Thursday January 26, 2006

Took a day off from taking my camera with me as we were going to ski all day. DUH !!! What a mistake!!!!! We skied in a different area with more great Dolomite mountains scenery. Even went up a lift with two World Cup ladies next to us. I guess I felt like I wanted to ski more aggressive and didn’t want to take the chance that I might fall and damage the camera.

After skiing, we returned our skiis to the rental store. There was to be a big Olympic celebration tonight commemorating Cortina’s 50th Anniversary since hosting the winter games. We went down to the Corsa Italia and got there just in the nick of time. There was a big parade going through the town. This is the start of the parade.

Here is the parade as it approaches the ice rink where the celebration was to take place. It was an exciting day for Cortina and all the town came out for this.

This is a closeup of the band in their 1863 garb.

The weather was very cold and it just started snowing out. The mountains which had always been in full view where now getting clouded over. Needless to say it was VERY COLD !!!!!

Many of the past Olympic medal winners were there as well. The gave each a medal and all had someting to say to the audience. However I have NO IDEA what they were talking about since it was only in Italian. OH WELL !!!

This was the beginning of the parade back through Cortina. It was dark and snowing much harder by the time it started. These pictures didn’t come out too well but thought I would throw them in anyway to give an idea of what took place.

This is the famous downhill skier that was a big medal winner in his time. He carried the torch through the first leg of Cortina. It was difficult getting a good picture as so many people were crowded around.

Here I have another Olympic medalist standing in front of the ice sculptures on the Corsa Italia.

This is anothe Olympic medalist carrying the torch on the Corsa Italia on another leg through Cortina.

Afterwards they had one of the biggest fireworks displays I have ever seen. It went on for a very long time and really lit up the skies.

This was a mime just doing his thing on the Corsa Italia. This guy must have been freezing his tush off. It was really cold just to be standing there.

It turned out to be one of the best days yet. We had a great day of skiing and then we saw this wonderful Olympic celebration. Afterwards we went to our favorite restaurant, saw and spoke with Maurisse (or whatever this guy’s name was) and had a delicious meal served by our favorite waitress. What more could you ask for?

To see pics in full view click slideshow after clicking here