As a Dutch Canadian, the Holland Heineken House was a must see for me. Before coming to Russia I had been in contacted the Holland House press center and was granted a press pass, so I went to check it out!

I knew that it was located in the Azimut Hotel, but it was a bit confusing to find and was about a 20 minute walk from the entrance to the Olympic Park. I knew I was on the right track when I started seeing tulips!

When I arrived, I passed through security and met with their corporate relations representative who toured me around the house telling me all about the celebrations and the success of the Dutch athletes.

One crazy story was that their “bitterballen” (traditional Dutch croquette appetizer) were restricted  from entering Russia in customs, so they brought in the Master Croquettemaker from Holland instead. He produced and rolled hundreds of these little balls everyday for the Heineken House Cafe!

Holland Heineken House is by reputation one of the best places to celebrate at the Olympics, and Sochi was no exception. These photos tell that story pretty well!

(Gallery photos courtesy of the Heineken.)

It was another gorgeous sunny morning in Sochi and although I had lost my voice, I was finally starting to feel a bit better from that nasty flu.  Day 7 was my last day in the mountains for men’s ski cross and ladies half-pipe skiing.

There was a pretty big Canadian presence at the men’s ski cross event and after a week of events I was starting to know and recognize many of the Canadian fans. Canada made it to the big final along with three French competitors, but sadly came in 4th. The three Frenchmen took all three medals!

 We headed to Austria House next where we met a crazy crew of Americans who pumped us full of beer and vodka… (Thanks for the good times Boys!)

 After I was fed and ‘watered’ I went up the mountain again where the ladies’ half-pipe event was making its Olympic debut. There were several injuries during the evening, but it was amazing to watch these women compete! Awesome!

Before the finals of the event, Sochi volunteers skiied down the halfpipe in the shape of a heart to honour Sarah Burke’s memory. Sarah Burke was a pioneer in the halfpipe event and won four X-Games titles before she suddenly died in early 2012 due to a skiing accident. It was nice to see her remembered at the ladies halfpipe Olympic debut event.

The final results of the event: USA – Gold, France – Silver, Japan – Bronze.

Canadians were buzzing with anticipation as they entered the Bolshoy for the Canada vs Latvia quarterfinal hockey.

It’s always interesting walking into an event solo, not knowing who you will be sitting with or the energy of those around you. I was pleasantly surprised and excited to find that my seat was beside these guys! Canadian superfans always make the experience that much more awesome.

There were no alcohol sales inside the official Olympic venues, but these guys didn’t let that stop them! Cuz seriously, how can you be at a Canadian at a hockey and not have a beer in your hand? There is something very wrong about that scenario. So these superfans each came in with a backpack full of beer and generously shared them around to fellow Canadians (ie. me!)

There was plenty of Olympic Spirit to be found and you can see from this photographic summary:

Canada won over Latvia with a score of 2 – 1, the two goals were scored by Patrick Sharp and Shea Weber. You can find more stats and details from the game here.

After the game we were once again approached by Russian after Russian for photos. This group included a couple that I had been sitting beside earlier in the day for the Russia vs Finland game. They were super excited to run into me again, so of course wanted a photo.

I LOVED this super cute mini fan that we found on our way to the House of Switzerland to celebrate.

I traded my Canada scarf with this group of Russian athletes at the cauldron for some Russian Olympic pins.

Most Canadians made their way to the House of Switzerland to celebrate the win and as was the nightly tradition, the Canadian national anthem broke out.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWLp7cdS5RU&list=UUAX8Y6j1NZFWZleMJcM_FXA

It was another awesome day full of pleasant surprises. Two incredible hockey games, an unexpected curling, new friends and fantastic memories that will last a lifetime! Despite my challenges with lost luggage and the flu, my Olympic experience was only getting better and better with each passing day!

Did you watch Team Canada play in the quarter final match?

Street Hockey: Canada House vs USA House

Thank goodness my fever broke after a full 20 hours of sleep! I woke up on Day 6 to a message from a friend letting me know about a street hockey game between Canada Olympic House and USA Olympic House that was supposed to begin in a half hour. I rushed to get out the door and to the Olympic Park, but unfortunately I missed it. But I was still able to get a shot of speed skater (and best team mate ever!) Gilmore Junio and figure skating Silver Medalist Patrick Chan before they cleared everything away.

Men’s Quarterfinal Hockey: Russia vs Finland

My first event of the day was the men’s Russia vs Finland quarter final hockey game. When I bought the tickets a year ago, I was really hoping I would get to watch Canada play, but this wasn’t the case. I had sold my second ticket to this game earlier in the week, so I had some extra cash to put towards a ticket for the Canada vs Latvia game later that evening. I found a Russian fan outside Canada Olympic House selling tickets and managed to get a Category A ticket for just over half of face value. I was set and excited to watch Team Canada play! My one-event day just turned into a two-event day! YAY!

