Persnickety Penny: Ahhhhhhhh-lympics

The Olympics were everything I expected them to be an so much more!

Really. I mean that.

We decided (as suggested by the Olympic website) to park and take the train into Vancouver.

Let me just say I am so glad that I got to go to the Olympics in Canada. All of the volunteers were incredibly nice, friendly and helpful even if you didn't ask a question. We were walking around Vancouver and I said something along the lines of "We're going to this street, it's three or four blocks ahead." And a nice volunteer in a bright blue jacket that was waiting next to us at the red light to cross the street said, "Yes! You're right!"

I wasn't lost, nor was I even asking a question. But it was nice that he was there to reassure me that I was correct in my journey. Sometimes when you're traveling in a not too familiar place it's comforting to know you're doing it right.

Anyway, back to the Olympics. We rode the train for free. Originally we were worried that since we had our tickets through Will Call that we'd be asked by a conductor or something to see them while we were on the train since public transportation was supposed to be free for any ticket-holders.

As far as we could tell the entire public transportation system seemed to be on the honors system. It was crazy! Only in Canada, right? Anyone could ride for free since no one was checking for tickets but there were still people purchasing them at the station when we got there. Crazy Canadians, that would never work in NYC.

An RCMP at the station told us that the arena was a few blocks from the other train station and we could walk it or take a shuttle. It was starting to rain so we opted for the shuttle.

Let me just go on the record for saying that I love the whole design aesthetic and color choice for the Vancouver games. Really. The blues and greens were beautifully combined in multiple murals and enclosures as we arrived at the venue.

We got through security and immediately had some Molsons. They had added extra bathroom facilities to the arena so when we decided to make a pit stop we walked into the bathroom and were met with a tent. It was so interesting. The bathroom door was really a door to the outside of the arena and you entered this semi-permanent tent they had attached to the building full of port-o-potties. And these were classy port-o-potties, you could actually fit in them. I was impressed.

Cutest little Zamboni ever!

Then we got to our seats and watched the venue fill up slowly. The officials were selecting the rocks and the maintenance crew was watering and smoothing the ice. It was wildly entertaining to watch the little Zamboni go up and down the ice.

Then the event began and the crowd was intense. There were probably about 30 Swedish fans in the entire arena. All the rest were Canadians with a sprinkling of random countries like the US.

We were surrounded by Canadian curling fans. And let me tell you, the know their curling. The lady sitting behind Dan and Julianne spent a little time narrating what was going on so they got it. And the two gentlemen sitting behind Jason and I were discussing the entire match's strategy. They were all super nice.