We made it up to the mountains and Vail where the World Championships are by about 6:15 last night and were at the Marriott or as the French say, The Hotel Marriott, by 6:45. Claude, one of the French National Ski Team coaches who I know was waiting for us and we joined him and all the coaches and team for some champagne for about an hour. One of their team won a silver medal yesterday. They all speak english, some better than others, Â but the way we pronounce certain words and places, especially in France, are much different. Anyhow we had fun and it was neat to hang out with them. We’ll join them tonight after the races again. I brought them up some italian wine to hold them over for the next week and they gave Lori and I some French Ski Team gear which was unexpected but very cool as you can’t buy it even if you wanted to!
Lori and I were talking when we left how they’re just regular people like us who are trying to make a living, but they do it skiing. Most of the French and Europeans love America but have mixed feelings about Americans as they tend to see (some of us) as snobby or entitled which unfortunately is how some of us are. Anyhow I think we did a pretty good job of giving them another view of Americans. We left with invites to visit from team members who live all over France from Burgundy to Marseilles. One younger guy who was the “physio” or physical trainer, was from Burgundy where his family makes wine! That’d be a fun place to go see. So today we’ll be cheering for of course the U.S. Team and Team Francais!
My buddy Rik who won 4 medals in the Olympics in Trondheim Norway about 30 years ago is taking us up to the grandstands and getting us in to the V.I.P area so we need to be at his house by 8:30. The races start at 11 so you need to get their early. Time to run, watch for us on tv!
God Bless.