Vancouver 2010

Woah.

Yesterday we took the ferry over to Vancouver. What the hell - the Olympics are going on right now and from what we've been seeing on television over the last week it is the place to be. And not just because talented athletes are there but because the energy of the people in general looks fantastic.

So we got up at 4:30 am (I know) to get the early ferry. Because everyone is heading over, there was no parking at the ferry terminal so we had to go with 'Plan B' which involved taking a bus to get to the ferry. Well I won't get into it but the bus didn't show up, so we missed the ferry. Ahem. I'll move on.

The ferry was FULL, I've never seen it like that. Once we got off the ferry the crowd control started and really - thank God, because it was eerie to be in such massive groups of people. We shivered as we heard the announcements on the SkyTrain platform "bzzzttt crackle...please report any suspicious behavior to your transit authority bzzzzt crackle...." Yikes, 1984 much?

Once we got downtown we decided to check out the cauldron. I really apologize for the picture, we had the camera on the wrong setting - but check out the crowds.

As we were walking towards the cauldron with thousands of other people, we were thinking it was like everyone was going to see an oracle.....it was seriously crazy. The crowds - I can't even describe it. Anyway, here is another shot of the cauldron.

It's located right next to the new convention centre and I was seriously blown away by the building. I worked close by when they were building it and it was a construction site for so long that I just got used to it. This is the first time I laid my eyes on the finished building and it's beautiful.

Check out the planet earth inside.

So I could sense the Vancouver I know and love, but it was so disguised by all the people and extra things going on that it was like being in a different city.

There was some public "art" set up on Granville Street, the best were these 'trees'. They were set up on plywood platforms and for some reason (which I still don't understand) everyone who walked past them would stomp their feet on the platforms. (I do still hope that they re-plant the trees that were there originally, check out this post for a picture of Granville Street without all the craziness.)

We headed over to Robson Square where the biggest crowds were gathering. Here is a shot looking towards Granville Street - we even managed to get a guy zip-lining over head in the photo. He is actually headed towards the left of the photo - not straight up the street.

Here is a shot of The Bay. We couldn't tell if there are still line-ups just to get inside but there likely was. I think the building looks fantastic.

Here is a shot of me on the phone arranging to hook up with Rawbean. It kind of looks like I'm standing in the middle of some kind of parade, but I really wasn't. It was just like that everywhere we went.

So overall I'm so glad we went over. It was so cool to be part of something like that even if we didn't go to any events. Today we haven't left the house, we are feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated by all the crowds and craziness!