The Russia vs Finland game was INSANE! The energy in the arena was crazy, wow! Both the Russian and Finnish fans were in top form. Finland won with a score of 3 – 1, sending them to the semifinal round, and Russia was out, a huge disappointment to Russian fans.

Men’s Semifinal Curling: Canada vs China

As I left the Shayba Arena, I got a message from a friend (who I had met in a Facebook group and had yet to meet in person) offering me a free last minute ticket to the men’s semifinal curling match. My luck went even further in that Canada was playing China! My two-event day just turned into a three-event day! YES!! 

I was once again blown away by the fact that: People. Are. Awesome! (Thank you Tom!!!)

At Vancouver 2010 I had only watched Paralympic curling, so I was excited (as excited as one can get about curling…) to go check out my first Olympic curling match. Canada beat China with a score of 10 – 6! Yay Canada!

I had to duck out of curling early though, to head back to the Shayba Arena for Canada vs Latvia hockey. I’ll tell you all about that in part 2 of the story because Team Canada hockey should really have it’s very own post…

I woke up on Day 4 with bruised knees and a hovering flu, and I tried my best to ignore both as I prepared for a day of hockey. I was about to leave the hotel when there was a knock on the door and there stood Evgeny from the front desk with my luggage! I was so happy to see him standing there there with my bag that I jumped up and down, screaming, “YAY!!!” and gave him a giant hug! (I don’t think he expected that! Haha!)

The best part about having my luggage back (besides the fresh clean socks and underwear) was the meds that I always pack in my first aid kit! So after changing into fresh clothes (so good!) I popped a couple of DayQuill and headed out for a day of women’s hockey!

I arrived in Sochi with 2 tickets to the afternoon women’s semi-final game and was really hoping it would be the Canada vs Switzerland game, but it turned out to be the USA vs Sweden game.

I had managed to sell my extra ticket to the same American guy I had bought my short track speed skating ticket from (yay!!), so now I had some extra cash to buy a ticket to the Canada vs Switzerland game! So after the USA game, I headed straight over to Canada Olympic House to see if anyone was selling tickets, and sure enough there were! I got one for almost half of face value!

Looking as terrible as I feel with the Sochi flu.

By this time it was about 7:30pm, I was hungry and the DayQuill had pretty much completely worn off. I felt terrible! I realized that this flu was only going to get worse before it got any better, and started to wonder if it had been such a great idea to stay for the second game…? But who was I kidding??? OF COURSE it was a great idea!! Canada was playing and I HAD to go support them!

I had about 2 hours to kill before the game, so connected with my friend Shauna and we headed to the cafeteria tent for some food and to get warm. I must have looked as terrible as I felt, because Shauna ended up buying me a bowl of soup and a hot cup of mulled wine to warm me up from the inside out. (Thank you Shauna!!) It helped and I perked up as game time approached.

When we got to the Shayba Arena , we were stopped by CBC who followed us in, thanks to Shauna’s awesome homemade Canada signs! Seconds after this happened, both Shauna’s and my phones went crazy with messages from friends back in Canada who had just seen us on TV! Awesome!!

Once inside, we found Mascot #2, the bear! I immediately went to have my photo taken and when he saw my Canadian flag pins, he gestured that he would love to have one, so of course I gave it to him!

The game was incredible with a 3-1 win for Canada, moving the ladies on to the gold medal round! Unfortunately my seat was right behind the net, so I was not able to get too many great shots of the ladies playing, but it was an amazing experience and great to see so much support for women’s hockey! Being surrounded by other Canadians brought the energy up and made it that much more exciting.

Click the image below for CBC’s summary of the game.

So there you have it, another incredible day at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics! With each passing day, I just don’t know how the next day could possibly top it, but somehow it just does!

Did you watch the ladies play in the semi final? What did you think of the game?

After piling down to the mountain village after the ladies snowboard cross event, a group of us (Canadian fans) headed to Austria House for some food and drink before heading to our next events.

Surprisingly, this was the first place any of us found vodka during our time in Russia so far, so of course we had to order a few shots! (It would be wrong not to!) We were surprised to find that they were served with prosciutto and pickles. An odd combination, I thought at first, but actually quite tasty! (Kinda like a ceasar – a meal in a glass!)

