Olympic Escapades: Vancouver! Curling!

Alright!  Day two of our Olympic adventure, curling!  The curling was my favorite thing of the whole trip.  Really.

We started out the day having lunch at a little Japanese restaurant.  Hello sushi!  Then we headed out to find the Olympic Village and some souvenirs.  I wanted my red mittens!  It actually took the better part of the afternoon to find where we were going, and then to find the “Official Olympic Store” that was housed in the Hudson Bay Company.  The line for the store was ridiculous!  It went down the block, back up the block, and down the block again.  But really, for how long it was, we only waited about 45 minutes to get inside.  Once I got in it was like total sensory overload.  I didn’t know which way to go.  I did immediately try to find my mittens, but was told, much to my dismay, that they were SOLD OUT and only had the kids sizes.  Heart, broken.  So I did the rest of my shopping, and right as I was getting ready to get in the checkout line, I saw a girl walking by with an adult sized pair of mittens with the tags.  I stopped her and said, “Where did you find those?!?”  and she said, ‘They just brought them down!  They’re over there, RUN!”  So I darted off to mittens fresh of the truck, and grabbed like 7 pairs.  Mittens for everyone!  :D  I also bought this really cute sleek white winter jacket that I’m so totally excited about.  Right when I got home though the weather got nice again, go figure, lol.

After that truly Olympic shopping experience, we headed off to go watch our curling game!  The lines for the games was like being in line at the airport.  Ok, empty your pockets, take off your jacket, please step through the little metal detector, ok thank you, you’re good to go!  While waiting I started chatting with this really lovely couple who were actually from Vancouver and had curled together for 18 years.  They were telling me all about the game and how big a part it was in their lives.  I learned that it’s basically the Canadian equivalent of bowling.  Like instead of Friday night bowling leagues, there are Friday night curling leagues.  This couple’s regular Friday game was actually cancelled on account of the Olympics, lol. 

Once we got in, I wandered up to what I thought was my seat, which I found out later (over halfway through the match later) that I was in the wrong section.  But I settled in and started talking to the folks around me, and we had this little sort of community discussion, where the folks who were avid curling fans would explain the game and strategies to those of us who didn’t know.  It was really very cool.  What was also cool was that there were four matching going on at once, so we got to see eight teams play, one of whom was Canada.  The matches were: Canada-Denmark, China-Sweden, Great Britian-Japan, and Russia-Swiss.  And let me tell you, the Japanese were kickin’ butt and takin’ names.  Their game was over first, they didn’t even play the last frame.  The Canada-Denmark match wound up being a tie, so they went into overtime.  OH. MY. GOODNESS.  Never in my life have I witnessed such a crowd!  It was truly phenomenal.  And when it came down to the last throw of the game, which happened to be the Canadians, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.  The stone was let go, and as it got closer and closer to the center of the target, more and more people were slowly rising to their feet.  When it landed in the center there was an ERUPTION.  And eruption of epic proportions!  Cow bells, yelling, feet stomping….it was so joyous.  I’m so happy to have been a part of that moment.  :)

 A shot of all the teams getting ready to make their throws.

Some Canadian curling action!

Me with my new coat and snazzy mittens sporting some Canadian pride after the game!

I think that's all I got for this installment of Olympic Escapades.  There will probably be one more post about it, with some pictures of the city, and the torch of course!  Have a great day everyone!