Freaks on Ice

It was a balmy 20 degrees and sunny in Kyoto yesterday. We took advantage of the warm weather by heading indoors, bundling up and going skating.

Sergey and I spent the day at the Kyoto Aquarena, which (like the name suggests) is home to both a swimming pool and a skating rink. Just not at the same time. The Olympic-size pool is turned into a skating rink for six months of the year. This only makes sense in Japan, where there are strict rules governing seasonal appropriateness. Summer is for swimming; winter is for skating -- whether you like it or not.

Skating on a frozen swimming pool was a lot of fun. Except for the part when Sergey fell head-first into the ice, smashed his knee and broke his camera. The skating came to an abrupt end after that. I bought Sergey a hot chocolate to make him feel better (but also to assuage my guilt since the accident happened immediately after I tightened his laces).

I captured some of the pre-accident action on camera and edited it into a short film I'm calling "Freaks on Ice." Why watch the Olympics when you can watch quality skating right here? I think we might have a shot at ice-dancing gold in 2014. Russia, here we come!