The 2010 Olympics

Here's some proof that the 2010 Olympics were indeed hosted locally and we didn't miss out on the festivities! Everyone was gearing up for lineups and visitors and busyness, but it turned out that the border was wide open, traffic was normal, and we even drove straight into Vancouver on a Saturday and found tons of cheap parking. It was great! I am sure there were very busy times before and after events though. It was so neat to be able to see the Olympic festivities and be able to cheer and share excitement with all the hordes of people in downtown Vancouver. After the Olympics, the Paralympics continued on for a bit, but things have been over for a couple of weeks now. It is amazing to think that the Olympics were so close by, as it didn't really change anything locally at all. Everything is still the same other than a few signs and billboards that still need to be taken down.

Blaine was hopeful for a lot of visitors!

A sign at the border - one day to go!

A table at a library in Surrey, BC was set out so you could sign your name and wish the Canadian athletes good luck.

Um, I'm really not sure why this is sideways, as I had flipped it! It says
"Go Canada Belive!"

Pretty lights at the Richmond Ozone, Richmonds official celebration site for the Olympics. There were all sorts of people singing over the course of the Olympics, as well as food, ice skating, activities, things to look at and games to play.

After feeling the excitement at the Richmond Ozone we knew we had to at least drive to downtown Vancouver and check everything out. We had heard that there were pavilions from different provinces and countries, streets were shut down and that there were lots of things to see. We ended up spending an entire Saturday down there with Sallad, Marty, Kathy and LeAnne. Here are just a few shots from downtown.

Recycled bottle art.

Some of the major streets were closed, so why not set up some street hockey?! This game must not have been too serious, see the little guy in there?

Granville and Robson. Famous streets!

I finally got to put my Canada cap to good use.

Vancouver Art Gallery. The installation in the photo above is paint on metal and you can read about it here. His designs are all about changing the appearances of buildings, and I thought it was beautiful but not really wintery or Olympic-ish.

When Vancouver needed Winter, they got Spring! The trees were blooming even though the posters showed skiers and snowboarders.

A ship on the roof of the art gallery made a fine perch for this crow.

We were walking along the sidewalk, and looked down to see people ice skating below us. The rink is underground and also under the road! We walked around to the other side to watch for a bit and there were kids pushing chairs and mothers pushing strollers. The chair thing brought back memories from when I was a kid.

Free zipline, if you had a couple of hours to wait in line. We didn't!

The shape of the Vancouver Public Library is reminiscent of a Roman Colosseum.

Marty, Katherine, myself and LeAnne.

We all cracked up when we saw this on a chalkboard menu. "Welcome to Vancouver!! Please bring your own snow!"

Across the water you can see the circular Science World, which was also the Russian Pavilion as they are hosting the 2014 Olympics.

Hungry? They had all sorts of food at this tent-city-like food court!

The guys shared a plate from "Treasures." I don't know why that name cracks me up, but I think it is hilarious. It makes me think they are serving mystery meat or something.

The guys said it was really good food.

Above is where the girls ate. I got gluten-free turkey chili! It was so good, and it really hit the spot on a drizzly, grey day.

Mini-doughnuts.

Rock Balancing is a local craze. Most of the stacks along this waterfront were simple like the Inukshuk man above. Sometimes in Stanley Park there are some using smooth rocks that are unbelievable.

A group of singers. There were two groups like this. They were singing so beautifully and we could tell that at least some of the songs they were singing were hymns. The second group we came upon gave a short gospel via loudspeaker between each hymn. Watch the video at the end of this post!

The Saskatchewan Pavilion! I grew up there. :) We didn't go inside because there was a line up, but I like to think that they were serving comfort food like perogies and sausage, and handing out free touques. (Yes, that is how we spell it.)

Highrises and the Sky Train.

There were several huge Earths decorated different ways. For this one, they used re-used items to form cities and the general shape of the continents. The spheres were about 4' big. I liked how the real-life buildings served as a back drop for the photo.

It was raining. A lot. We didn't have umbrellas like all those smart people crossing the street in front of us. :) We still had a lot of fun though!

The cauldron!

Look, there's Kathy and LeAnne!

Metal count so far for the day we were there- Day 16!

See all those people in the background? Later on that was us! We didn't even realize it, but we were right outside this booth.

LOTS of people.

This is the inside of the Roots Canada store. It was so crazy. Shoulder to shoulder and you could barely move once you were in.

These signs were all over the place and in all sorts of different languages.

A very artsy storefront that read "Hello World." There really were people from all over the world in Vancouver and it was neat to see them and hear all the languages and accents.

The hordes waiting to cross the street. We were in a similar horde waiting on the other side.

See? It's the CTV booth I was talking about! If you watch the video I've included, you will see how crazy it was here. We were watching men's curling and the crowd was wild.

Flags were used as capes. We saw this a lot throughout the day.

A silver Elvis that would move for money. Pretty funny.

Global TV doing an interview. I'm pretty sure that if they showed this, I was in the background snapping a photo at one point. I am such a geek.

We had such a good time, walked MILES, got a little wet, ate some good food and got to be part of all the excitement and craziness. Here is a video of the singers we saw and some random moments from throughout the day. I do have to apologize that my camera's video function was set on "email" mode for most of the day so the picture and audio quality are really bad for most of this video. The reason why I really want to share it is to share the testimony of the singers. They made good use of a great opportunity to sing hymns and share the gospel to people from all over the world. They believed in Jesus Christ, wanted you to believe too, and could sing beautifully in order to entertain you and draw you in to listening to more messages about Jesus Christ. You might recognize the tune of the second song of this video! It is a familiar hymn.