We all had our photos taken with our friend Quatchi, who made the trip from Vancouver. Then the Canadian Olympic Committee President, Marcel Aubut, made an appearance and he approached us to pose for photos. Of course we obliged!

Free Bobsleigh Tickets

After a few more prosciutto vodka shots and some food, it was time to head out. It was early evening by this time, and it was starting to get quite cold now that the sun had gone down. I was worried that morning that I might not have enough clothes (due to lost luggage) to survive the bobsleigh event that evening, and I decided now that I was right. I was already cold and there was no way I would make it to 11pm, so I made the difficult decision not to attend the bobsleigh event.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my ticket, so I started to ask around if anyone was looking for a ticket to the event, but had no luck. It was getting close to departure time for the bus to head back to the Coastal Cluster, so I headed to the train station exit looking for someone to give my ticket to. As I headed that way I ran into yet another Canadian with the same intension. We found three Russians and offered them our three tickets. When they said they couldn’t pay, we told them they were FREE! They looked at us in complete disbelief. They simply didn’t understand that we didn’t want anything for these tickets! Finally, I told them that they could pay by having their photo taken with me. They finally agreed.

Another incredible day with awesome people!

After another incredible day, we hopped on the bus back to the Coastal Cluster.

Thank you to Neil, Tara and Alexandre for a super fun afternoon at Austria House! Yay!! : )

This week I headed into Amsterdam with my aunt and cousin to check out the Anne Frank Huis and do some walking around the city.

Anne Frank Huis

The Anne Frank Huis was an emotional experience for me. I read the Diary of Anne Frank years ago in high school, but still remember the impact it had on me then. To think of myself at age 13 to be living in this house with eight people while in constant fear of being found is just unimaginable. And that Anne was still able to enjoy the smaller pleasures in life is so admirable. It was such a different world back then and I am so thankful for all of the people who had the courage and strength to give their lives so that my family had the opportunity to live in a better world. It gives me goosebumps to think of all the history attached to that house and this city, and that my grandparents lived through it and my dad was born right in the middle of it. Wow.

(The Anne Frank House doesn’t allow photography, so I have only a few photos.)

“We cannot change what happened anymore. The only thing we can do is learn from the past and to realize what discrimination and persecution of innocent people means. I believe that it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight prejudice.” ~ Otto Frank, 1970 (Anne Frank’s father)

Anne Frank, 1929 – 1945

Amsterdam Photowalk

After visiting the Anne Frank Huis, we took advantage of the gorgeous day and just walked around the city. Down one side of a canal and back along the other. Up and down the shopping streets, ducking in and out of little shops.

These are some of my shots from the day, you’ll find more on Flickr.

Train Ride!

Day 3 had me super excited for my first day in the Mountain Cluster for snowboarding and bobsleigh events! Although the train had been advertised to take only 40 minutes to get to the mountains, I had been told to give myself at least two hours. The reasoning was that yes, the train CAN make it in 40 minutes, but there is only one track, so if there is a train coming from the other direction, your train will have to wait in certain areas to allow it to pass before continuing on. Kind of a strange way to organize and advertise your transportation services, but hey, it was what it was. I was just happy someone told me about it so that I was able to head out on time!

My snowboarding event started at 11am, so I was out the door by 8:30am to get to the Adler train station. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t be warm enough in the mountains, due to my lost luggage and limited clothing availability, but it was another gorgeously sunny day, so I packed everything I had in my backpack along with my camera and hoped for the best.

The train was so packed that I ended up sitting on the floor between cars with a couple of other Canadian girls. The three of us chatted and laughed and exchanged stories of our Olympic experience so far. We got more than a few strange looks from some of the Russians around us, as we were the only ones chatting (very animatedly, I should add) and I started to wonder if maybe we were having a bit too much fun for a morning train ride…?

Snowboarding at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park

When I reached the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, I caught my first mascot as well as my first hilarious bathroom stall sign.

And after several requests from Russians to have my photo taken with them, I finally made it to my seat for the Ladies Snowboard Cross event. I was perfectly seated among a group of Canadian fans, including the two friends who I had been to the 2012 London Olympics with! Awesome!  And my new friend Shauna turned out to be the perfect poster child for the Olympic Spirit Project! Yay!!

There were also a couple of (misplaced?) Americans seated with us and we thought we would have a little fun with them (they had no idea what was going on behind them…) Haha!

We watched Canada’s Dominique Maltais fly down the course to win silver (yay!), alongside Eva Samkova from the Czech Republic who won gold and Chloe Trespeuch from France who won bronze. It was an amazing day!

When the event was over, a bunch of us decided to head to Austria House for some food and drink before some headed back to the Coastal Cluster and others headed to the Bobsleigh event later that evening. So we all piled into the back of the bus and off we went!

