Vancouver – Olympic Detox

       OMG, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics are over.  They were AWESOME, but they’re done now.  Finished.  Kaput.  Put to bed.  We’ve been prepping for this for the past 10 years,survived the gut-wrenching bid process, the constant traffic disruptions that came with building the new venues and Canada Line skytrain, the protests, the adjusting to the Logo that no one initially liked, the crowds, the incredible excitement, the overwhelming patriotism, the nine-hour line ups for the maple leaf mittens, the best hockey game ever, and the raging hangover from the post-Olympics-and-hockey-game celebrations.  Phew.  Now all us Vancouver (and surrounding area) -ites are left tingling, walking around in a daze and thinking, what’s next?

        First thing Monday morning, assuming you were not one of the 40,000 people trying to fly home from YVR,  the most noticeable change was that there is now nothing on TV again.  That’s one of the fantastic things about the Olympics in general: the 24/7  TV coverage.  You can get up at 6 and catch up on all the short track speed skating and doubles luge action that aired the night before while you were watching the moguls skiing and biathalon.  And here in the lower mainland we had this on not one but four English Channels, as well as French, and occasionally Punjabi ones. Multiply this by 2 if you have HD cable.  Author’s note - If you’ve never watched short track speed skating with an over-excited French commentator, you’re missing out, it’s hysterically funny.  Particularly if you don’t speak French.  But anyway, now we have to watch the same boring crap as always, and it bites.

        And then there’s downtown.  The streets are still busy, but you have to walk down the (gasp!) sidewalkon Robson St. because it’s no longer pedestrian only.  The street performers are gone, too, and we miss the guy in the green skivvies on the giant unicycle already.  Thankfully many of the pavilions, art installations and the wait-in-line-for-two-days zipline are still open thanks to the Paralympics starting on March 12th, so it’s easing us back into regular life slowly, not a sudden  rip-off-the-BandAid jolt.  The biggest difference is that the people walking around are no longer all wearing giant maple leafs on their heads (backs/arms/dogs/children), just a few holdouts still are, and the rest are back in their business formal attire.  Oh, and the line for your Japadog is only half an hour again.

        We’re all kind of numb.  It’s over.  It’s OOOOOOVVVVVVEEEERRRRR!!!!  But it was incredible to have it here, we now have state of the art facilities that will help foster the new crop of Olympians, we have a new appreciation of Curling, and we have the most incredible memories.  We are, now and forever, an Olympic City.  We showed the world how beautiful our scenery and our people are, and, most importantly, showed them how much National pride flows through our veins.  Sorry guys, but Canada isn’t just going to sit by quietly anymore, we’re going to scream our heads off, wear red and white mittens everywhere, and apologize for beating you afterwards.  For that, we thank the Olympics.  They brought us together as a Nation, the home-soil advantage brought us out of our shells, and nobody was more surprised by it than we were.  We always knew our country is the best (I’m more than a little bit biased), but we never really laid it all out there to be seen before. 

Vancouver 2010 Olympics, we miss you.  And we promise to remeber you fondly.

But in the meantime, can you help me find something good on TV again?

Tags: BlogSherpa, Canada, excitement, mittens, Olympics, pride, TV, vancouver, zipline

Happy Hockey Day, Canada!

     It’s a national holiday here in Canada, the day we all take off to celebrate the wonder that is the greatest game on earth – Hockey!  Okay, so it’s not “technically” a holiday, but it might as well be.  Between noon and four pacific time, the streets are going to be empty as every eye in the nation is on the Canada/US gold medal game.  On friday at 6 during what was only a semifinal game the parking lots were empty and the BF and I had a whole grocery store practically to ourselves, so when you multiply that by Gold and Sunday you get the complete ghost town effect. 

              This is so big here, you don’t even have to like or know anything about hockey to be caught up in all the excitement.  There was a line up around the block at the Georgia St Shark Club sports bar already at six this morning, and that’s not even the most coveted seat in the city.  At this point, the only way you can get a seat in GM Place for the game (er, I mean Canada Hockey Place, I don’t want those Olympic sponsorship people on my back) is if you’re running a country, sleeping with someone who’s running a country or have suddenly been drafted to play.  Actually, sleeping with someone who’s running a country probably isn’t even a guarantee, unless you’re really good.  On the bus yesterday I overheard some guys planning their hockey drinking game: everytime we score, take a shot. Every time we hit them really hard (it has to shake the glass, the criteria were pretty specific), take a shot.  And every time the US scores against us, just down the rest of the bottle and hope you forget it quickly.  Win or loose, they’re going to be completely pickled by four pm, and it’s either going to be one hell of a crazy party tonight or they’re going to be unconscious, so they won’t have to feel the agony of defeat.  Now that’s dedication.  I like it.  I could never do it myself, but I like it.  I wonder if liquor stores are going to see a big sales day…?   Or are they just not going to open because all their staff’s at home watching the game? 

