As I write this we are about halfway through the 2010 Winter Olympics here in Vancouver. Two nights ago I accompanied a friend who lives downtown to tour some of the Olympic sights.
We met at the Stadium SkyTrain station, the platform jammed with people (a sign of the evening’s recurring theme) and checked out some of the pavilions around the BC Place area. The Maison du Quebec had no line-up but also had nothing going on inside except for an empty stage filled with instruments and a food outlet (possibly serving poutine). The nearby Ontario and Saskatchewan pavilions had huge line-ups. I have no idea why, but obviously they had something a lot of people really wanted to see (or thought they did, anyway).
We decided to head out into the downtown core as dusk turned to night and I was astonished at how crowded the streets were. The Olympic organizers have spread events all throughout downtown which has the benefit of keeping one place from being overwhelmed. The downside (for local residents) is that it’s pretty much crowded everywhere. I’ve not seen the city this busy since Expo 86.
We grabbed some dinner at Pacific Centre, the food court there filled to capacity. I got my food first and managed to find a table. Strangely, we both tried calling each other on our cell phones but neither of us heard them ring. My friend even had his set to vibrate. I managed to eventually flag him down and after eating we headed out to the entrance to False Creek, where ten ultra-bright searchlights are shining into the sky, making various patterns. Although one of the lights sadly sagged and started pointing into the water shortly after we arrived, the lights were still spectacular to behold. One of the formations had then all converge into a single point, which immediately brought to mind the Death Star.
We then crossed downtown north to Coal Harbour, where they Olympic Cauldron is located beside the new convention centre. There is some controversy here because fears of vandalism prompted the Olympic people to erect a tall, ugly POW-style fence around the cauldron so no one could get close to it or take pictures without the fence being in the way. After complaints the fence was moved closer and slits were cut in it for people to aim their cameras through. With a billion cops in the city, why not just pay someone to watch the thing for potential vandals?
We concluded the evening with a fruitless search to find the giant Colbert banner that was supposedly hanging somewhere in the city [editor’s note eight and a half years later–I have no idea what this is referring to]. We finally gave up and I made my way back home.
I have to admit, though it’s something you clearly wouldn’t want around on a regular basis, it was fun to see such huge and happy crowds of people roaming about the city or skating at Robson Square or even zip-lining across Robson street itself! The weather has turned sunny and during the day it’s been quite mild, too, which is great for the tourists, even if it gives the wrong impression of what our winters are normally like (currently about the warmest on record).
We have tentative plans to catch some of the shows and/or venues in the next week, so hopefully there will be more to report back than just huge line-ups we chose to avoid.
Oh yeah, and some people have been winning medals at the actual games, too. Even Canadians. Yay Canada!