Stay tuned for the next update, where I will tell you all about my experience at the Austria House…

Sunshine!

I woke up on Day 2 to a beautiful day. It was sunny and about 18 degrees celsius. I decided to take a walk along the boardwalk along the river Mzymta before heading toward the Olympic Park and these are the views I was faced with. Adler was absolutely beautiful! It was so warm that I found myself wishing I had packed a pair of shorts and flip flops! The palm trees along the river made the idea that I was at the winter Olympics completely surreal!

Short Track

I didn’t have any events scheduled for that day so I headed to the Olympic Park with the intention of buying a park pass to explore some of the cultural venues. I connected with an American friend who I had met through one of the Sochi Facebook groups, and as I went to stand in the 90 minute ticket lineup (ugh), he went looking for a pair of inexpensive event tickets from people selling extras outside the park. I figured that if I was going to pay for a park pass anyway, I was fine with paying a few extra dollars if it meant I would take in an Olympic event that day.

I wasn’t in line more than 15 minutes and my new friend messaged me saying that he had been successful! He had found a pair of short track speed skating tickets for only $30 each from another American who had extra tickets! Yay! And just like that, we were off to our first event of the 2014 Olympic Games! HappyDance!

If you have never watched speed skating live, it is an absolutely amazing sight! Short track is especially exciting because they move so quickly around such a small track. They lean in at such an angle around the corners that you think that they may just fall over! Unfortunately, one of our Canadian medal hopefuls did just that… I watched Charles Hamelin lose his balance and as he fell he also knocked the American competitor out of the race and they both hit the padded arena wall HARD!

In the end, two Russians won gold and silver, while the Netherlands brought home the bronze medal for the event Men’s 1000m event. They usually don’t actually present the medals at the events, but they do bring the athletes up onto a podium to recognize their achievement and to perform a flower ceremony. The medals were presented later that evening in the Medals Plaza.

When the event was over, I wandered around the park in search of Olympic Spirit and some Russians provided some excellent examples:

Swiss House

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the park photographing Olympic venues and landmarks and ended up at the House of Switzerland.

The Swiss House was great fun! Since Canadians were not permitted to go inside the Canada Olympic House unless they were friends or family of the athletes, the House of Switzerland became our second home. This is where we (Canadians) would end up daily to celebrate the events of the day with food, drinks and great company. It was no strange occurrence for the Canadian national anthem to break out (it would happen nightly, sometimes more than once), and the house would be packed until sometime between 2am and 4am, depending when they decided to shut it all down.

What I loved the most about the day was that it was a completely unplanned day without expectations and it turned into a day filled with incredible surprises from the warm weather to the unexpected short track ticket and all the wonderful people I met along the way. Any anxiety that I may have had about traveling to Russia and the Olympics solo had completely melted away, and when I got back to the hotel at 2am I was completely exhausted and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

After returning from Sochi on day 1, I went straight to the Olympic Park to connect with a friend and we headed straight to the Canada Olympic House for their Valentines Day open house event.

The idea behind the Canada Olympic House is that it is a sanctuary away from the media for athletes and their friends and family to connect during the Games and is not open to the general public or other Canadians. The open house event gave all Canadians the opportunity to visit the house for a few hours to mingle with the athletes and enjoy a beer from the open bar with other Canadians.

I met so many amazing people, including one lovely lady in particular who had brought me clothes and Canada gear to use until my luggage arrived! It was even appropriately wrapped in a Canada flag. I was so excited to see the Canadian Olympic Spirit shining through right from the moment I arrived. It was truly incredible! Thank you Bailey Edwards for your generosity and your awesomeness!

The highlight of the visit to Canada House though, was a surprise visit from President Putin! He had been next door at the USA House and made an unscheduled appearance at Canada House! He was given a pair of official Canada mittens and then he made a speech wishing our athletes luck. Well… most of them anyway… with the exception of our hockey team! (He laughed it off, but I don’t think he was joking… Not even a little bit.)

I stuck around Canada House as long as I could to chat with the athletes about their Olympic experience. I spoke with Gold Medalist Dara Howell (slopestyle skiing), and athletes Jenna Blasman (snowboarding) and Taylor Henrich (ski jumping). It was so inspiring to hear of their experiences and their excitement for the opportunity to compete and represent Canada at the 2014 Olympics!

So my first day was a raging success (despite the luggage issues that morning). Experiencing true Canadian Spirit inside the Canada Olympic House and being there for President Putin’s visit were an incredible way to kick off my Sochi 2014 Olympic experience. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better day if I tried!