A wagon and a wool blanket helped the girls settle in for a cold wait in the -8 degree (20 F) weather.
Music and a party atmosphere preceded the torch.
It proved to be a bit loud for Zoe who held her hands over her ears for much of the evening. 
She later confided that all of the commotion "upset" her. It is the first time we have heard her use the word upset! Poor thing. She really was scared. In hindsight, I realized that I had not properly prepared her for where we were going or what we were going to see. In our haste to get out the door, we focused only on the fact that she was going to spend time with her friend.
After it was all over and she was expressing her fear, she also had all sorts of questions.
What is a torch? It is like a candle [Zoe loves candles].
Where were they going? To a big party downtown [its destination tonight].
Are we going to the party? No.
Why? Well...[forming idea]...would you like to have a torch party at home tonight?
No! It upset me. We can use a candle instead of a torch.
Okay, Yes!
And that brought the first smile of the evening. We proceeded home for dinner which was followed by a special muffin with an Olympic Candle in it. Zoe blew it out several times and is now a little less afraid.
Back to the torch and its entourage.
Back to the torch and its entourage.
Finally the torch appears. It was relayed to a new runner just before it reached us and just before this photo was snapped. You can see the two flames behind and left of the policewoman. Each runner has her or his own torch and the flame is what is passed along from torch to torch.
The new runner approaches where we are standing as the flame held by the old runner remains visible in the background.
It moves on by and is soon out of sight. It all happened so quickly that I only had time to click three quick photos of the torch. It did not help that the crowd was jostling for space and I was holding Zoe in one arm and my camera in the other while wearing mittens. But at least we have proof that we were there. 
Remembering a warmer torch viewing....
During our final days in Almaty, the Olympic Torch passed through on its way to the 2008 Bejing Olympics. We wrote about it in our April 2, 2008 blog entry. Here are a couple photos from Zoe's first torch viewing (technically she slept through most of it comfortably in the Ergo) in her first home town.
4 comments:
Dear Sarah,
Thank you very much for your comments in our blog. I did not think that somebody will read anymore, since I did not write anything in my blog in such a long time. I am planning to start an other blog, hopefully before Yulia graduates from high school :). It`s been so busy, not even funnY :). It is so nice to see Zoe growing, they change so much from one month to the other. She looks like a little girl, not a baby anymore. I like the Olmypic Torches pictures, now and then. Zoe got to see 2, never did.....
Wishing you and your family very happy Holidays :)
love,
Catalina
I went out to see the torch yesterday too, as it passed near the office. It was very quick. I think its great that you actually GOT photos, I could barely see the runner let alone take photos. And I wasn't holding a little one at the time!
Wow, to have seen the torch twice and in both countries, that is amazing. Great pictures both times.
Hey there. Those photos are so cool. Wish we had seen it. The runner went by QP yesterday morning at 6 am and all employees were invited to view it with our mittens on - a little early though for this girl :-)especially as there was no way for me to get downtown that early.
How cool to be able to say you saw the olympic torch twice?
Zoey looking Zoeylicious as always. Looking forward to seeing you guys over the holidays.
very cool!!! how cool you got to see this twice. :) ahhh i miss the ergo! :)
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