Robin & Colleen's Olympics Adventure

Finally arrived in Sochi

Robin — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 08:56:35 +0000

Today we are heading to Sochi!!!! We were standing in line to check in for our flight to Sochi via Moscow when we were joined by Kate and Agnes, our friends from Whitehorse. Our flight to Moscow on UIA was faintly reminicent of the old Pacific Western Airlines days, where they had the minimum of spaces possible between the seats but the flight wasn’t full so we all had an empty seat beside us. Unfortunately, the weather in Moscow was quite foggy so we didn’t see any of the city flying in. We had to collect our bags and check back in for our next flight to Sochi. We were met by some wonderful young Russian Ambassadors who helped us to navigate the Moscow airport. They did a marvelous job, on our own I think we would have been still in the line up to check in. Again due to weather there was not a lot to see on our flight into Sochi until we were at our destination and we saw the beautiful snow peaked mountain range surrounding the Black Sea. We have finally arrived! The temp was +10 and the sun was shining and the palm trees were waving. Sochi is exactly what you would exactly for a summer resort, our winter gear maybe a bit warm for this weather. We took our prearranged shuttle to the port of Alder which is located next to the Olympic cluster. We checked in to the Grand Holiday cruise liner that is our hotel for the next 16 days. Since we have now been up for a day and a half it’s time to find supper and head to bed, tomorrow our events start.

Day 5 – Last Day in Amsterdam

Robin — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 04:42:41 +0000

Today is grey and very wet so a good day to visit the Riksmuseum before we head to the airport for our evening flight to Kiev. Luckily the museum isn’t far but the rain was quite heavy and we neglected to grab our rain ponchos so we are rather drenched when we reached the museum. The museum is huge and has a somewhat baffling floor plan but contains many treasures-mostly in the form of paintings, sculptures and china. Following our tour of the museum we headed back out into the rain and returned to the quaint little French Patisserie near our hotel for a warm cup of tea and of course some of their very tasty pastries. Since the rain wasn’t letting up we decided to head out to the airport a bit early and after some discussion with the taxidriver elected to take the taxi all the way to the airport and not just the train station as originally planned. I don’t know how they drive here especially in the center of the city with all of it’s narrow one way streets and millions of bicycles. Our KLM flight to Kiev was uneventful and we are now figuring out how to get a few hours of sleep on the airport benches before our 615 AM flight to Sochi via Moscow. (So another sleepless night for us).

Day 4 – Windmills, Cheese and Clogs

Robin — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 21:39:59 +0000

To start here are the answers to your questions; Auntie Sue was going down the staircase in our hotel. Kathy we have included the picture of the skinny bridge today, with captions, hopefully. The blog learning curve continues! The skinny bridge is just a pedestrians bridge.

On to todays tours, we chose to leave the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam for the surrounding country side, our first stop was Zaanse Schans to visit a working windmill. The windmill we toured was grinding spices, the other windmills were sawing lumber and pumping water. In the day, the Netherlands had 10, 000 windmills and now only 800 remain, all of which are protected heritage buildings. Then we boarded the bus to travel a short distance to the fishing village of Volendam to visit a cheese factory and have lunch. At the cheese factory, we were given a short demonstration on the making of cheese and then we were let loose in the shop to test as many sample as we wished. Most were very good and some not so much. After a lovely quick meal at a fish restaurant, it was back on the bus to complete our tour in Marken to visit a traditional clog maker. Again a short humorous demo, then onto shopping. No clogs for this crew, no room in the luggage! We finished the day of with late afternoon coffee in a quaint french bakery, a nap and a lovely Italian meal. Now time to struggle everything back into the suitcase for the next leg of our trip.

The 'Skinny Bridge'

Day 3 – Amsterdam – Part Deux

Robin — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 22:15:55 +0000

Wednesday we woke up to sun despite the forecast of rain and hustled down to breakfast just as they were about to close the doors. After breakfast and dealing with some technical difficulties with the blog we headed out into the sunshine, still a little cool at +8 and windy. A few blocks up from our hotel we passed Anne Franks House so popped in to do the tour. Quite a sobering and emotional start to the day. From there we walked up to the Central Train Station and caught one of the many canal tours, which pointed out many of the features of the city center. Following a stop to book a tour of the countryside for tomorrow we decided to venture back to the east side to get some better pictures of the “Skinny Bridge” which we had seen on the canal tour. Part way there we saw the Oude Kerk (Old Church) so detoured over to see it which took us into the Red Light District and the girls were already advertising their wares (sorry no pictures). On the way out of the district we stopped in a coffee shop for cappucinos and goodies (apple pie and a brownie) yum! Then it was onward to try to find that Skinny Bridge, stopping along the way to shop in a pet store, a shoe store and a general store before we finally consulted the map to get our bearings. Once we got the pics we wanted it was time for some refreshments, so off to the pub. From there we ventured home, albeit in a rather roundabout fashion stopping just up the road from the hotel at a great Argentian restaurant, Amigos for supper (great steaks, red wine, the works).

Day 2 – Toughing It Out in Amsterdam

Robin — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 10:20:48 +0000

Arrived in Amsterdam after an 8 1/2 hour flight, in which the captain must have apologized a half dozen times, plus an email from KLM for being late. Excellant service! Breezed through the airport, including customs, located our luggage and on to the train which took us into the city center. Decided to take a cab to our hotel instead of the olympic suitcase drag. Our hotel is a small family run hotel where the family dogs greet you at the door. Luckly we were only on the first floor or only one flight of steep stairs to heave your heavy suitcase. After the worlds shortest hour nap we were up and out roaming the streets, trying to get our barrings and taking picture of the amazing architecture. Early evening we found our way back to the hotel and attempted in our daze to write our first blog and stay awake so that we could go for supper and then onto bed.

Day 1 – The Adventure Begins

Robin — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 17:26:54 +0000

After nearly a year of planning and multiple registrations we are finally ready to begin our Olympic adventure. We spent a wonderful weekend in Calgary visiting family and friends to celebrate the many January-February birthdays and once we got the clan all on their way home we finally checked ourselves in with KLM. A quick visit with Kate and Agnes, two other members of our group who happened to be passing through the airport at the same time as we were checking in allowed for some catch up on the trip particulars. They will meet us in Kiev airport on Sat. Once through security it was at last, time for a celebratory drink and lunch! The count down to departure was T-minus one hour and out came the captain to say there was a slight problem and we would be delayed for hopefully only one hour. Throughout the hour the captain kept us well informed of the progress of the repair and before we knew it we were on our way, only 1 1/2 hrs late.