zekekelso Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 It's actually really nice outside the venues. Part of that is the great (for me, not the skiers) weather. There's a street alongside the river up in the mountains where all the shops and hotels are. Very fun and festive. Lots of "piva" (important Russian word). But you can see it's almost all new construction, not all of which is finished. Khosta is a neat little town to explore, feels like Spain or something. After spending a few days in Moscow, I don't understand why every Russian doesn't move here. Then again, February isn't really the nicest time to visit Moscow. Olympic park is in Adler,which based off my view from the train isn't that interesting. Hope to see the city of Sochi itself today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hektor Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Weather looks gorgeous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gangwon Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 ^^ That's hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zekekelso Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Worth noting she is standing next to the 2014 Olympic slogan - Hot. Cool. Yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citizen-Seth Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 As at all Olympics, big blocks of empty VIP/NOC/Sponcer section. The IOC really needs to deal with this! Crowds do show up late and leave early. Russians would fit in well in L.A. How can you tell they're in the sponsor section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 They have good taste! Considering all they know is the taste of vodka ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 what are th best vodkas? how do you drink it? how is the high? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiFreak Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Weather looks gorgeous. Here's a side pic: Reminds me of all the cute Russian girls they filled the Russkydom with in Vancouver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotguy Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiFreak Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 ^That looks better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4gamesandcounting Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Crowds have looked okay on tv actually. It was one of my worries for the games but seems to be unfounded. If anybody there can get a good photo of the tv tower I would be interested! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiFreak Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 ^LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
world atlas Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 I see it became much better now ..hope it will continue for the Paralympics Sochi looks beautiful .. congratulations to the Sochi 2014 Organizing committee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
world atlas Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juso Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 It looks really good, and the crowds look much much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotguy Posted February 19, 2014 Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 love this pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reindeer Posted February 19, 2014 Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 After having seen the pictures and hearing the commentators about the conditions in Sochi, I have one question. Who reversed the order of the games? I was in London and now get the impression that Sochi is hosting the summer games while London had winter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 *correction -- these are Cossacks, police reserves, not actual police. But still - you bring in law enforcement for an Olympic Games you should expect them to be jacked up peasants who beat up women for no legitimate reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchy Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 *correction -- these are Cossacks, police reserves, not actual police. But still - you bring in law enforcement for an Olympic Games you should expect them to be jacked up peasants who beat up women for no legitimate reason. Brave men................... ...............NOT!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Tickle Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 After having seen the pictures and hearing the commentators about the conditions in Sochi, I have one question. Who reversed the order of the games? I was in London and now get the impression that Sochi is hosting the summer games while London had winter... That was quite a good British summer. I got myself a tan, did you see snow? On another note, bit over the top bully boy behavior in that video, probably going to make more publicity because of the over the top reaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reindeer Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 That was quite a good British summer. I got myself a tan, did you see snow? I thought it was said to be one of the wettest. I didn't see any snow but almost froze my butt off at night. There isn't any snow in balmy Sochi either and even in the mountains it's mostly artificial and people are getting a tan there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hektor Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I really enjoyed my days in Sochi. Very good and clever organization. I stayed at the Port of Sochi/Norwegian Jade which was not exactly a good idea due to the additional safety controls there, compared to a classical hotel. First contact with Sochi was immigration, and this was the smoothest immigration experience I ever had in Russia. No queue, no hassle. When you compare to my previous experiences in Sheremetyevo... Transfer times were long, I had the impression that everything was two hours long (hotel to Olympic park, hotel to Rosa Khutor, Rosa Khutor to Olympic Park). The brand new sleek Siemens trains were very slow, running at 50-60 km/h most of the time, stopping to cross other trains at the level of the single track sections. The only location where they were fast was in the tunnels, I was in a train which reached 120 km/h there. Only way to beat that was taxi. If you find a good one you could reduce the travel time to 40 minutes. 2000 roubles from Sochi to Olympic Park, or 2500, or 3000, or... depending from your bargaining talents. I am very impressed by the way the security was handled efficiently but without being a hassle. Their concept of security bubble which includes the railway stations was good. You pass a security check at the station, once, but from that point you never meet such a control again till you are in your seat in the venue. Example of Russian pragmatism: putting a seal on the busses doors to make sure they have not been opened during the transfer. There was no queue at security, with a lot of control stations at the Olympic park for the ones who were arriving by bus or by other means (no control if you arrive by train). Generally speaking I never queued due to security. But you had to queue really a lot at the Olympic/Bosco super store, and also at the House of Switzerland or of Korea. You had also to queue at the mobility golf cart stations, which luckily I did not have to use. Contrary to London 2012, where you had to have a real disability to use these shuttles, the Russian were not very strict on the criteria to access these cars - you just needed to have a child with you - which explains the queues. Huge crowds, very happy Russians everywhere. Fewer foreigners I think than in previous editions of the Games. I liked that there were a lot of families, with small children and even babies. You had a lot of young families, with twenty something proud Russian dads who obviously wanted to show the Games to their sons and daughters, even if they where only three... Venues were very good and nice looking. It is hard for me to believe that Iceberg is a temporary venue that will be dismantled. The only wrong thing is the ugly rectangular hangar which is a kind of protuberance of the Fisht stadium. The only scary aspect was Russian driving. I now understand these youtube videos with the onboard cameras. What else... Did I mention the ethereal beauty of Russian women ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micheal_warren Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 Interesting analysis and feedback of your time in Sochi! Glad you had a good time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brekkie Boy Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 This is just an observation from watching on TV but although undoubtedly the games have been very well run and the sport has been excellent they've come across as a bit souless on TV - the atmosphere doesn't shine through the screen. Maybe it's because nothing will compare to London, but despite the warm weather it's all been a bit cold really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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