Went down to the Keystone Centre about noon for the opening ceremonies, which began at 12:30 and were an awful lot like a graduation.  Speeches by every dignitary they could roust out to give one.  They marched in the bagpipes, but they did not do the drinking of some sort of alcoholic punch as I've seen at the bonspiels in Maryland.

First draw started at 2:00 and went until just about 5:00.  I did go back to the hotel--very briefly--in between, but getting out of the centre is a long and tedious process.  There are a gazillion doors, but they are only using one exit.  If they allow all the other doors to be opened and closed thousands of time, the temperature inside the arena vascillates and the ice surface changes.  Fire exits only.  Took me 45 minutes to get from my seat to the hotel, which is 4 miles away.  In future, I'll just take my laptop with me and do some work there in the 2 hours between draws unless I have some real need to leave.  Besides: it is freaking cold, and I can do with fewer trips back and forth to the car!

Second draw, the one featuring the two-times returning champions, started at 7 and went until 10.   This time, I was ready: with four stones to go, I headed to the door and watched the end of the end (ha ha!) from just inside the exit.  Made it out in good time.

Some details of the excitement on the photos. It is pretty fun to see these people up close and personal, when I have watched them only on television for a few years.

I'm going to give the first draw tomorrow morning a pass.  It's supposed to be -40, the point at which, in case you didn't know, degrees celsius and degrees fahrenheit meet.  It's also the point at which I don't see too much need to go outside and try to start the rental car, let alone walk across the giant parking lot at the curling venue.  The game will be on television.  I'll watch and do some work and hit the Keystone Centre for the 2:00 draw.  That's supposed to be the end of the super low temperatures for the week--after that, they're calling for teens below zero, which I can deal with!  Lady next to me today said this is the coldest winter on record--breaking records all over the place.  The snow on the ground is from snowfall in early February. The good news is that they don't have to worry about the ice surface melting because it's too hot outside and the humidity goes way up!

Fun day today--some outstanding shot-making already.  Looking forward to the rest of the week.