We were suppose to have tickets for snowboard cross on Monday, but the weather caused the organizers to cancel all standing room tickets. The only good that came of it was that we were able to sleep in and we explored downtown. My dad bought a ticket from Stub-hub and there was a ticket location in town that we went to see if we would get reimbursed. We walked to the bus stop from our rental house and Dad gave us all change for the bus. We rode into town and were marveling at the crowd and the city. It is always fun to get the first glimpses of cities from windows of vehicles, and it is even more dramatic to get the view as you cross a body of water. I enjoyed my introduction to Vancouver in the daylight. We stepped off the bus and the first thing we saw down the street, was the Olympic flame.
After a brief stop where we were told that Dad would get reimbursed, we headed for the cauldron. It was a nice day, but overcast. We took photos with the scattered crowd outside the fence surrounding the torch. We then walked through town to find cultural pavilions and be apart of the crowd. We headed to the Northwest territories and Inuit pavilion. This was our fist line. We stood in line for only about 5 minutes and were let in. Inside there was lots of art and tools of people that live in the great white North.
There was also a small stage set up where there were demonstrations of Native games to practice agility and pain tolerance.
After a brief lunch, we walked toward The Bay. This is the Hudson Bay Trading Company, the oldest company in Canada and the exclusive Olympic Store. There was a line. We walked into a side door without a line, and saw a sign for the international clothes on the fifth floor. We went up escalators and took us a minute to find the section, but were happy to see clothes for all the countries as well as some Canadian and Olympic shirts and souvenirs. We stood in line to check out and then headed to Robsen Square. This was the hot bed of activity for the city. There was a free zip line (five hour wait) that crossed downtown, as well as an ice skating rink that went under the street. We found a big screen TV opposite of some stairs. We sat and watched the Snowboard cross, disappointed we weren't there. This was our first opportunity to watch tv with a crowd. Anytime a Canadian athlete came on, the crowd became alive.
As we walked around we found a bobsled (known as a bobsleigh in Canada) and went to take a picture. A line formed, which is a very Canadian thing to do.
The politeness was outstanding. The bus drivers would ask politely for people to not get on the back door, or to please move back. If they told somebody to "please don't" it was always met by heartfelt "I'm sorry" and no bad feelings. This is quite a surprise, especially coming from teaching 15-17 year old teenagers who feel entitled to everything and when you ask them to do something they don't always agree with, you receive eye-rolls and complaints.
We then decided to walk toward a Downtown Livecity, a place that had live music, food, and other entertainment. On our way we found the library. We went in and found two small shops that had trinkets, pins, postcards, and some shirts for the Olympics. We also took part in an art project promoting peace. The art was to get a crowd to write individually the ways they find and promote peace, fold the paper into the shape of a maple seed and send it into an air tube which launches it into the air and then catches in a net.
We then grabbed a drink and apetizer from a pub attached to the library. We were in a tent watching more TV. The sun went down as we finished up and we walked toward Yaletown Livecity. It was a free concert venue. We walked by CBC studios and waved our arms in the background of a broadcast. We then found block of food tents and found some additional food stuff to satisfy our consumerism. As we got into livecity (through metal detectors and pat downs, very polite patdowns) and were just in time to watch the first gold medal won by a Canadian on home soil get put around his neck on the big screen tvs. The crowd went nuts. We then went through the different tents set up and saw the future of 3D television as well as played some computer games. As we were waiting for one line (shocking) I saw a sign that said, "U-S-eh?" So I asked to get a photo. The man asked if I would want an olympian in the photo. So I said sure. It was Erik Fisher, but I had no idea until last week.
Matisyahu took the stage and was great. We danced in the rain and were wearing down when the concert ended. They then began some fireworks and a water show. The created a sheet of water behind the stage and projected images from the olympics to music. It was pretty neat. We then headed home on a full bus to crash.
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