We are so proud of our sledge hockey team!  

Last nights game was a shock for everyone, but for the players it was so much more devastating.  They came for gold and were confident that's what they would be taking home.  Seeing the disappointment on their faces later that night was heart breaking.  There was nothing we could say, nothing we could do.  To really understand the emotion that plays into the athletes at the Paralympic Games you really have to be here to experience it.  I mean, I've cried for athletes as they've won and also as they've lost, I've cried during the national anthems, not just ours but other countries as well.  I know I'm a bit of a sap when it comes the the Olympics and Paralympics, but this is up close and personal when it's your own here playing their hearts out.
They did their best, that's all any of us ask.  Last night is history and tomorrow will be a new day.  It doesn't matter to me what colour medal they take home, I just want them to know that regardless we love them and are so very proud of them.  Canada will play Norway for the bronze medal tomorrow at 1 pm (that's 5 am at home) and I'm confident they will come out on top with a win.  No matter the outcome, they will be golden in all our hearts!

For the record, I'm cheering for Russia!  The Russian sledge team has come from nothing to a power house in just four or five years and it would give the sport a huge boost in this country to see them win. A boost not just for sledge hockey in this country but also for disabled persons, especially children.

 Besides that, they love us and in their eyes we are the best hockey players in the world.  It was so sweet last night after the game they were sincerely sorry for our guys.  They say Canada is the best in the world.  I secretly think they would be afraid to play our team as they have never beat them.  Can't say that about the US- haha!  Go Russia!  Tomorrow night, I'm taking my mitts and scarf to trade and any pins I have left.  I'm not sure that I will actually go to the gold medal game but the medal ceremony will directly follow the gold medal game and I won't want to miss that.  I really hope Canada and Russia win.  Do it for yourselves boys, and for mother Russia!!!

Gondola up the mountain

Sunshine at the peak

This country has gone over and above to welcome people from all over the world.  The language has been a challenge, but we've had a bit of fun with those challenges.  The cost that has gone into building this Olympic Park is just mind boggling.  It is absolutely beautiful and what an undertaking it has been.  Seven years to build everything from the ground up.  It's no wonder parts of it are not finished.  We took the train to the mountains today and I was blown away by them.  The railway system is impressive enough, but the new roads and resorts built and everything else that goes with a ski resort; you just can't imagine the sheer magnitude of work and manpower that has gone into this place.

Para snowboard competition

If last night wasn't emotional enough, we were present for the first ever para-snowboarding at the Paralympics today.  It was an amazing event to witness, but a bittersweet day as I was thinking of Mike Fisher and his family.  Wish he could have been here!  The Canadians placed really well and we cheered them on proudly, but geez I am such a cry baby, I just couldn't watch the flower ceremony.

It was a bit chilly for us up there in the mountains as we have become accustomed to the coastal temperatures.  It was chilly, as in just above zero,  not -20 as in Canada.  We are really going to have a hard time coming back home next week!  Nat and Bev went back early to the coast and Dean went farther up the mountain to watch the biathlon, but Meg and I found a nice little Bavarian restaurant to
have lunch at the mountain village of Rosa Khutor.  We did a little more sight seeing before we made the hour long train ride down the mountain.  It's kind of weird that we have eaten at a Japanese Sushi Bar, an Italian Pizzaria, a Bavarian Restaurant but haven't had much Russian cuisine yet.  I only have two days left and I have to try the sausage, sauerkraut and borscht soup yet!

Going for Bronze tomorrow!  Go Canada!!

For $5000 US you can have these beautiful little dolls to dust..there's 20,  No Thanks!

Japanese Sushi Bar at the Radison Blue Motel

The best Borscht soup and Beef Stroganoff I've ever had!

It's a Pizza feast fit for a King!

Adriano's Italian Pizzaria

Nat and Meg and a tall ship

Little Bavarian restaurant we found up in the mountain of Rosa Khutor