Our Olympic Outing

Many have emailed, facebooked, or simply asked if we've gone out to experience the Olympics, so here is a photo journal of our Tuesday!

First stop - the cauldron. John decided to take full advantage of all the tourists around (who somehow disappeared for this photo!), and asked if he could have his picture with the Mounties.


We wanted to see the cauldron without the fence and glass in our way, so we got in line. It was only a 25 minute wait at the time, and we passed the time by chatting with others around us. One volunteer we talked to had come from Ottawa just to volunteer at the Games!

Do you know who this Olympic mascot is? (answer at end of post)


Once we got to the top of the viewing station, it was incredible. We could feel the heat coming from the cauldron and we were 10 meters away!


Then the walking began... On our way to all the activities, we saw the vehicle below - an official Olympic car carrying Russian athletes. At the time we thought every country would have cars such as this, but later we learned Russia had special cars because the next Winter Olympics will be held in Russia.


The 2010 Winter Olympic symbol - surrounded by flowers?


The Official Countdown Clock! Not really sure why it says Day 10 because it was actually Day 12, and even if you take the evening Opening Ceremony into account, the math still does not add up. Oh well, it is a count down clock, not count up!


We kept our eyes out for famous people, and this is the only one we saw - Tamara Taggart, a CTV news anchor that we instantly recognized but you probably don't.


Here's the center of the downtown action - Robson Square. Below the glass dome you find an ice skating rink, in front of which you find street entertainers, and above - you can see one in the picture - you find a zip line which sends people across all the fun! Instead of standing in line for 6-8 hours for the zip line, we enjoyed being in the crowd.


Hudson Bay store - where many of those red Olympic mittens you're seeing on TV came from.


A trip into Vancouver is never complete without visiting Granville Island. We actually went to the island for a different reason, but because it is home to the best donuts found in British Columbia, my husband needed to stop. Normally their donuts are all made early in the morning, but with all the extra business, they've been making two batches! We waited outside the window of Lee's Donuts, watching the donut chef at work. And yes, of course, we did get one of these donuts in the picture after it was cooked. You cannot find a better donut than one of these when they are fresh & hot.


The real reason for our stop at Granville was for raclette, a Swiss eating experience. (Yes, a lot of our activities are chosen by our stomachs!) "Raclette" means "to scrape" and refers to a delicious Swiss cheese. What you do is melt it, scrape it off, and then adorn bread, meat, potatoes, onions, and more with it. The House of Switzerland had it on Tuesday and we were not going to miss it!



Next stop - Olympic Village. If you click on the photo, you'll not only see many flags on the flag poles but also on the balconies.


We visited Canada's Northern House which had some great information about the northern territories of Canada. Our favorite exhibits:


1) Build your own inukshuk.
2) Experience a 7-foot narwhal horn pointing directly at you.


By the time we were ready to go, it was night. We ended our outing back at the waterfront to see the Olympic rings aglow.


You've surely seen Canada Place and the big white sails during the day or the blue & green lit-up sails at night. When you get up-close and personal, you see that there are different sports on each sail. Below - biathalon!


Final stop - the cauldron. It really is almost inspiring when you see it.


*This Olympic mascot is Quatchi, a British Columbian sasquatch.