Sausage and Skiis

On Wednesday, we had tickets for the finals of the Ladies' Aerials at Cypress Mountain. It was an evening event, but the travel time meant we had to leave in the mid-afternoon. So we decided to got to German Saxony House, which has been getting good word of mouth on the street.

We got there about 15 minutes before they opened and there was already a line up, but not too long a line up. On the walk over we went through a part of Vancouver we hadn't walked so far. In a park by the beach on English Bay there is a large Inukshuk, which is one of the symbols for these games. Delightfully, someone had hung around its neck a large set of the now iconic Olympic mittens - the red ones from the Bay with the maple leaf on the palm that even Oprah Winfrey is wearing. This is even more appropriate to us, because Kim made mitten strings for her mittens and has been wearing them that way, getting a lot of positive comments as we walk around.

Outside Saxony house is another park, this one with a statue of Robbie Burns. He also had mittens on a string around his neck. Kim is clearly a fashion leader in the statue community.

Others in line at Saxony House told us that the Lions at Lions' Gate Bridge also have mittens.

When Saxony House opened we went in. There were large screen televisions playing Magnum P.I. reruns. No, that was a joke - they were playing the Olympics of course, especially anything in which the Germans were active. It was the food and beer though of which people had talked so we started with a classic grilled German sausage each, Kim's with grilled onions and Paul's with the best saurkraut he has ever tasted. Paul also had a delicious dark German ale.

Paul had a small miscommunication with the German server, and instead of apple pie, he received a plate of an entirely different German delicacy: dark bread covered with, wait for it....bacon fat, and bacon bits, raw onion and gherkin pieces to top it off. The Germans can have it, but it was an experience to try. We have a picture...unappetizing to look at, think about and especially to eat. Eventually Paul got his pie which he liked very much and Kim and Paul shared some pork and saurkraut, which was tasty.

We stood at a table, and ate, and watched the U.S. vs. Switzerland game, and chatted with a few people who came and went to the table. One set of four was a German couple who made friends with the Canadian couple on a Rod Stewart tour in Europe. They were cheerful and we were sad to see them head off quickly to take in other sights, the German regretfully downing the last of his ale.

While we were very excited about the tickets to the Aerials, we were disappointed that we would not be able to watch the hockey semi and that we would miss the speed skating; it all worked out much better than we had hoped.

Eventually we left and caught the bus to the other bus to the Olympic bus to Cypress Mountain. While waiting for the Olympic bus at SFU, we were able to catch the tail end of the long track speed skating and Clara Hughes' bronze medal.

We got to the venue two hours before the event, which was good because we had standing room tickets and were able to get a fairly good position. Since the last time we had been there, Cypress had got some snow, and now looked the absolutely perfect winter scene: big fir trees, mountains and running water breaking through snow and ice.

As we already wrote, we had been feeling a tad of regret that we wouldn't be able to watch the big Canada vs Russia game. When we got to the venue, though, they had a giant T.V. set up on the mountain side, which was intended to show the replays of the aerials, but which they used, while we waited, to show the hockey game. So we stood outside on the side of a mountain and watched hockey with thousands of others. While we watched, three enormous inflated balls (when we say enormous we mean person-sized) were being bounced through the crowd. How cool is that. The world now knows the result of that game, as well as the other Canadian successes of which we received news while we went through our day.

There were no Canadians in the Aerials, but that was, in some ways a good thing. We had a few Australians around us and could cheer with them, but enjoy the wonder of Aerials without the partisan tension of Canadian competition. Aerials are wonderful. They women came off the jumps and flew - they just flew. There were some dramatic falls, though no one was hurt. But mostly, they flew, doing things in the air that defy description and that just aren't fully captured by the magic of TV. We were astounded, and also pleased when an Aussie won gold, to the delight of our neighbours.

By the time we got home it was late, but we stayed up and watched the PVR of the medals won and went to bed satisfied with another wonderful day.

walking in a winter wonderland,

The Entity
Paul McCulloch Alexander
Kim Boara Alexander