            Basically, the nation has come to a standstill.  Please, everybody, get your cheezies and Bud Lights now before the puck drops, because once that happens, the country could suddenly transform into one of those abandoned shells so often seen in zombie movies after everyone’s been infected.  Ooh, that analogy works better than I had planned, as we’re already infected.  All of us.  With Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Fever (OGMHF).   God knows, my new TV and earth-changing high-def channels will have every pixel focused so closely in we’ll be able to identify the exact tooth that comes flying from the US player’s mouth when we slam him!  It’ll be awesome!  I’ll update this later with a postgame analysis, but no matter what it’s gonna be good.  

      Happy Hockey Day, Canada!

Tags: alcohol, Canada, excitement, happy, hockey, Olympics, party, USA

Vancouver – Living amongst the flame

       The opening ceremonies last night were incredible.  Watching them at home I was just as blown away with the spectacle that is the Olympics as I always am, but then I take a moment and realize – that’s here.  Here here. Like “if I lean far enough out my balcony I can see that”here.   Going home on the skytrain yesterday the whole car just burst into the national anthem, a whole bunch of strangers heading to the suburbs and celebrating the true north strong and free.

Now that’s cool.

        Vancouver’s ceremony definitely did not disappoint.  It’s weird, I think we all have this slight Canadian inferiority complex that expects everything we do to be good, but always has the feeling that someone could have done it better.  I know, it’s stupid, but the show last night reminded us all to snap out of it, that we really are awesome and we’re going to prove it to the world.  Repeatedly.  While wearing a toque.  Preferably one shaped like a maple leaf.   My favorite moments were the projected whales breaching across the floor of BC Place stadium (oh, and just let me add while I remember, BC Place looked incredible, I kept having to remind myself it has a roof  – the first in Olympic history – and that the snow was fake.  The parkas worn by all the athletes were definitely not needed as it was probably 25 degrees in there, although Bermuda’s shorts were right on), and the beat poet’s declaration that Canada was here to kick some ass and take names.  It reminded me of the Molson Canadian ads from years ago that ended up printed on t-shirts and can most likely still be at least partially recited by 70% of the population.  Come on, you know it: “…the beaver is truly a proud and noble animal.  A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch, and it is pronounced ‘zed’!”

       As a city we were all pretty hyped up for the games before, especially getting behind the torch relay, but after the opening last night, we’re now officially Olympic mad.  I work in a mall, and both the Bay and Zellers – the official Olympic apparel suppliers – are packed.  I mean hold-on-to-your-children packed.  It’s crazier than the last minute Christmas rush to get your Canada mittens and tees, and there was actually a fight over the last scarf when I was in Zellers.    It’s like we were all laid back “yeah, I’ll get some of that stuff eventually”, but last night has spurred us and our wallets into action.   Personally, I’m one of the true north strong and cheap, so I’m waiting for them to go on sale after the games.  But as soon as those markdowns come, you can bet I’m going to look fabulous.

          And this is only day one.  Tomorrow we get the super fantastic combination of Chinese New Year, with it’s giant parade and great food, and the Olympics, so the roof is going to be blown off this town, that’s for sure!

Tags: BlogSherpa, Canada, Canadian, excitement, Olympics, opening ceremonies, party, pride, shopping, skytrain, the Bay, torch, vancouver

Vancouver – Olympic countdown: 0 days !!!!

            It’s finally here.  Vancouver is suddenly in the midst of a giant Christmas-morning buzz, with people walking around with stupidgrins on their faces and talking in that higher-pitched, excited tone usually reserved for large groups of women at a sample sale.  Even water cooler talk has gone from “can you believe what happened on Survivor last night?” to “Who’s going to officially light the Olympic cauldron tonight?”  In six hours we’ll finally know for sure when the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies get underway.  And from the scuttlebutt, it’s going to be huge, with Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Nelly Furtado and the Canadian Tenors, amongst others who’ve managed to elude the media thus far, and all the pomp and pageantry and showmanship we know and love.

