Adam's "I'm at the freaking Sochi Olympics!" blog
02-16-2014
, 05:08 PM
02-17-2014
, 07:25 AM
Day 4
Left the bar after writing up day 3 blog and hopped the free train from Sochi to Adler to meet up with Gio for some lunch before the USA/Slovenia game at 4:30pm. Ran into some issues meeting up, missed the connection but finally found each other, grabbed a couple of travellers (beers to go) and made our way to Olympic Park.
Didn't have time to do much but make our way to the smaller rink for the first game. As you arrive into Olympic park on the train it drops you at opposite end to where all the arenas are and it takes 40 minutes to get through security and walk across the park.
Got in our seats for the puck drop and within three minutes Phil Kessel scores two really nice goals and the game is basically over. The Slovenian fans are incredible and continue chanting the who game despite the score. We got talking to a couple guys from Slovenia and what that country's hockey program has been able to accomplish is nothing short of a miracle.
The country has six rinks. Six. To put that into perspective, there are six rinks in my small town of Maple Ridge, just outside Vancouver. I'm sure the number of ice surfaces in greater Vancouver is well into the hundreds.
They have one team and a population of two million people. Slovenia managed to qualify for the Olympics without their only NHL'er, LA Kings center Anze Kopitar. He's here at the Olympics but I don't think he played in any of the qualifying games. For them to be competitive (I think they beat the Slovaks as well) is pretty ridiculous. They had huge fan base at the games as well. Didn't matter what the score was, they were always screaming their heads off every time Slovenia brought the puck over center. Not quite the morgue that Rogers Arena has turned into the past couple of years.
Slovenian fans
Kopitarrghhhh!
Jason was trying to sleep off his cold and made it to the game partway though. We decided to leave a little early to beat the rush to the ticket office and see if we could land some ducats for more events now that the hockey picture was becoming a little clearer.
USA ended up winning easily 5-1, insuring the win for my "USA wins group" bet. Nice!
OPFTT update: 3-2 +3.79u
We picked up some Women's gold medal hockey tickets and some short track speed skating. Love the roller derby on ice!
Met up with Gio outside the rink and decided to go kill the hour or so we had trying to crash Canada or USA house, that are next door to each other.
So both houses are only open to athletes and their family and friends. I understand it, but it kinda sucks as there is nowhere really for Canadians (or Americans) to congregate on site or locally. Would have thought both countries would have found place to party by now but doesn't seem so. Jason is friends with Luongo, so hoping we might get passes into the House on Sunday after we win Men's hockey gold!
So Gio tells me a story about crashing USA house yesterday. He tells me that there is a Team store open to everyone and just outside the entrance is the patio for the private area. Between the patio and the store is only a velvet rope and nobody standing watching people going in and out so he just rolled in through the patio.
Velvet rope:
That sounds like something I have to do. Over to the USA house and sure enough the rope is still there. With nobody around I slip by and walk right up to the buffet, in full Canada gear! Grab a bowl of pea soup and some fried rice and stroll around expecting to get the boot, but nobody seems to care. Lots of random athletes around that I'm sure I would recognize if I was American.
USA house:
On my way out the front door, the lady there says "I'll scan you out". "Don't have a pass, was just in using the bathroom" I say and she doesn't seem to care much.
Make our way over to the Canada/Finland game. Someone in line tells me that were starting Carey Price the rest of the way and Jason and I are pretty shocked. I guess Luongo never had a chance given that he looked really solid in his shutout against Austria. Price gave the puck away behind his net that lead to a goal against versus Norway, but also looked solid apart from that.
Don't have a ton of time to break down my thoughts on the game (this bar I'm sitting in is a ticket trading site and I'm trying to get tickets to a bunch more events), but suffice to say it was way too close for comfort, as Canada pulled out an overtime 2-1 win. I'm wearing my Canada Doughty jersey and he is having another incredible Olympics, scoring both goals for us.
Between periods video, love the Russian woman waving a Canadian flag:
OPFTT update: 4-2 +5.79u
Had a huge sweat on the Canada to win group bet at -460 but thanks to DD managed to win that one. I'm never laying that much juice again!
As mentioned in my first entry, I booked a room on a cruise ship. Now, when you think cruise ship you think luxury right? Ya, not so much.
The Princess Anastasia is a 30 year old Baltic shuttle that hasn't been updated in forever. Here are some pics and videos to give you an idea
Room:
Video:
Buffet:
As you can see, the free breakfast everyday is pretty horrendous by Western standards. Not trying to be a dick, but powdered scrambled eggs and one fruit selection each day is pretty bad. Also, who eats sliced tomatoes and cold cuts for breakfast? I love tomatoes, but not at 9am. I didn't expect much considering what I paid, but it's not a great start to every day.
