I thought I’d already had my say on the Olympics and how exactly this event affect me, this city and the entire country but reading some of the post Olympics news I’ve come to realize that I have more to say. A whole lot more and much of it isn’t positive.

My mother (as I'm sure as yours did too) always told me that if I didn’t have something nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all. OK – here’s what I have nice to say about Gil LeBreton – I don’t know you.

Take what you can get because the fact is, I don’t like you either. So sure, I live in Vancouver. I was here before the games and I’ll be here after so perhaps I do have some sort of vested interest but when you compare Canada and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics to Nazi Germany and the 1936 Berlin games, I’m going to take offence.

For 2 weeks Vancouver and the rest of Canada showed pride in not just their athletes but their country. So yes, perhaps some of the parties were less about the games than getting together to simply enjoy each other and what the city has to offer but you know what? It doesn’t matter because the bottom line is that we celebrated with the world. If you didn’t see an Olympic flag, you obviously didn’t look hard enough because they were hanging everywhere and as for people carrying them, I saw buttons and pins displaying the rings.

And shame on us for celebrating our local heroes. Never mind that the New York Times, which I saw handed out on a few occasions at transit stations early on into the games, prominently featured US athletes. And you chide us for putting our Olympians on the cover of newspapers and magazines? Please. As for that montage…guess what, you’re watching Canadian Television – suck it up. If you want to see someone else, tune into another station. Out of curiosity, I turned to NBC’s coverage of the closing ceremonies and guess what? Every 15 seconds, the camera was panning to another US athlete. Where were the other Olympians then? CTV’s coverage took note of many an international winner.

Perhaps it’s our own fault. Canada has long been seen as some second rate little brother to the US. Is it safe to assume that the world now has a better understanding of who we are and that yes, we have national pride that runs as deep and fervent as any other? Gosh, I sense a bit of envy here from LeBreton – or something.

I’m sure LeBreton isn’t alone in his views but I can’t, in good faith, agree with anything he's put to paper. There isn’t even an attempt at balance in his story, only a disdain for Canada and what the country achieved. At least Chris Erskine managed to balance the good and the bad in his final coverage.

Seventeen days of Vancouver hosting the world came to a joyful end last night with impassioned speeches, a little poking fun at ourselves and a line-up of some of Canada’s best recognized musicians. We danced, we cheered and we remembered the last 17 days of rivalry, sport and culture; days filled with both joy and disappointment, tears of happiness and missed opportunities but above all, we celebrated Canada and British Columbia put forth a friendly and welcoming face not just to the rest of country but to the entire world.

It was a games filled with memorable moments. From Alex’s gold to Devon Kershaw’s near podium finish, it was a games that created new heroes while ushering out past ones in style. In the years of watching Olympic Games I have never seen or remembered the names of so many Canadians – kudos to the Olympic network for being there at every important turn and showing the entire country the best we have to offer.

As for the hockey, yesterday the country came to a near standstill for three nail biting hours as Canada faced the US for that coveted gold medal. There had been jokes that Canada would commit mass suicide if we didn’t win gold and though we laughed at that exaggeration it certainly felt like the entire country came together yesterday to cheer at the Church of Hockey. For years people will ask “Where were you when Crosby scored that Golden Goal?” Our answer will be a simple one: with my countrymen.



My family has been in Canada for nearly 20 years and we’ve proudly called ourselves Canadians for the past few. I’ve always felt connected to this country but never as I have in the past 17 days. With a glowing heart I proudly say: I Am Canadian.

Street performers are not exactly a new thing in Vancouver. Walk around town for any amount of time and you're bound to bump into one or two. Skytrain stations have buskers and you can often spot them along the Granville Entertainment District (though they're not exclusively limited to this area) but one of my favourites is the juggler who I usually spot at Granville Island. It's been a while since I've seen him and can't quite remember what he looks like but I came upon this performer yesterday while wandering the streets in the middle of the afternoon.

