Opening Ceremonies!

Last night was the opening ceremonies! They were held at the ski jump in town, which is the same place they were held for the 1964 and 1976 Olympics, so that was really cool. When we first got a glimpse of the stadium as we walked in, I was shocked by how many people were there, the stands were full! There were lots of dancing and music, some traditional Austrian dancing and cool performances by local kids. It finished with a phenomenal fireworks show, definitely the best I've ever seen, and a group of beat boxers that were really good! The torch lighting was pretty cool too....

This morning we did some intervals at Seefeld, while the jumpers had their first competition! Tomorrow's an off day, so we're planning to go watch some other events and check out the town!  

 innsbruck from the path up to the jump

 our first view of the crowds...its hard to see, but there were so many people!

 marching in!

 Russia

 Ukraine

 the countdown!!

 they skied the torch down the outrun of the jump, then took a loop through the stands before lighting the flame

 the flagbearers

 one of the dance shows

 it was cool to see the Olympic rings all over the place!

 another dance

 raising the Olympic flag

 the torches, the top is the one from the 1964 Olympics, then the one from 1976, and finally ours on the bottom!

 USA

 afterwards they had sandwiches at the breakfast tent for those of us who didn't feel like waiting in the long lines in the cafeteria, these men made sure we didn't take too many

 and it was a really nice day today!