Think the one on the left might be eggs, not sure though. The scrambled eggs on the left are from power and are as terrible as they look. Not sure who wants to eat little pieces of hot dog
About the people: I can't stress this enough. The average Russian has been incredibly accommodating and friendly. People stop Jason and I all day every day and ask if they can take a picture with us. One told us they've never met a Canadian before.
The thing Canadians have in common most with Russians is a love of hockey. If the Russian I'm talking to is <30, it's all about Crosby. Anyone near my age is much more fun to talk to. Bobby Orr! Bobby Clarke! Phil Espisito!
Walking into the USA/Russia game an older Russian guy and I starting talking. His english was pretty good and he told me when he was a kid playing hockey all his friends would fight over who is going to be Bobby Orr. Then for his birthday his dad bought him an Orr jersey and there was no more arguing. He says he still has it.
It drives Jason crazy, but every time we get talking to a Russian I get him to show them the pic he has with Putin. The reactions are hilarious and you never know what we're going to get. Several say "photoshop" and need to be convinced it's real. Some take their camera out and take a picture of whatever device we're showing it to them with. Others are literally aghast and go into a mild shock holding their hands to their mouths.
Pretty sure that pic is going to get us out of trouble at some point this trip.
Events attended so far:
Events attended so far:
CAN-FIN
CAN-AUT
CAN-NOR
USA-Slovakia
USA-Slovenia
USA-Russia
Ski jumping
Canada House
Tickets left:
Mens aerials
Short track speed skating
Long track speed skating
Mens hockey quarter finals
Mens hockey semifinals
Womens hockey gold medal game (bought today, don't tell Nadine)
Mens slalom medal
Mens hockey gold medal game
Trying to get:
Womens Curling gold
Mens Curling gold
Random pics:
Me and the man who called the miracle on ice!
My boy Gio knows who to take pics with!
Kristie Yamaguchi! (don't tell Hedican)
Torchpic:
Torchvid:
This guy thinks he's predicted the gold medal final score
Left the bar after writing up day 3 blog and hopped the free train from Sochi to Adler to meet up with Gio for some lunch before the USA/Slovenia game at 4:30pm. Ran into some issues meeting up, missed the connection but finally found each other, grabbed a couple of travellers (beers to go) and made our way to Olympic Park.
Didn't have time to do much but make our way to the smaller rink for the first game. As you arrive into Olympic park on the train it drops you at opposite end to where all the arenas are and it takes 40 minutes to get through security and walk across the park.
Got in our seats for the puck drop and within three minutes Phil Kessel scores two really nice goals and the game is basically over. The Slovenian fans are incredible and continue chanting the who game despite the score. We got talking to a couple guys from Slovenia and what that country's hockey program has been able to accomplish is nothing short of a miracle.
The country has six rinks. Six. To put that into perspective, there are six rinks in my small town of Maple Ridge, just outside Vancouver. I'm sure the number of ice surfaces in greater Vancouver is well into the hundreds.
They have one team and a population of two million people. Slovenia managed to qualify for the Olympics without their only NHL'er, LA Kings center Anze Kopitar. He's here at the Olympics but I don't think he played in any of the qualifying games. For them to be competitive (I think they beat the Slovaks as well) is pretty ridiculous. They had huge fan base at the games as well. Didn't matter what the score was, they were always screaming their heads off every time Slovenia brought the puck over center. Not quite the morgue that Rogers Arena has turned into the past couple of years.
Slovenian fans
Kopitarrghhhh!
Jason was trying to sleep off his cold and made it to the game partway though. We decided to leave a little early to beat the rush to the ticket office and see if we could land some ducats for more events now that the hockey picture was becoming a little clearer.
USA ended up winning easily 5-1, insuring the win for my "USA wins group" bet. Nice!
OPFTT update: 3-2 +3.79u
We picked up some Women's gold medal hockey tickets and some short track speed skating. Love the roller derby on ice!
Met up with Gio outside the rink and decided to go kill the hour or so we had trying to crash Canada or USA house, that are next door to each other.
So both houses are only open to athletes and their family and friends. I understand it, but it kinda sucks as there is nowhere really for Canadians (or Americans) to congregate on site or locally. Would have thought both countries would have found place to party by now but doesn't seem so. Jason is friends with Luongo, so hoping we might get passes into the House on Sunday after we win Men's hockey gold!
