48 Hours in Sochi - Day One

The Olympic spirit infected the air as you walked into the airport in Moscow. The locals like their branded clothing at the best of times and to say that they have enthusiastically embraced the 'Team Russia' tracksuits would be a gross understatement. They don't do things by halves either so tend to go for the full on outfit -the bolder, the brighter, the better - including the shoes and hat. Whole families walk past dressed in identical kit and not having a body anywhere near as fit as a world class athlete doesn't seem to dampen their desire to wear full on leisure gear.

As we head through the airport the atmosphere is holiday-like, bubbly happiness. Even the check in woman managed a smile! We have an hour or so to wait until our flight so head for the café for a quick coffee (we had an early start and it's still only 9am). Luckily the queue for coffee was non existant as everyone else was ordering full on meals and bottles of wine.

Ensconced on the plane I was wedged between mother and daughter (I asked twice whether they wanted to sit together but apparently not - one wants the window and the other the aisle). They just want to talk across me whilst each searching on their phones for the prices of the Sochi Olympic merchandise in the internet shop so that they can compare the prices to those in the shop in Sochi! I decided that it would be better to keep quiet rather than pass any sartorial advice on the colour of tracksuit they should order. They finally turned off the phones as the meal was served to exclamations of "Oi Atlichnaya" - it was hot blinis!

For most of the flight we are flying through cloud but as we descend into Sochi we pass the snow topped mountains that rise up behind the resort with the snow sparkling in the sunshine and bringing a winter wonderland feel. Then suddenly we are down in the sunshine and a balmy 9°c. It is warm! A sea of volunteers greets us as we walk out with an information desk to cover any question you might have. All the volunteers are kitted out in the bright "Sochi" outfits and they are all smily, friendly and helpful (or happy to find someone who can). We get directions to the hotel and set off to find the correct bus. Someone will no doubt any day now publish a "facts of Sochi" article with hundreds of stats that you didn't know you couldn't live without but for now suffice to say that there are buses everywhere - all emblazoned with the Sochi logo. There is a highly efficient transport system in place that works throughout the day and most of the night to move spectators, press and athletes around from their accommodation and to and from the two clusters that make up the venues for the games. The Coastal Cluster is, as you might have guessed, on the coast in the Olympic Park. The Mountain cluster is about an hour away up in the snowy mountains. Today we had curling tickets so after dropping our bags we head to the Olympic Park.

As you approach on the bus you are greeted by lines of palm trees leading to the entrances, ticket control, security and we are in! We're actually in the Olympic Park! The atmosphere is fantastic - fun, friendly and everyone wide eyed as though they can't quite believe where they are - like a hot sunny day on a British beach - people can hardly believe their luck! From the entrance we walked down a wide wide avenue with the sponsors exhibits on one side and an enormous exhibition on the other side housing information and photos about all the different Russian regions. We then headed over a gently curved bridge cladded in the bright colours of the logo and past some press stands and a Russian dancing show, through large structures welcoming everyone in Russian, English and French and we then came out into the hub of the park where the flame takes centre stage surround by all the venues of the coastal cluster. Each venue has a different design and colour and you can walk from one to the next in a couple of minutes. It is spectacularly impressive - the designs, the grandeur, the colours and just the magnitude of it all.

There are people everywhere but it doesn't feel crowded. I read somewhere that there are over 300 street performers in the park every day and I can well believe it - dancers, jugglers, clowns, acrobats -not to mention the mascots who wander around like the Pied Piper with a stream of people (both big and small) queueing to get their photo taken with the mascot. There are plenty of exhibits to go and see but the biggest queue by far was for the official merchandise shop which is in a mirrored cladded cube with a large Sochi glove on the roof.

Dotted a regular intervals were the refreshment stands selling hot dogs, pizza, shashlik and jacket potatoes. There was plenty of coca cola on offer and other drinks and also blini stands selling sweet and savoury pancakes which looked tasty - although I think the 'chocolate and yoghurt cheese' one might have lost something in translation!

After a hot dog and a small beer (it's not every day you go to the Olympics!) we headed for the Ice Cube curling rink. Having never been to a curling match before (in fact I only looked up the rules last night) I didn't really know what to expect. We saw a round robin match which basically means that 4 matches were going on at the same time. The first thing that hit me as we walked in were the lights - it was bright - and colourful and not at all like some dingy old slightly dirty ice rink. The music playing whilst we were waiting for the players was loud and modern and everyone was bubbling - the stadium was full of excited chatter. the teams were led out by Scottish bagpipers and after the announcements and a quick practice 'throw' they were off.

Curling is often referred to as the "chess" of winter sports and certainly compared to some of the other events of the games it maybe lacks pace and crashing hurtling excitement but the tension mounts slowly (they play 10 ends) and knowing that everything can change on the results of one end makes the last few ends nail biting. Despite this the general atmosphere in the rink is fairly relaxed as each of the games follows its own rhythm so sporadically there are cheers and shouts for all the different teams. It may not be a speed game but the match goes at a fair lick - they have a brief pause after 5 ends whilst the ice is cleaned and then they are off again. With GB 7-4 up after 9 ends I was pretty sure they were going to win but then Denmark managed to score 3 points in the last end and we were at a tie. They played one more end which unfortunately Denmark won but GB still managed to qualify for the semi finals in fourth place.

As we walked back through the Olympic Park to the bus stop to get back to the hotel the place was still buzzing. Bring on tomorrow!