What a whirlwind of a day. We said Auf Wiedersehen to Frankfurt (thanks Germany, we'll see you soon again) and hello to Sochi (well, Adler really).
First impression: Sochi and the Olympics have caught a bad break on the US news media. All the people we met working at the airport and the park were nice and efficient. Their immigration process was much better organized than Frankfurt and we both passed through the checkpoint with a "welcome to Russia".
We were then met and quickly whisked away by the fine people at Ludus tours. It's probably one of the best decisions we made booking with them. We got a fast but thorough tour of Adler from Kirk after getting our spectator passes in what felt like a Russian DMV office from just this side of hell. It was a bit busy and a lot chaotic but after we were prompted to jump the line a bit we were on our way with passes in hand.
The bus ride to the Olympic park was quick (after we got through what must have been a mash up of rush hour and Olympic traffic). It was also completely uneventful in all the best possible ways. Lets hope that keeps up the rest if the week.
The only thing that didn't go right today was my "jail broken" iPhone. I must not have done it right or my old iPhone 4 doesn't like Russia. Either way, we're using Marissa's phone for calls.
We sped through the Olympic Park on our way to cheer on Team Shuster at 7pm. There were not huge crowds but the torch is impressive.
We had a great time cheering on Shoostie...
We ended our day with a sardine can of a bus ride home (again uneventful and quick), a brief walk back through Adler and we are now watching highlights of the days games in Russian on a fuzzy TV.
It's been just about a perfect day. I'll probably drink some of this so I can dream in Russian tonight.
So far we've stayed out of the gulags. We're doing we'll.
And look Dad, we've even got pillows for our bed (despite the apparent great Sochi pillow shortage of '14).
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