Winter Wonderland

Posted Feb 19, 2006 by Bill Ward

Updated Feb 19, 2006 at 11:00 PM

5 p.m., Central Turin

For the first time since I arrived in Turin, snow fell on the city – loads of it. I have never been a big city where there was snow and it really made it look beautiful. All the Renaissance and Baroque-style buildings in the central part of the city were covered with a thick layer of snow and as night fell, it sort of felt like a real Christmas. The snow came down so thick, I could draw “Tampa Tribune” on the windshield of my rental car. And then some German-speaking guy in his 20s came up and saw what I was doing. So he drew a picture of something most people would consider obscene on my hood. I was so surprised he did that, I could only laugh, and so did he. Don’t tell the Italian authorities, but I think he might have been drinking. That’s just a theory.

Being a Floridian, however, I didn’t realize there’s a down-side to all this white stuff. It’s not like Charley Brown’s Christmas, where you run around and catch snowflakes on your tongue with no repercussions. When snow gets on you, it melts. And that gets you wet. No wonder people were using umbrellas – duh. Of course, I brought everything in my suitcase except that. But no worries, tomorrow is suppose to be a sunny day here and that’s good news if you’re covering outdoor Olympic events.

Eventually, I’d like to make it down to the medals plaza at Piazaa Castello. It’s suposed to be a wild scene and tonight, thousands of people stood outside in the driving snow to see Shani Davis and Joey Cheek receive their speed skating gold and silver medals, respectively. It must have been a blast for the fans but all I could think when I saw it on television back at the MPC is “are those people nuts for standing out there for hours?” Maybe they’re a little crazy, but doing something a little off-beat is what a lot of Olympic fans come here for—to wear goofy hats, paint their faces and cheer for their country in freezing weather.