Vancouver's Olympic Fever

I went downtown today with D#2 to the Vancouver Wedding Fair via the Canada Line (rapid transit) and bus so took the opportunity of snapping a few shots of the city in the midst of preparation. Everywhere you look you'll see advertising, a giant Canada flag attached to two sides of a building, new directional signs, (huge ones!) roadwork going on, and the traffic authority. Excitement is building! Only 34 days to go and the world is coming to Vancouver. I hope you enjoy these photos that give you a taste of what's going on. Be sure to click on the photos to see them in a larger format.

On the left is the Canada Flag and on the right is some kind of silver sculpture right on the sidewalk when you exit from the rapid transit station downtown. Any guesses as to what it is? To us, it looked like a giant crumpled up ball of tin foil.

If anyone wants to read about the Hudson Bay Company's history and importance to Canadian history, click here. It is the oldest commercial corporation in North America, by the way. The original HBC store in Vancouver was a small storefront on Cordova between Carrall and Abbott, but this cream terra cotta building, at the corner of Granville and Georgia Streets, with its Corinthian columns was built in 1927. Plus, it's the #1 department store in Canada and is the official provider of all the official Olympic fashions and other doodads related to the Games.

Here we have the official countdown clock and when I took this photo today (in the pouring rain) there were 34 days, 3 hours, 21 minutes and 53 seconds to the official opening of the Olympics. On the right you'll see advertising for some of the official Canadian Olympic fashions on the side of a bus.

And down in the Canada Line waiting area, you'll see gigantic posters advertising General Electric and its MRI development. These posters are fascinating because they show bodies of people participating in just about every sport. You see inside the bodies, their skeletal structure and some organs. These are just two - a figure skater and a snowboarder.

There are going to be concerts and festivities all over the Vancouver area for 17 days and nights. I thought I'd avoid the major areas, but after today, I just might go on downtown between Feb. 12 and 28th to mingle with the tourists. I'm having an Opening Ceremonies party at home for my friends and I'm going to wear one of Lorne's Canada Hockey Team jerseys in honour of my country. I don't know about any of you, but I get all choked up when I watch Canada enter the stadium at any Olympic games, so you can imagine there'll be tears running down my face that night because as a Canadian, I know we've got it good here.

Want to Trade Houses during the Olympics?

THE WINTER OLYMPICS ARE COMING TO TOWN!

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held February 12-28, 2010, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

That is less than 6 months from today.

How many of you wish you could be here?

We live about 20 minutes from the Richmond Oval speedskating facility.

We're also only about a 30-minute drive from downtown Vancouver where you can see men's and women's ice hockey, curling, figure skating, and the opening and closing ceremonies. There is also public transportation right through the gate from our place.

Everyone has heard of Whistler! It's about a 2-hour drive from our place, but the drive is spectacular, with stunning vistas of sea and mountains all the way. This is where you'll see alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, luge, Nordic combined, skeleton, and ski jumping competitions.

It's going to be difficult to find accomodation in Vancouver during the 2 weeks of the Olympics. Therefore, we've decided to make our home available for a trade. For two weeks, you come and stay in our house and we go and stay in your house. On the upper level, we have two bedrooms available, each with its own bathroom. One has a double bed and the other has a queen bed. On the main level, there's a living room, dining room, and family room, as well as a powder room and laundry room. Parking is on our property.

Because we're talking "February" here, we'd prefer someplace that's a bit "exotic," either in the warmer areas of the USA (or the major cities like New York, Chicago, Boston) or in western Europe or the United Kingdom. We'd prefer at the minimum one or two bedrooms, a sitting room (lounge) with TV, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry facilities, along with a car with AC (if you're in a warmer climate).

We're not attending the Olympics, but don't let lack of accomodation stop you from attending. If you're interested, or know someone who is, please feel free to email us with your details and we can talk.