I clearly remember the winter of 1998.
We sat huddled in front of the television in St. Henri in the aftermath of the great Montreal Ice Storm watching the Nagano Olympics.
Flash forward eight years.
High up in the Japanese Alps, we discover the actual medal plaza from the Nagano games.
It has been turned into a parking lot.
A parking lot.
Paved paradise, put up a parking lot.
The medal podium still remains. As does the Olympic torch.
The rest is just row upon row of Toyotas.
Everything is temporary.
This place was the center of global attention for two weeks in Febuary 1998, now it is just another Olympic consequence. Forever indebted to pay for the expenditures of a quickly forgotten era.
The locals here are not fond of the Olympics. It is a memory best forgotten.
This town is spectacular though.
It's like Whistler with extra ginger.
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