Post Olympic Musings

Hello from Olympic land,

I have not dropped off the face of the earth, but have quickly gotten out of the email habit. I have been recovering from a lot of long days and short nights that started long before the games actually began and basking in the afterglow of the post Olympics. After feeling like I was literally chained to the computer up until the Olympics started, I quickly relinquished that role since then. The emails and inquiries have all but stopped except for a hardy few who are joining us for the Paralympics this week. Well, actually they have joined us.
We have managed to stay busy in spite of it all. The first few days we just caught up on laundry, cleaning, rearranging, and sleep.

Fabrizio is recovering from towing everyone out of the snow and giving lessons on putting on chains and driving in snowy conditions.
Those late nights and early mornings took their toll.
It was all worth it, every bit of it.

It was an enchanting 2 weeks. It was so wonderful to get to not only meet all the people that I had been corresponding with, but to get to know all the people that were staying with us, better as well. Colorado was well represented, and we had attracted all the English speakers that found accommodation hard to come by. We had so many competitors’ families here and it was exciting even if they did not all get medals.

Our Norwegians son, Jens Arne Svartedal, won a silver medal and they sent us a picture of them with the prince of Norway whom they met while he was here for the games.

We had so many visitors up here and lots of updates on what everyone was doing and even a little bit of the Olympics in as well.

It was wall to wall people in Torino and you could hardly move along the streets. All the Italians were out for the passegiata and everyone was trying to see and feel the Olympics before it was over. It was truly amazing to see that many people in Torino. I loved it and I'm not wild about crowds, but it was a spectacle worth experiencing. The closing ceremonies were so emotional and exciting. I loved every minute of it. It was so great to have so many nationalities here and lots of friendly competition. It was just an incredible atmosphere the whole 2 weeks.

World peace seemed possible.

Now that we've had a bit of time to regroup and recoup, the Italians are coming back. We have had a steady stream of the hosts who have come over, visit, and tell Olympic stories as well. I think one of the best things have not only been all of the people that I become friendly with thru the Olympics from abroad, but all the local people that we have become friends with thru all of this for such a variety of reasons. It really has been a broadening experience in a number of ways. Then we have our road worker friends and assorted locals coming to catch up with us and relive the Olympic experiences again. There are still many stories to tell and pictures to get on the web and on a cd, and on and on, so I have my work cut out for me.

We now have the Paralympics here. We have a Spanish family staying with us whose daughter, Alba is a blind competitor for the Spanish downhill team. Alba's guide, Anna's family are staying with us next weekend. So we have a new nationality that has visited us here at Bella Baita here in the official site of the Olympic mountians here in our part of the Italian Alps.

Marla & Fabrizio Too

www.bellabaita.com