He had quite a crowd of both young and old gathered on the corner of Granville and Robson. I'd missed half of the show but managed to watch a few tricks. The first is this flying plane trick which, to be honest, is only memorable for how it ends.

This next trick, the last in his show, is pretty spectacular. I expect part of the reason he's so popular is his banter with the crowd but it also takes a special kind of person to put his/her life in the hands of perfect strangers. It's hard to tell but that pole? It's being held up by four guys that the performer pulled from the crowd.


I thought it was well worth my $5.

There have been a great number of "Olympic Moments" so far in these games but none have stuck with me quite as much as Jon Montgomery's. I don't think the skeleton is nearly as popular as some of the other sliding sports but I have a fascination with both this and luge. It's something to do with the velocity and the fact that these folks are just wearing a helmet.

I was excited to see Montgomery finish second after his qualifying run but nothing quite prepared me to see him take home gold. I didn't know much about Montgomery going in but having seen the Olympian (a used car salesman and auctioneer when he's not competing) interviewed over the last few days has made him one of my favorites. He has a great sense of humor, a playful demeanor and yes, it helps that he's cute and knows how to appreciate a drink.

Take a look at his run (sorry, CTV are sticklers on the embedding but it's worth a look). You back? Yeah, spectacular eh? Then there's the "Olympic Beer" moment which made me love him that much more. I've also seen him accept a bottle of Wiser's and of course, there's this two fister:

Yeah, Jon's the man.

While out and about yesterday, hubby and I ended up at LiveCity Vancouver, home of the Manitoba House. I was thrilled to see posters and images of Manitoba's own Montgomery all over the place. Yes, totally awesome and so far, my favourite Olympic Moment.

After a crazy Saturday night which included a trip to Irish House 2010 (a badly planned outing on my part considering I didn't check the schedule to make sure that the Irish bands were performing. After a near 5 hour wait, we entered the drunkfest only to shell out $9 for a plastic cup of Guiness. The beer price was painful to take but the company was good as was the burger), I spent Saturday at home lounging with movies but Sunday was a whole other ballgame.

I headed out to Granville Island for a little adventure with a few folks from the Bookcrossing group. We had a great time wandering around the Island, checking out the sites, taking lots of photos and just having a jolly good time.

While there we also did a little shopping, a bit of eating and lots of walking around allowing me to take photos of everything from birds to jugglers.




Dale and I left the ladies around 2PM to head into Vancouver and meet up with Special K. Dale was smart and decided to listen to his body and while headed for dinner on Commercial, Dale called it a day. Special K and I ended up at Lombardo's, a great little place I'd always hear about but never been to. With amazing food, we sat for a break and watched the devastating Canada vs. US hockey game.

After an incredible dinner, we headed back downtown to check out the happenings around Concord Pacific before heading into Ontario House and checking out the Great Lake Swimmers. The band played for a little over an hour. They put on a great show which I thoroughly enjoyed. Kudos to CBC Radio 2 for introducing me to this great little band.

After a full day of walking and standing, I was pretty much ready to call it a day. I collapsed into bed sometime just after 1AM but judging from what I felt like this morning, it may as well have been 5AM. My body felt like someone had beat me up. It was a long and painful day and I should really have been in bed by now but alas, this is the way the cookie crumbles.

If you're curious, many more photos from our Bookcrossing adventures can be found in this Flickr Set while my Olympic Set simply keeps growing as I add new images every day!

I leave you now with this great tune from Ontario band Great Lake Swimmers who sounded as fabulous live as they do on the radio (and in this song).

At LiveCity Yaletown last night, events got a little out of hand. Between the excitement of our first men's hockey win, the excitement of seeing a popular (very popular) local band and perhaps a little too much to drink, disaster struck when the crowd pushed forward when Alexisonfire took the stage. The crowd surged forward, crushing the folks up front into the barriers which eventually gave way causing injuries and stopping the show.

I caught wind of the incident this morning when hubby mentioned it (likely because he's a little worried about my plans to see a few bands in the coming days) but stuff like this is bound to happen though it does sadden me that it happened here. It's amazing what a few rowdy people are capable of.