So Gio tells me a story about crashing USA house yesterday. He tells me that there is a Team store open to everyone and just outside the entrance is the patio for the private area. Between the patio and the store is only a velvet rope and nobody standing watching people going in and out so he just rolled in through the patio.
Velvet rope:
That sounds like something I have to do. Over to the USA house and sure enough the rope is still there. With nobody around I slip by and walk right up to the buffet, in full Canada gear! Grab a bowl of pea soup and some fried rice and stroll around expecting to get the boot, but nobody seems to care. Lots of random athletes around that I'm sure I would recognize if I was American.
USA house:
On my way out the front door, the lady there says "I'll scan you out". "Don't have a pass, was just in using the bathroom" I say and she doesn't seem to care much.
Make our way over to the Canada/Finland game. Someone in line tells me that were starting Carey Price the rest of the way and Jason and I are pretty shocked. I guess Luongo never had a chance given that he looked really solid in his shutout against Austria. Price gave the puck away behind his net that lead to a goal against versus Norway, but also looked solid apart from that.
Don't have a ton of time to break down my thoughts on the game (this bar I'm sitting in is a ticket trading site and I'm trying to get tickets to a bunch more events), but suffice to say it was way too close for comfort, as Canada pulled out an overtime 2-1 win. I'm wearing my Canada Doughty jersey and he is having another incredible Olympics, scoring both goals for us.
Between periods video, love the Russian woman waving a Canadian flag:
OPFTT update: 4-2 +5.79u
Had a huge sweat on the Canada to win group bet at -460 but thanks to DD managed to win that one. I'm never laying that much juice again!
As mentioned in my first entry, I booked a room on a cruise ship. Now, when you think cruise ship you think luxury right? Ya, not so much.
The Princess Anastasia is a 30 year old Baltic shuttle that hasn't been updated in forever. Here are some pics and videos to give you an idea
Room:
Video:
Buffet:
As you can see, the free breakfast everyday is pretty horrendous by Western standards. Not trying to be a dick, but powdered scrambled eggs and one fruit selection each day is pretty bad. Also, who eats sliced tomatoes and cold cuts for breakfast? I love tomatoes, but not at 9am. I didn't expect much considering what I paid, but it's not a great start to every day.
Think the one on the left might be eggs, not sure though. The scrambled eggs on the left are from power and are as terrible as they look. Not sure who wants to eat little pieces of hot dog
About the people: I can't stress this enough. The average Russian has been incredibly accommodating and friendly. People stop Jason and I all day every day and ask if they can take a picture with us. One told us they've never met a Canadian before.
The thing Canadians have in common most with Russians is a love of hockey. If the Russian I'm talking to is <30, it's all about Crosby. Anyone near my age is much more fun to talk to. Bobby Orr! Bobby Clarke! Phil Espisito!
Walking into the USA/Russia game an older Russian guy and I starting talking. His english was pretty good and he told me when he was a kid playing hockey all his friends would fight over who is going to be Bobby Orr. Then for his birthday his dad bought him an Orr jersey and there was no more arguing. He says he still has it.
It drives Jason crazy, but every time we get talking to a Russian I get him to show them the pic he has with Putin. The reactions are hilarious and you never know what we're going to get. Several say "photoshop" and need to be convinced it's real. Some take their camera out and take a picture of whatever device we're showing it to them with. Others are literally aghast and go into a mild shock holding their hands to their mouths.
Pretty sure that pic is going to get us out of trouble at some point this trip.
Events attended so far:
Events attended so far:
CAN-FIN
CAN-AUT
CAN-NOR
USA-Slovakia
USA-Slovenia
USA-Russia
Ski jumping
Canada House
Tickets left:
Mens aerials
Short track speed skating
Long track speed skating
Mens hockey quarter finals
Mens hockey semifinals
Womens hockey gold medal game (bought today, don't tell Nadine)
Mens slalom medal
Mens hockey gold medal game
Trying to get:
Womens Curling gold
Mens Curling gold
Random pics:
Me and the man who called the miracle on ice!
My boy Gio knows who to take pics with!
Kristie Yamaguchi! (don't tell Hedican)
Torchpic:
Torchvid:
This guy thinks he's predicted the gold medal final score
02-17-2014
, 07:54 AM
02-17-2014
, 08:32 AM
02-17-2014
, 12:56 PM
02-18-2014
, 02:07 PM
Day 5
Gio and Rob made their way up to Sochi to pick up some tickets they bought online for the two man bobsled happening today. Jason and I bought two men's aerials and sold Gio and Rob our tickets for Men's team Ski Jumping at 9:00pm.
