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We paid several visits to the Olympic Square, a secured area in downtown Salt Lake that contained the Delta Center, World of Coca Cola, the Olympic Superstore, Medals Plaza, and lots of sponsors' areas.
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Many of the buildings in downtown Salt Lake were decorated with giant banners featuring different Olympic sports.
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The Olympic Village was constantly filled with people shopping, pin trading, and hoping to catch a glimpse of Olympic athletes. The only American athlete we recognized was silver medal skier Shannon Bahrke.
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We elbowed countless small children out of the way to grab a photo op with Copper, one of the Olympic mascots.
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The Coca Cola area featured a variety of different sports sculptures complete with sound effects (this one made shush-ing noises).
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The Olympic Square featured several different parades each day. Here's a group of children with seagull marionettes. The seagull is the state bird of Utah and was prominently featured on Olympic pins and other paraphernalia. Generally, they seem like flying rats, but even they seemed pretty in the glow of the Olympic Games.
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Another parade showcased the puppets and floats from the Opening Ceremonies.
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One of the strangest things we saw during the Games was this impromptu screening of a curling match projected onto the side of a semi truck parked at a gas station. Curling is certainly a major spectator sport in other countries!
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The Temple and the Olympic murals made an impressive spectacle when they were illuminated at night. |