Local blogger Tracy put me on to this video which was shot by someone in the crowd. I'm not a fan of the band but I will say this, they were a class act last night and I applaud them for their actions.

On Friday I was getting excited about sharing some photos from the Olympic Torch Relay but now that the weekend has come and gone, those seem like a lifetime ago and are eclipsed by a weekend of activity.

We headed out on a rainy Saturday to check out some of the events around town. We started off on an early morning trip to see the torch at the International Media Centre (located at the New Convention Centre). The flame is behind a fence but they have removed the colorful mesh in one area so that folks can both see and snap photos of the flame.

We then made our way up to Robson Square to check out the festivities there and it was a madhouse. We saw some video footage of the crowds on the much nicer Sunday and I have to admit, it was better to head out in a little rain and avoid the crazy crowds.


A short walk away, we headed over to the Royal Canadian Mint where we waited for over an hour to see (and touch) actual medals. It was an amazing experience and one I'd highly recommend.


The highlight of that visit was easily the spotting of the Men's Ice Hockey Gold Medal which was on display in one of the cabinets and apparently missed by many an individual. It was pretty awesome!


We continued onto the area around Science World (currently better known as Sochi House) where we checked out a couple of pavilions and had lunch around the Edgewater Casino, an area that is now a pretty huge food court.

We decided on a little trip to Granville Island aboard the Olympic Line which runs from the Olympic Village to Granville Island. It was a pretty cool experience (and a very quiet one). I'm hoping we get to keep this streetcar and that we get expanded service, especially through areas that have, until now, complained that skytrain is too noisy (I'm looking at you West Vancouver).


While at Granville Island we had a little dessert and discovered that Swiss House is actually a restaurant (which we're planning on visiting). We planned on checking out Atlantic House but decided to leave it for another day. Instead, we weaved our way back to transit and the Richmond O-Zone.


It's a fabulous facility (also home to the much talked about Heineken House) with big screens and a massive stage area. We caught the Women's Moguls before finally deciding that we were much too tired to stick around for Bedouin Soundclash who were scheduled to go on stage at 10PM. Instead, we headed home for a well earned dinner and much needed rest.

It was a fabulous day and I'm looking forward to checking our more of the action. For now, you can see the rest of the photos from the event in my Flickr set for the Olympics.

Watching the news last night and talks about the Olympic venues (Cypress) and the lack of snow, this song entered my mind. I think we should adopt it as our official Vancouver 2010 Theme Song. Thoughts?

While I was out and about on Saturday before the concert, I managed to have my head on straight and took a couple of videos of the activity on Granville Street between Georgia and Robson. They're not awesome (I really need practice) but you get the idea of all the activity going on in this one block of the city. The energy is pretty awesome!

Admitedly, I haven't been particularly excited about the upcoming Olympic Games (9 days and counting). I thought money being spent could be used elsewhere and I haven't been looking forward to getting around town during the games but I must admit that over the last few days, I've had a change of heart. I still think the money could have been used elsewhere but I can't help but get a bit excited at the thought that millions of people will be turning their eyes to the city I call home for a world wide spectacle. And how can one not get excited when everywhere you look there's something Olympic related?

One of the coolest things about the games is the Cultural Olympiad that comes with it. There are "houses" being set up throughout town and cities (Richmond, Surrey etc) have set up huge areas for hosting special events including a truckload of free concerts. Seriously, it's an amazing thing to be a music fan in the middle of the games because there's so much entertainment to be had, I'm not sure where to even start. I've been trying to sort though various even listings but frankly, it's turned into a bit of a nightmare. Thankfully, there are extensive program guides available at the Vancouver Art Gallery - I'm going by tonight after work to pick one up.

If you're in town and looking for something cool to do, I found You Gotta Be Here, a great page which has links to all of the various houses and pavilions each of which has their own website with schedule, events, cost etc.

Stay tuned, I have a feeling I'll be hitting some awesome events over the next few weeks!