First bummer of the trip as I had my camera stolen out of my room on the ship. I now have a good answer for everyone asking why I take my laptop backpack with me everywhere I go.
The local cell phone sim card I bought is a disaster, working sometimes and not others. Gio (an apple wizard) took care of that at the local cell phone booth and we all hopped the train for the 1.5 hour ride to Krasnaya Polyana (the mountain cluster).
Krasnaya Polyana train station:
After we got off at the station, we walked around a little crafts market to pick up some stuff for our families. 8500 Rubles later and I had most of my shopping taken care of.
Sigh:
Russian figureheads for sale:
Sochi signs:
From the train station, we had to take a bus up to the extreme park where the moguls, half pipe and aerial tracks are. Got off the bus and had to hike a further 20 minutes up a muddy mountain track to the venue. Pretty long trip to get there.
Random DJ on the side of the muddy trail:
Finally got to the entrance point and saw a little ticket hut with nobody in line. Everywhere else, the lineups at these booths are forever long. Decided we'd see what events we could pick up tickets for and were soon talking to the ticket supervisor who just happens to be from Calgary but recently moved back to Russia.
Picked up tickets to women's curling gold and today's Russia/Norway quarterfinal for men's hockey. Asked him if they were releasing men's hockey semi-finals or gold medal games and he said every couple of hours 20 or so come online. Gave him my local phone number and asked him to hold 4 for any of those three games that come up in the system. Fingers crossed.
Went into the event and saw a few guys qualifying for the final. really amazing that more of these guys don't hurt themselves really badly when they wipe out as they fly so high through the air. Pretty soon the qualifying was over. "Come back for the final in 2.5 hours!"
Wait, what? We have to sit here in the cold and drizzle till then? Nah, screw that. Back to the ticket hut to see if our man could pull some tickets to those games for us.
Scanned our passes out and saw a couple Canadian kids dying to get in (it was sold out) for the final. Jason and I decided that we wanted to go back and check out the cool little village they built here in the mountain cluster to find restaurant/bar to watch the aerials and bobsled on while eating nice meal. Sold the tickets to the kids and hopped on the bus to the village.
Sat down next to a woman and her son, who was the only member of the East Timor Olympic team! He's in the men's slalom and she told us their amazing story about their commitment to their son's olympic career (they mortgaged their house to pay for it all).
To raise money, they made 100 East Timor pins and were selling them for $10 each. I don't collect pins at all, but this seemed like a cool one to get.
Walked with them over to Austria house to see if that would be a good place to hang out for the evening. The place was made up of two floors, the top (inside) was for Austrian athletes, friends and family and the bottom was a really cool outdoor patio with bar and TV's everywhere to watch the coverage.
Went to check in to see if we could get in upstairs and if we bought tickets for the evening (300 euros) it was a band and all you can eat/drink. Decided that was too much and walked back down to the patio only to see a table full of Canadians drinking beer!
Sat down and it turned out one of the group (Brianne) was on Team Canada long track speed skating team and had raced already. Many beers later she said she would put Jason and I on her guest list for Canada house on the 23rd after the gold medal hockey game!
Brianne:
Random pics from Austria house:
Russian cops not amused:
Jason with Jamaican bobsled guy:
Gave my East Timor pin to Brianne for the Canada house passes. More beers and Jager and we all made our way into some club in the village. Sat down next to some Russians who had their 8 year old boy in the club. Standard.
More beer and Jager and it kinda gets to be a bit foggy after that. Got separated from Jason (think he might have left I haven't talked to him yet today) and next thing you know it's really late and I've missed the last train from the mountain cluster back to Sochi.
Thankfully, the local bus runs all night and hopped on that. Passed out, driver woke me up in Sochi at 4am. Amazing night!
Random pics
Don't remember this:
Looking up the mountain:
Guy doing flips n stuff:
Events attended so far:
CAN-FIN
CAN-AUT
CAN-NOR
USA-Slovakia
USA-Slovenia
USA-Russia
Ski jumping
Canada House
Mens aerials
Tickets left:
Short track speed skating
Russia/Norway mens hockey
Long track speed skating
Mens hockey quarter finals (early game)
Mens hockey quarter finals (Canada game)
Mens hockey semifinals
Womens hockey gold medal game
Womens Curling gold
Mens slalom medal
Mens hockey gold medal game
Trying to get:
Mens Curling gold
Gio and Rob made their way up to Sochi to pick up some tickets they bought online for the two man bobsled happening today. Jason and I bought two men's aerials and sold Gio and Rob our tickets for Men's team Ski Jumping at 9:00pm.
