Vancouver 2010

Last week I was able to find a cheap flight out to Vancouver and decided to head out for three days.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to see any of the events, and that most of the highlights that would remain in my memory would be free events that I would stumble upon.

The first thing that I found was that spring had come to Vancouver while Calgary and so much of Canada was still in the grip of winter. Flowers were everywhere, and the grass was green. The temperature was warm and the sun shone everyday. I know that this is not typical Vancouver weather but it was such a nice surprise coming from frost and snow everyday for the past month.

As for the Olympics... the city was putting on a hell of a show.

There were posters on buildings, flags on construction sites, and the whole downtown core was full of Olympic spirit. But if you had enough and wanted to escape, all you had to do was walk a few blocks out of the downtown core and all of a sudden you wouldn't think anything special was going on.

There was a small amount of anti-Olympic spirit going on, as demonstrated by this poster, but overall everyone was having a good time.

Steven Colbert was there doing his show The Colbert Report from Vancouver. He was very cool and attracted about 4000 people to see his show live.

Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans were there putting on a free show my first night, which makes it twice now that I have seen them without paying. They had the crowd dancing and singing, and as it was a dry event, there was no fighting, and all the kids in the audience were able to have a really fun time.

While I was cycling around Stanley Park, I bumped into two Russian athletes who had recently won gold and silver in Biathlon and Cross-Country skiing. To see medals at the Canadian Mint there is a four hour wait, while I was able to see real medals just inches from my face.

A new artist has erected a group of bronze statues at the west end of Stanley Park. Really cool faces and everyone was enjoying having their picture taken with them.

It was a great time in Vancouver and if you can get out there, don't hesitate.