#1 - Torino - Olympic Games

Hello from Torino!

I've been in Italy now for one full week, and I can't believe the the experience I am having. I wish I would have had access to internet and a computer earlier, but this is the first chance I am getting to sit down and write about what I have been up to.

I've been trying to think of the best way in which to organize my past and future days in Torino for the Games. I've decided that I'm going to do it in parts. That will be the easiest.

I arrived in Torino on Saturday, 25 February 2006 at 11pm. The airport was dead, but I managed to buy myself a phone card (because pay phones in Europe don't let you use your own card) and call my friend Lindsay. For those of you who don't know, I lived with Lindsay in Colorado and I was staying with her during my few days in Torino before I had to start work for the Paralympic Games. Anyways, I got ahold of Lindsay and she told me where to go. Unfortunately, I was not able to go and drop off my luggage first, so it had to go with me to the Sports Illustrated (SI) Party at the Budweiser House.


I got a Taxi and we arrived 45 minutes later at the house. It was so crowded outside, that I wasn't sure I was in the right place. But after looking at the building in which the party was in, I was sure. The Budewieser House was in this giant glass Pyramid which looks like the Pyramid outside of the Louvre in Paris. Very Cool. The SI Party was a ticket only party and each athlete was given a ticket for themselves and one guest. Lindsay managed to get in and then she found an athlete who didn't use their guest ticket to let me in with them. The Funny thing is that I didn't know where I was going, so Lindsay told me that when I arrived (we arranged an approxmiate time), that the athlete would be outside to help me in. The tricky thing about the SI party is once you left the house, you couldn't get back in. So, Lindsay and the athlete made buddies with the American Bouncers who let them out of the party to come and find me. THEY FOUND ME....told me that I had to pretend to be this athlete's wife because that is the story that they told the Bouncers...we carried my luggage to the front of this really long line and they let us in. I checked my luggage into the Coat Check (which I don't think the Italian Girls were very happy about) and then we were on our way.

It was so great to see Lindsay as well as the other American folks that were at the Party. I actually saw quite a few of peple I knew. I did manage to be able to wear a Bronze Medal from a US Curler. It's real...I even tried biting it.

After going in and out of the VIP room all night looking for Brad Pitt and George Clooney, itt was getting late and Lindsay and I decided that it was time to head home. It was pushing 4:30am. Some agents of an athlete came up to Lindsay and asked us if we wanted to go to another party with them and the athlete. So, we said Okay. These two Agent guys, carried my luggage for me as we made our way down to the Po Riverfront where there are lots of bars and disco clubs. It was rather amusing watching these guys pull my luggage while Lindsay and I skipped along behind them. After awhile, we figured out that these two Agents lost their athlete and were trying to find him. Figuring out that the luggage was slowing them down, we parted ways, Lindsay and I caught a cab and made our way back to her hotel for a long winters nap!

Day/Night 1 Complete. What could top partying with World-Class athletes at a Sports Illustrated Party...check out Posting #2 to find out!