First bummer of the trip as I had my camera stolen out of my room on the ship. I now have a good answer for everyone asking why I take my laptop backpack with me everywhere I go.
The local cell phone sim card I bought is a disaster, working sometimes and not others. Gio (an apple wizard) took care of that at the local cell phone booth and we all hopped the train for the 1.5 hour ride to Krasnaya Polyana (the mountain cluster).
Krasnaya Polyana train station:
After we got off at the station, we walked around a little crafts market to pick up some stuff for our families. 8500 Rubles later and I had most of my shopping taken care of.
Sigh:
Russian figureheads for sale:
Sochi signs:
From the train station, we had to take a bus up to the extreme park where the moguls, half pipe and aerial tracks are. Got off the bus and had to hike a further 20 minutes up a muddy mountain track to the venue. Pretty long trip to get there.
Random DJ on the side of the muddy trail:
Finally got to the entrance point and saw a little ticket hut with nobody in line. Everywhere else, the lineups at these booths are forever long. Decided we'd see what events we could pick up tickets for and were soon talking to the ticket supervisor who just happens to be from Calgary but recently moved back to Russia.
Picked up tickets to women's curling gold and today's Russia/Norway quarterfinal for men's hockey. Asked him if they were releasing men's hockey semi-finals or gold medal games and he said every couple of hours 20 or so come online. Gave him my local phone number and asked him to hold 4 for any of those three games that come up in the system. Fingers crossed.
Went into the event and saw a few guys qualifying for the final. really amazing that more of these guys don't hurt themselves really badly when they wipe out as they fly so high through the air. Pretty soon the qualifying was over. "Come back for the final in 2.5 hours!"
Wait, what? We have to sit here in the cold and drizzle till then? Nah, screw that. Back to the ticket hut to see if our man could pull some tickets to those games for us.
Scanned our passes out and saw a couple Canadian kids dying to get in (it was sold out) for the final. Jason and I decided that we wanted to go back and check out the cool little village they built here in the mountain cluster to find restaurant/bar to watch the aerials and bobsled on while eating nice meal. Sold the tickets to the kids and hopped on the bus to the village.
Sat down next to a woman and her son, who was the only member of the East Timor Olympic team! He's in the men's slalom and she told us their amazing story about their commitment to their son's olympic career (they mortgaged their house to pay for it all).
To raise money, they made 100 East Timor pins and were selling them for $10 each. I don't collect pins at all, but this seemed like a cool one to get.
Walked with them over to Austria house to see if that would be a good place to hang out for the evening. The place was made up of two floors, the top (inside) was for Austrian athletes, friends and family and the bottom was a really cool outdoor patio with bar and TV's everywhere to watch the coverage.
Went to check in to see if we could get in upstairs and if we bought tickets for the evening (300 euros) it was a band and all you can eat/drink. Decided that was too much and walked back down to the patio only to see a table full of Canadians drinking beer!
Sat down and it turned out one of the group (Brianne) was on Team Canada long track speed skating team and had raced already. Many beers later she said she would put Jason and I on her guest list for Canada house on the 23rd after the gold medal hockey game!
Brianne:
Random pics from Austria house:
Russian cops not amused:
Jason with Jamaican bobsled guy:
Gave my East Timor pin to Brianne for the Canada house passes. More beers and Jager and we all made our way into some club in the village. Sat down next to some Russians who had their 8 year old boy in the club. Standard.
More beer and Jager and it kinda gets to be a bit foggy after that. Got separated from Jason (think he might have left I haven't talked to him yet today) and next thing you know it's really late and I've missed the last train from the mountain cluster back to Sochi.
Thankfully, the local bus runs all night and hopped on that. Passed out, driver woke me up in Sochi at 4am. Amazing night!
Random pics
Don't remember this:
Looking up the mountain:
Guy doing flips n stuff:
Events attended so far:
CAN-FIN
CAN-AUT
CAN-NOR
USA-Slovakia
USA-Slovenia
USA-Russia
Ski jumping
Canada House
Mens aerials
Tickets left:
Short track speed skating
Russia/Norway mens hockey
Long track speed skating
Mens hockey quarter finals (early game)
Mens hockey quarter finals (Canada game)
Mens hockey semifinals
Womens hockey gold medal game
Womens Curling gold
Mens slalom medal
Mens hockey gold medal game
Trying to get:
Mens Curling gold
02-18-2014
, 02:16 PM
02-18-2014
, 11:50 PM
