2010 Olympics-Thursday

Thursday, February 25th:

Today we were off to the women's semifinal curling at Vancouver Olympic Centre, Canada vs. Switzerland and Sweden vs. China. The event was to begin at 9am, but we were running a little bit late and didn't realize how far the venue was from the skytrain. It was a fifteen minute walk and then we had to wait in the security line for about thirty minutes.

When we got to our seats, the teams were already competing. We watched in amazement and confusion, since we didn't know all the rules. We began to catch on, and understand the scoring. It was exciting to watch the skills of the different teams. Sweden pulled away from China quickly and ended the game early, because China was unable to catch them based on the points.

Canada and Switzerland played a close game, but Canada pulled out the victory. Canada and Sweden would play in the gold metal game, while China and Switzerland would play in the bronze metal game. (Sweden took gold, leaving Canada with silver during the next days completion).

After curling, we headed back on the skytrain into Vancouver to find a place for lunch and to watch the U.S. women's gold metal hockey game. We decided on Joe Fortes sports bar. It was a nice place, with great seafood. The game was great, but the Canadians pulled out the win. Canada took the gold, giving the silver to the U.S.

When we were finished at Joe's, we walked five blocks to waterfront. Once there, we saw the cauldron/Olympic flame. Took some photos in front of it, but decided not to wait in the mile long line to go up to the observation center. The wind began to pick up, so we walked a few blocks to the Marriott and had an Irish coffee to warm up.

After we warmed up, we jumped on the skytrain and headed to the grocery store to pick up bleach, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Chuck found a home cleaning solution online, for the grout on the floor in the kitchen at the condo. First Chuck tried the hydrogen peroxide mixed with water and it didn't seem to do anything. Next, he tried the bleach, baking soda and a little water until in was a paste. Using an old toothbrush, he brushed it on the grout and within a few minutes we noticed a huge difference. Thank goodness, Chuck found this solution online and we got the wine off the grout!