View Full Version : SOCHI SCENE: Welcome, world where are you?



Prunepicker
02-06-2014, 12:50 PM
From The Associated Press (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OLY_SOCHI_SCENE_FANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-06-03-42-18)
SOCHI, Russia (AP) -- Olympic fans of the world, where are you?

Sochi is (more or less) ready for you to come to its Winter Games.
Thousands of athletes, soldiers, journalists and herds of smiley volunteers
are in place, eager to help.

So far, though, it seems like the only spectators milling about are Russian.
Dina Kobolenko is waiting for you at her tourist information stand near the
Sochi train station, armed with maps of this subtropical resort on the Black
Sea. She says that as of two days before the Games, she'd seen only a single
foreigner - a South Korean. They couldn't understand each other, though, so
had to communicate in sign language.

Fears about terrorism and the hassle of reaching Sochi from points abroad
may be keeping some foreigners away - and undermining Vladimir Putin's
plans to transform Sochi into a magnet for international tourism.

A train traveling between Olympic sites and downtown Sochi cheerily
announces to visitors in English: "We wish you a pleasant journey!" But on
a recent ride, its seats were half empty. And a sweep through four train
cars found ... not a single foreign fan.

tomokc
02-06-2014, 01:10 PM
Skepticism began when Putin picked a host city located in a subtropical region with palm trees, and an average February low temperature of 36.5 degrees.

Mel
02-06-2014, 01:11 PM
My wife is watching "Katie" and they showed what the water looks like right out of the tap. Dark urine. They can not drink it or wash their faces with it. Whoever has the bottled water franchise is going to make a mint. All this worry about terrorism and unsafe consumables has got to effect the athletes. Maybe the committee that picks the cities should have to go live in them for a month.

Garin
02-06-2014, 03:47 PM
5 Reasons to Be Really Glad You Aren?t in Sochi for the Olympics | TheBlaze.com (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/04/5-reasons-to-be-really-glad-you-arent-in-sochi-for-the-olympics/)