The Olympic Flame Arrives

I had my English lesson today at 4 and missed the Olympic flame as it made its way in front of the PolyTechnico, a university close to my home. At about 6:30 p.m., I decided to take the bus downtown to see if there was anything interesting going on. Demetrio was too wrapped up with work stuff to go with me and besides he would not be caught dead on the bus.

The bus ride was short because after about 10 minutes, it stopped completely. Suddenly about 3/4 of the people on the bus got out and ran across the street yelling "la fiamma, la fiamma"="the flame, the flame". I quickly made my way across the street; traffic was at an absolute standstill. Before me was a procession of athletes in vans, police cars, old Italian soldiers on bicycles and then came The Flame. I am not sure who was holding it but he was running and waving to the crowd. It was really a sight to behold and I kept thinking to myself "I may never see this again!" People were waving flags, clapping and shouting. This was the most exuberant crowd I've seen in a while. After the procession ended I walked the chilly 20 minutes home and thought about what a rare event this was and how I should be thankful for a chance to experience it.

This is The Official Site for the Games. As I was watching Matt Lauer on MSNBC.com, he mentions that fact that the Torinese people have a reserved reputation and that maybe "Passion Lives Here", (the Olympic Committee's theme for these games) is an overstatement. You'll have to go to the site and look under NBC News Highlights on the right hand side of the page, to see what I mean. The open ceremony is tomorrow night about 6 blocks from my house. I’ll home safe and sound watching it on T.V.

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