          Woke up this morning in time to see Arnold Swartzenegger (that well-known Canadian) wade through the masses of people on the Stanley Park Seawall on his leg of the torch relay.  That torch has already done incredible things to unite us as a city and a country, with much larger crowds than expected turning out both to see it run past and also for the concerts and parties surrounding it every night.  Yesterday it was really cool as it was running just blocks from my home and, later, just blocks from my work.  One of my co workers hopped on the Canada Line Skytrain on her coffee break, saw the torch run past, and got back to work in time. Sweet.

         The city already has an electricity that I’ve never felt before, and I think downtown Vancouver buzzes on a normal day.  On Tuesday night, before anything had actually started, I was blown away at the vibe the city was giving off already.  It felt like Christmas, with more Christmas lights out than there had been in December (I guess a lot of downtown businesses are lighting up to show their support, too) and the city just sparkled.  Okay, so I’m a little biased, but I think we have one of the world’s prettiest cities anyway, but combine that with the festivities and it’s incredible.  One of the exits of Pacific Center Mall has become a giant Igloo, complete with polar bear statues, and Robson Square is lit up like a rock concert with lighting and pyrotechnics highlighting it’s new ice skating rink and zipline.  Man, I would love to do that zipline right through the heart of the city.  I don’t think I’ll be able to, the lineups are supposed to be epic, but that would be so cool.

       So cool.  That pretty much sums it up.  As of today, we’re officially an Olympic city forever, and the huge-ass party to end all huge-ass parties kicks off.  I can’t wait.  We all can’t.

GO CANADA!

Tags: excitement, Olympics, party, torch, vancouver, zipline

Vancouver: Ready to welcome the world

We’re in the home stretch now – less than 30 days until the winter Olympics get underway.  Personally, I’m excited, I love the Olympics and having it right here is going to be cool.  I’m going to be watching it on TV (afford to go to the events?  You have got to be kidding me) and going “hey, I know where that is!  I went to school down the road from there!” Or whatever. I always get excited when I see places I recognize on screen, which happens frequently, this is Hollywood North.  Like the end of the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, when they’re walking through a building to a restaurant, I actually squealed “ooh! thats the library!” aloud.  But anyway, during the olympics this is going to be happening at an alarming frequency.  Anyone who knows me, consider yourself warned.

The city itself is starting to show noticeable finishing touches.  The construction walls are coming down on Granville for the first time in like 6 years, we have the spiffy new Canada Line skytrain from the airport to the city center (which rocks!) and even the ads on bus stops and park benches are now citywide exclusively for the official Olympic partners.  Needless to say you can go blocks and see nothing but McDonalds, Samsung, Coca Cola and some random company I’ve never heard of before, but that apparently is the official vaccine supplier for the athletes.   If I can survive the crazy-long commute times – God knows I can barely get on the train on some normal mornings, and when you add eight million extra visitors we’re going to need the people to cram passengers on the trains like they have in Japan – I hope to wander around downtown a bit during the games, because the vibe is going to be electric.  All the excitement, the street performers, free shows, random overheard conversations in different languages to pretend to understand and happiness.  It’ll be great.

If you happen to live in Vancouver and are hoping to get away on vacation during the games to escape the crowds, why haven’t you booked yet?  Do you really have that much money just hanging around that you don’t mind paying eight times the regular price?  The destinations you’re heading to probably have lots of space left, it is the low season, but the flights departing Vancouver don’t and are going to cost you a mint.  At this point it’s not how much but what’s left.  There are a lot of people I see on a daily basis who are surprised by this, but think about it: all the athletes, their fans and supporters are coming and going throughout the games – most of them don’t stay for the whole time, they just jet in, do their event and take off, as do their fans (to avoid a ridiculous hotel bill, as everything’s expensive), and when you combine that with the regular people traveling, there are shit tons of people coming in and out of YVR and only a certain number of seats on the planes.  If you still insist on trying to book for mid Feb, do it now.  Like now, now.  Stop reading this and book this instant or else you’re going to be totally out of luck.

And if you already have tickets, remember that at this point (thanks to the underwear bomber) you can’t take any carry-on onboard the plane with you.  And the heightened security due to that, combined with the heightened Olympic security, means that you’re going to be spending forever in line.  Get to the airport early.  Really early.  3-4 hours early.  Any later and youre going to be in line sandwiched between the chaotic family with the screaming baby heading to Disneyland and the Blackberry-addicted businessman who texts continuously as your plane takes off without you on it.

I’m sure the city will change when the games start, and I’m looking forwards to it.  What it’s going to be like I don’t know, but I’ll report back with the details in two weeks

Tags: airports, commute, crowds, excitement, last minute travel, Olympics, public transportation, security, skytrain, vancouver