We have been living under the "what will happen when the Olympics are here" umbrella for as long as we have been living in our house. The new highway has been under construction for most of the 8 years we have been here. We have been "talking" about the Olympics for all these years.... an now they are over. It is so hard to believe.
And I enjoyed them much more than I thought I would. We went downtown on 3 separate occasions and mingled in the crowds. We did not wait in long lines for much. We did not have a Japadog. There are many things we can do when the crowds are gone. We got downtown on one of the last nights to take some pictures of the city and the flame at night.
The Cauldron was beautiful at night.
The streets were full of people celebrating. It was a much younger crowd at night.
Bands playing and people dancing in the streets!
We watched many MANY hours of TV. There was 4 channels completely devoted to live coverage of all the events. CTV did a great job covering the Olympics. It was hard at times trying to juggle between so many live events. It got pretty stressful at times trying to watch two or three events simultaneously!
To watch Alex Bilodeau win that first gold medal.
We went to Whistler a couple of times. It was fun and easy to get there.
It was so much fun to meet all the visitors. This is a group from Austria. The young man on the far left is a huge Vancouver Canucks fan. This is his first time to Canada and he listens to all the Canucks hockey games on the internet - he has only missed two games so far!! He is a big fan of Roberto Luongo and was going to get himself a Luongo Canucks jersey. They were cheering for Canada in the hockey game.
What a hockey game!! I guess we couldn't have asked for a better ending.
One thing to clear up..... being that Roberto Luongo was playing on his home ice the local people were all doing the Looooooouuuuuuuu yell that they do so often. There was a newspaper article that stated that the Canadian fans were nice even when they were booing -- LOL!! That is because they were all Loooouuuuuuuu ing --- not booing.
I hope everyone that came to our city had a wonderful time and took away nothing but wonderful memories and maybe a pair of mittens! We really enjoyed having you here!! Thanks for the memories!
Uh oh. I forgot to get a pair of those fabulous mittens!! Glad that you joined in the fun and soaked up the Olympic spirit. What a special time that was. If possible, Vancouver may seem like a quiet city now that the crowds are gone. What on earth is a Japadog?
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun time Pam. Once all the crowds have gone you'll have a 'new improved' city. It is certainly a beautiful place to live.
ReplyDeleteWe had one station that was devoted to the Olympics, but you certainly offer a different perspective than they did. I'm glad it was a positive experience for the locals as well as for the visitors. What is a Japadog?
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job, bringing the Olympics to all of us who couldn't be there. Wonderful pics and the people look like they are having a great time. I wish I was there to see Canada win the gold in hockey. It was really exciting to watch on tv, so I can only imagine how exciting it is in real life. Canada, once again comes through with flying colours. Go Canada Go!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE all of the pix of Jim with his 'worldly' friends - that's so funny. It's awesome that you had several trips downtown. I was there on the last night and I think I must have high-fived more inebriated 25 year olds that night than I have in my life! I couldn't stop smiling. What a wonderful 17 days!!!
ReplyDeletePam,
ReplyDeleteIt was a great Olympics even from a distance- our two nieces and their husbands went to a few events and took in the closing ceremonies. They posted some great photos on Facebook. It was an amazing 17 days and now its time to get some work done that I didn't manage to do while the Olympics were on.
I didn't get Olympic mitts either- just wasn't out shopping in our local Bay or Zellers. Thanks for sharing your memories of the Olympics.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Hugs,
Anna
What fun events...It looks like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteMicki
It was marvelous to watch all the events and get to see some of the Vancouver area. I tried to get the mittens but they were sold out at The Bay here every time I checked.
ReplyDeleteI thought they were booing Luongo, thanks for clearing up that for me and it was a pleasure reading about the Olympics through yours words!
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