Monday, Feb. 22: Our first 'day off'

About Nicholas Kohn and Marissa Heiser

Nicholas is the younger brother of Olympic bobsledder and bronze medalist Mike Kohn, who is competing in the two-man and four-man bobsled in these Olympics. Originally from West Columbia, S.C, Nicholas currently resides in New York City where he is an actor in the Tony Award winning Broadway Musical Avenue Q. Marissa is a singer/actress, writer and stand up comedian living in New York City. She is no stranger to winter sports herself as she is originally from Layton, Utah. Nicholas & Marissa met 10 years ago while performing together in summer stock theatre in Cape Cod, Mass. Last year they fell in love, and enjoy running, playing with dogs, and making each other laugh.

Monday, Feb. 22

Today was our first day without any kind of Olympic event. We took our time in the morning and strolled into the village. The town was jumping for a Monday afternoon with live music and cheering fans. We took our time at all the shops. There was a line up to the official Olympic store and we got in the queue.

We picked up souvenirs, bobsled pins, tee shirts and cow bells. The one thing everyone at home is requesting we bring home is those red mittens. We asked if they had any and they said they get a new shipment every morning. People start lining up at 7 a.m. and the store opens at 9 a.m. They're gone in minutes. Sleep or mittens? Hmm, for now we're choosing sleep. We'll see how we feel at the end of the week.

We took our treasures home and got ready for dinner. Mike was taking us to the Bearfoot Bistro in the Village (you can check out the link here. http://www.bearfootbistro.com/). It was the most amazing food, service and ambiance of any place we've ever been. The menu was meticulously chosen by celebrity chef Melissa Craig. Most opted for the Caribou with foie gras. For dessert we had ice cream made right before our eyes with fresh cream and liquid nitrogen. It looked like a witches brew.

We got some extra special service at the end of our meal when Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, gold medal figure skaters from the 2002 games, cleared our table. They were doing a segment for the Canadian coverage of the games. Even though we didn't have tickets to an event we still had a gold medal night.

After dinner we went down to the wine cellar where there were 20,000 bottles of wine. The owner of the Bearfoot Bistro, André Saint Jacques, was the Guinness World Record holder for sabering 21 champagne bottles in one minute. Henry, Nick and Mike's dad got a first hand lesson on how to do it and sabered a bottle for us all, delicious local sparkling wine. It was a perfect end to a perfect day in Whistler.