40am My husband drops me off as close as possible to the Pacific Coliseum. I still have to walk almost a mile to the gate.
7:56am I enter the ice arena. My adrenaline rises. Before I even look for my seat I look down at the ice to see which group is on the ice. It’s not the group I’m waiting for. I relax.
7:58am Still can’t find my seat.
8:00am Exactly an hour late but I’m in my seat.
8:01am Eeee, there’s Joubert! I get all gleeful. It’s difficult to believe I’m here.
8:05am Javier Fernandez of Spain music begins, it’s from Pirates of the Caribbean. A drunken pirate does not translate well on the ice.
8:06am Joubert paces an awful lot. Just casually skating back and forth across the ice.
8:10am Abbott runs through some nice triples. Looks like he’s come back from the short program disaster. (Yet sadly…)
9:11 Amodio has a nice run through, I’m rooting for him in 2014. He’s got a very appealing style. He’ll definitely be a crowd pleaser.
{This is where I dropped the ball and lost the rest of my notes, so I’m wingin’ it.}
The Zamboni came out to visit every once in awhile. All decked out in its Olympic bling.
When the big guns came out for their practice, everything got noticeably more quiet in the arena. These guys were serious. Incredibly focused, save for the not-so-discreet glances at their opponents.
Very few jumps were made in this practice too. They all looked great.
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I love this photo, Weir is always photogenic:
Plushenko was being Plushenko and left before his turn to practice his program came up. It was a let down, but it was good to see him. The last time I saw him I met him.
This was many years ago. I believe I was a junior or senior in high school. And Plushy does not look like he wants to be there. And from what I remember my friend and I had to really get his attention to grab an autograph and a picture. I have no shame when it comes to figure skaters. They’re my rock stars. I also tried to stalk Plushenko in Guatemala, but to no avail.
The rest of my day was spent watching the a few of the ice dancing practice groups. Don’t mind my over saturated, poorly shot photos, but figure skating is not an easy sport to photograph with a point-and-shoot in a poorly lit building.
Afterwards I walked by no less than 50 policemen on my way to find my husband. Seriously, every corner around the Coliseum had a couple cop cars and a few dozen police. And by a few dozen I mean maybe 3 or 4.
Everything in Vancouver was green and blue, except the people. They were red and white. I’ve never seen so much Canadian pride.
Don’t you think Canada should use all of Canada before the World should have a shortage? Those poor Northern Territories, so neglected.
See how many flags you can spot!
Anyway, back the to border we went after some more wondering and poking around.
It truly was a beautiful day in Vancouver. Somehow the Olympics seem less grandiose and distant when they are in your own backyard, but I am so glad I went.
And kudos to Vancouver for doing such a great job. So they had a lot of issues, but despite the lack of snow it was a beautiful location. The Spring Olympics is sort of growing on me. Pun not intended.
