Yesterday was one of those "oh wow" days in Whistler. Blue, blue skies and nary a cloud in sight. I slept in until 7 and caught the 10 am bus so we could watch the Women's Downhill. We found a great bar in Creekside just below the race. They had a beautiful elevated patio with great views of both Creekside Village and Whistler Mountain and several large flat screen TVs that were actually showing in HD. For those that really know me, my favourite pet peeve is wide screen TVs that are not set up properly. Do people not notice when everyone looks short and fat and the picture is not crisp? If your TV looks like that call me when I get back and I will help you fix it ...or better yet, make sure you are watching an HD channel. If the channel is not in HD set the TV to standard format and DO NOT stretch the picture wide ...that is why people look short and fat!!! ...sorry I digress.
The Women's Downhill race was phenomenal and Lindsay Vonn deserved to win. There were a few horrific crashes though, which you never like to see. After the race I found a Starbucks nearby where I wanted to use their wireless. I think it is their only store in North America that doesn't have free wireless ...did they not know the Olympics were in town?
I was able to find a signal never the less and log on. However it was very slow and it took forever to do my work ...that and my 5 year old laptop has emphysema and is on it's last breaths.
I then caught a bus over to Whistler Village and arrived just in time to grab the Blackcomb gondola to the Sliding Centre where I would watch 2-man Luge. The track is used for Luge, Skelton and Bobsled and is over 1 km in length. On the turns the sledders are at 90 degrees to the ground and they move so fast (140 km) that you will miss them if you blink. There is a lot of room for spectators and was amazing to see in person. On a down note we were standing close to where the young Georgian was killed and they now have those steel girders covered in plywood ...many of us were asking why this wasn't done in the first place ...it just didn't make sense to have exposed beams in that area. While the games have been great from my perspective there have been many glaring oversights that are giving VANOC a bad name in the world arena. Hopefully, the good will overcome the bad and at the end of the games it will be a true success.
We left the Luge after the first run as it was getting very cold and we wanted to see the Bare Naked Ladies who were playing in the Village Square.
The Square was packed, as was the whole village. There is a real carnival atmosphere both in Whistler and Vancouver and the streets, restaurants, bars and shops are jammed day and night.
Here is a report from Karen Millar on their day in Vancouver...
Got into Vancouver yesterday mid-afternoon. The place is crazy - the biggest street party you've ever seen.
Went to the medal ceremony which was supposed to include the gold for Maelle Ricker. 1 hr before the ceremony they moved her medal ceremony to today - bummer! Wandered by the flame just as they started taking the fence down. Another crazy spot.
The "ignite the dream" show at Robson Sq at 9 pm was worth it. Beats the Fire & Ice show in Whistler. Still a 4-5 hour lineup for the zip line in the square. Dan may not get to do that.
The line-up to get into the Bay to get Olympic gear was huge even at 10 p.m. We hope to get in today.
Well that's it for today ...let's hope that we pick up a few more medals!!
sent from my BlackBerry device
Best regards,
Greg
M 416-347-1545
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