When Tanner and I arrived at MXP, the first thing I noticed was all of the branding for Milano Cortina 2026 plastered everywhere, including large Olympic rings near the exit. There were also many volunteers on Olympic uniform tracksuits scattered throughout the terminal. This was consistent throughout our journey across northern Italy. The country was definitely an enthusiastic host, and everything from street signs to uniforms to food items were branded with the Olympic logo. Along the way, someone told us that, while many people complained about the investment to host the Games, now that they were actually here, the mood seemed to have shifted. Many forward facing folks in service roles were wearing shirts or jackets with the Olympic logo on them.
Tanner and I picked up the rental cars at Hertz (where the representatives did ask about our IDPs, said Hertz didn’t require them, but warned us we would be risking a fine without it) and sprung for toll transponders, as well as snow tires (which are required by law in most alpine mountain towns). The last thing we needed was to make the logistics of moving our group harder in any way, so these seemed like good investments. After grabbing an Italian sub at the cafeteria, we headed towards Como to pick up the rest of the group. We arrived at the train station and waited for a few minutes as they finished lunch and walked back to join us (swinging by the lakefront on the way). The group split into two cars, with Gabby, the Kershners, and Rae joining my car, and the Shiffletts and Adam going with Tanner. We then started our five hour drive to San Vino, where we would catch the shuttle bus to Cortina for curling.
We made a couple of stops along the way, once for the bathroom and coffee, and two more for McDonalds before heading into the mountains. As we started to wind our way higher and higher, it became obvious that it had been snowing... a lot. Traffic slowed to a crawl at some points, and snow plows were working feverishly in teams of two or three to clear and salt the roads. Google Maps helpfully tried to route me around some of the traffic by taking me onto a side road that hadn’t been plowed yet (or recently). After sliding around a little bit, we decided we would stick to the main road, slow though it might be.
At one point, the main road appeared to be closed, but there was a brand new tunnel (likely built for the olympics) that didn’t appear on Google Maps, with signs pointing to the park and ride. I followed the signs, but, unfortunately, Tanner’s car missed it and ended up on another side road, trying to find their way around the roadblock. Somewhere down this road, the car eventually got bogged down in the deep snow and I received a call from Joe. He said, “Hey, we’re stuck and may need a tow truck.” Since we couldn’t do anything for them, we decided to continue on (with Gabby's encouragement) and Joe told me he would call with an update. As he hung up, I heard someone in the background say, “We may be able to help you.”
We arrived at the (very snowy) park and ride, where the many volunteers lined up along the road directing traffic in the driving snow. The attendant at the entrance to the lot just glanced at my email confirmation without scanning the QR code and told me we would have to wait while the plow cleared the parking lot. This looked like the back side of some public works facility, rather than a parking lot intended to hold a large Olympic crowd. Once we parked, we found out we would have to walk the half mile or so back up the hill to get catch the shuttle bus.
At this point, I received another phone call from Joe saying that a nice local Italian man (from Chicago) and his son (who was riding his bike in the snowstorm) had gone to their house to bring them some snow chains and they were able to get out of the ditch they were in. They were on their way to the shuttle parking, and would be there soon. At this point, the curling event had already started and we were just hoping to catch some of it. Tanner’s car arrived a few minutes later and the rest of the guys jumped out while Tanner went to park the car. The shuttle bus arrived and we asked the driver to wait while Tanner walked up the hill. Once he made it, we all clamored aboard and headed to Cortina.
After a half hour or so ride, we arrived at the Cortina bus “terminal” at the far end of town. We started following signs for the curling stadium, asking people for directions along the way, and ended up walking another mile or so in the snow, making our way across to the stadium on the other end of town. We finally arrived, after (at least for Tanner and I) some 24+ hours of continual traveling, made our way through security, and sat down in our seats. At this point, Justin poked me and said, “I think they’re on the last frame.” Sure enough, we watched a grand total of roughly three stones before the event ended. I just laughed in disbelief. We stuck around for a few minutes to watch the teams for the following day (including team USA) practice, and had the mom of one of the members of the Swiss team take our group picture. We were eventually kicked out and started our long walk back.
This time, we followed the crowd through the center of Cortina, rather than the “long route” we had been directed to previously. The village was decorated with ice sculptures (we tried to get Joe to lick it), white neon signs representing each sport, and a spectator “fan area” in the village square. As we were making our way through town, we noticed a central avenue with lots of volunteers lining up on the sides. As we made our way to the end, there was a single Olympic ring arch. Slowly, it dawned on us that this was part of the Parade of Nations for the opening ceremony (which would be spread across four sites, with an Olympic torch in both Milan and in Cortina). Apparently, what was about to happen was a rehearsal for the volunteers. We were just stopping to watch when the director, wearing a headset, asked, “Do you want to join us?!” We jumped at the chance, and joined the group of volunteers standing in for team Italy. Since they were coordinating with the other sites, we waited a few minutes before being given the signal to go, emerged through the Olympic ring, and began walking up the main thoroughfare, waving at all of the cameras. Somewhere in the Olympic archives, there is now video of the delegation from Blacksburg, Virginia walking in the Olympic athlete parade in the Italian Dolomites. I think the group consensus was that this was an awesome way to top off the evening, and made the long journey from the other side of the country totally worth it.
Finding our AirBnB for the evening (up a snowy hill) was a little bit of an adventure, and it was looking like we might not get much dinner, given that everything had long closed by the time we made it back to the park and ride around 10:45 PM. However, when we arrived at our AirBnB, we found that our host had left breakfast items out for us. Those, combined with various contributions from the group (some peanuts here, a jar of noodles there) meant that, while everyone may not have had as much as they preferred for dinner, no one went to bed hungry or without eating (three for three),
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