Catching the Olympic Spirit

Truth be told, I was kind of "meh" about the Olympics coming to Vancouver before they actually got here. In the week leading up to the opening ceremonies, there was an excitement building in the city, as well as in the schools where I work, and I admit I kind of got into it. The morning the Olympics opened, I was officially excited. I loved the watching the opening ceremonies on TV - and especially enjoyed kd lang's performance as well as the spoken word piece "We are More" by Shane Koyczan. Last weekend I stayed in my jammies most of the time (OK, I showered and then put them BACK on) and watched several events, including Alex Bilodeau's gold medal run. We have been training Lexi to cheer on the Canadian athletes with loud choruses of "go, go, go, go," and every time Lexi sees hockey on TV she starts to chant "Go Nucks" (learned from watching the local team, but we'll take it).

Today the three of us braved the craziness and went downtown to feel the Olympic love. It was busy as expected, but the vibe was unlike anything I have seen in Vancouver before. It's a sea of red and white jerseys, hoodies, toques and Olympic mittens. The sun was shining, everyone was in a great mood, and the young and old alike were taking in everything Vancouver has to offer. Our only goal with a toddler in tow was to see the Olympic cauldron and take a few pictures.

Robson Square was insanely busy, but the mood was amazing. The zipliners were flying overhead, Patrick Chan's press conference was playing on a giant flat screen TV, and from where we stood we could hear both a First Nations song and dance and a fiddler. Only in BC.

The line-ups for the pavilions were more than we could stomach, especially with a squirmy 2 year old. We walked by the Northwest Territories pavilion, the Royal Canadian Mint pavilion, Germany House, and of course, the BC Canada pavilion.

The area around Canada Place and the Convention Center was buzzing, probably due to the proximity to many of the nicer hotels in the downtown area. Blink and you MIGHT miss a celebrity sighting. I was SO hoping to catch sight of Michael Buble (I heard he was at Granville Island a couple of days ago) but alas, my dreams were crushed...

I fought to urge to yell at the hundreds of people standing in the 3 + hour line up at the Bay downtown, "HEY, you know you can buy most of this SH*T online right?"


After a quick lunch at the Cactus Club on Robson and the mandatory shopping experience at Kiehls, we took in the CTV broadcast booth and decided to call it a day as Lexi was about done. She had a nap in the car on the way home (and traffic was surprisingly manageable in and out of downtown on Hastings Street).

Doug will get to take in a men's hockey game next weekend, and although we could have purchased tickets for the bronze medal men's hockey game, at almost $1000 a ticket, I'd rather make my mortgage payment and watch it in my pajamas on the couch with a beer (Canadian micro brew of course) in hand.

Living in the suburbs of Vancouver, I so rarely go downtown, and it's so easy to forget how close and truly amazing the city of Vancouver is. As the world is watching, I'm more proud than ever to be a Canadian and call this beautiful city my home. GO CANADA GO!