I had an epiphany last weekend while watching the Olympics on TV: I will probably never be living within 2.5 hours driving distance of the Olympics again. And I will probably never be rich enough to pay $400/night to fly and stay somewhere where the Olympics are.
Action required by said epiphany: GO!!!
Like I said...not rich enough to afford staying, so I had to cajole Matt and some wonderful friends into driving up there for the day. Not that 2.5 hours is tooooo far, but saying 'I'm driving to Canada for the day' is a little bit daunting. Especially with the border patrols dismal history for speed and efficiency.
Saturday morning, bright and early (no wait, way before it was bright!), armed with some fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts we headed north to the land of hockey and maple syrup.
We had a great time! There were tons of free festivities everywhere, everyone was so happy and spirited, Canada actually plays the events on TV live, and there was lots of yummy food and drink. The weather left a bit to be desired (clouds with occasional rain), and there were lines everywhere, but really, what can you expect?
There was free ice skating
There was a 4D ride. We had to do a little research into the '4D' part, but apparently that's when the 'ride' also sprays water at you, your seat shakes, there are smells to go with the scenes, they blow air at you, and of course, the movie is in 3D. It was neat.
I had a gigantic delicious Nutella & strawberry crepe.
There was a free zip line across a big square in the downtown
All the countries had their own 'houses' set up. You could go inside and watch events on TV, buy beer or food, hang out with people from other countries, sometimes athletes from that country would come in, etc.
Got to see the Olympic torch/cauldron
Drank some yummy beer at a cool pub while watching Canada dominate at the terribly confusing and somewhat boring sport of curling
Drank more beer while watching Finland (who the US had beaten the day before) dominate in the bronze medal hockey game.
....and generally did a lot of walking and seeing neat stuff. While the crowds were certainly annoying at points it was really fun to be a part of something so big, see people from so many countries, and see how everyone was so happy and full of national pride and friendly.
Canadians playing a pickup game of street hockey.
(The gold medal game was CRAZY by the way. I am sad we lost but happy for the poor Canadians who would have been so devastated)
Vancouver has lots of cool urban living.
I want to go back when the Olympics aren't happening
It's hard to tell in the picture but there was a whole shoreline covered with cool cairns.
I liked it a lot.
Happy to be at the Olympics!
And some BIG kudos to both US and Canadian border patrol. Heading into Canada in the morning took a total of about 3 minutes which included about 10 questions like 'are you carrying any firearms?', 'have you ever been arrested?' On the way home we were about the 4th car in line but when we pulled up the US customs guy said 'where are you from?' -seattle 'how long were you here?' -one day. He scanned our passports but handed them back and waved us on before his computer could have even pulled up the fact that I was a missing felon had that been the case. Luckily, it wasn't. Great border crossing experience. If only they would stamp my passport. ;)
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