Day 11

Day 11 was a big day because I got my ample ass out of my comfy easy chair and headed down to experience the biggest party in the World at the moment, in Vancouver. As usual I slept very poorly the night before and we headed out early. It was another beautiful day. We drove to Maple Ridge and took the West Coast Express from there. A return ticket cost $15.50 and took us right into the Waterfront Station which is near the sails of Canada Place. It was a very relaxing ride even though it was packed with people. Ryan and I got seats at least and even though there were a couple of old ladies standing and one old man with crutches who could barely stand up, I was not giving up my seat for anyone. Hey, I never claimed to have a Heart.

I was a bit shell-shocked arriving at the beautiful Waterfront Station. It's where the Westcoast Express, Sea Bus and both Skytrain Lines converge so it is crazy on normal days. I was impressed with how many volunteers there were and how helpful and cheerful they were. Some of them sat on towers and looked like lifeguards. The atmosphere was electric as we walked past the amazing new Conference Centre towards the Cauldron. At that point we walked past a camera crew interviewing some people and it was Meredith Viera and Al Roker from The Today Show. We stopped and watched and they were joking on camera about their lack of Curling knowledge. So that was my first and only brush with fame on this day. She seemed like a really cool person though and I will forgive her for wearing a US Olympic vest. Then we continued on to the Cauldron. It is an amazing sight to see in person and while I can understand people's frustrations about the fence, I think that story was completely overblown. We lined up for about 20 minutes to go on the roof of a building nearby and got some great pictures. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and I thought to myself that this is perhaps the best spot in the World to have to lineup for 20 minutes. We were looking at Stanley Park, at the Olympic Rings in the water, at several float planes landing and taking off, at Grouse Mountain across Burrard Inlet. I don't know if any place is more beautiful than that. Not even Whalley.

After taking a few dozen pictures of the Cauldron we headed towards Robson Street. At this point we were very hungry so we grabbed a bite to eat at Wendys. I was surprised that there were no food carts along the way; they could've made a fortune. I wonder if the Olympics wouldn't let them sell their food? Who knows. Anyways, we continued along Robson and it was quite busy but not as busy as it was on the Weekend. The road was closed and they had unicycle riders and jugglers. It was a great environment. We walked up to Robson Square which was my favorite area. They have done an amazing job. The ice underneath Robson Street looks amazing. It was mobbed with people however and the free Zip Line which goes overtop of Robson Square 6 stories up, had a lineup of over 6 hours and they closed it off. Incidentally I took many pictures but I am using a different computer and I don't know how to upload pictures, so I will add a picture to this blog and the Day 12 blog when I get home and am resting comfortably in my easy chair once again.

If you notice I have yet to mention any sporting events in this blog. It's really cool to actually be at the Olympics but it is amazing how out of touch you are to what is going on events-wise. Unless you sit and watch on the big screen in Robson Square, which we didn't do, or sit in a Bar and watch, which we also didn't do, you are going to be out of the loop. And we were. I keep way more up to date sitting on my ass at home and eating cheezies then I do walking my ass off around Vancouver.

I thought it would be cool to actually go to an event, but since we didn't have any tickets, I thought it was unlikely. I knew Canada was playing Finland in the Women's Hockey Semi-Finals so we went to GM Place, er Canada Hockey Place to check out the scalpers. Well, I mean check out ticket prices from the scalpers. I stopped and asked a big black guy how much tickets were and he had two great seats three rows up behind team Canada's bench. He wanted $250 a ticket and they were $200 tickets regularly. Not bad, but still too much for us. Since I wasn't desperate to go to the game I was able to barter with him and we talked to him for awhile. He was from Toronto and it turned out he was a Leafs fan although he claimed it was only because he made a fortune scalping at Leafs games. I told him I didn't know who would pay good money to watch a Beer League Team. Anyways, he ended up giving us the tickets for cost and we headed to GM, I mean Canada Hockey Place. But not so fast. It was right around the corner but they wouldn't let us go that way. We had to walk around the Skytrain Station and a block past the arena. The game was in less than a half hour so I was getting a little worried. I could see the arena we just couldn't get to it. We finally circled around and had to ask a volunteer where to go. They guided us into an area where there were about a dozen lineups and that's where they searched us. Ryan walked right through the metal detector without it going off but I wasn't so lucky. Then the hand wand went off 4 times and I kept getting rid of things that set it off. Since I didn't have my truck there, I was stuck with whatever I bought. It's the first time I've brought a cd into a hockey game. I also brought an unopened bottle of water and surprisingly they let me take it in. Anyway it felt like I was at the Airport only we didn't end up somewhere warm and tropical. Maybe that's a good thing since I didn't have my Speedo with me. Finally we were able to head into the building with about 5 minutes to spare.

As promised our seats were great and the building looked amazing. I have to give Vanoc credit overall. I think they've done a masterful job and don't listen to all the negative stuff. The tourists that are in Vancouver are absolutely loving these Games and loving Vancouver and that's what's important. The game got off to a slow start and it really wasn't as good as I expected but Canada dominated and beat Finland 5-0. I think the real problem with Women's Hockey is that there are two teams, the Americans and the Canadians that are dominant and none of the other teams are very good. I mean every single Canadian skater was a much better skater than any of the Finns. The other teams need to get better or I don't think this is going to be in the Olympics for very long. I was sitting beside a couple from Toronto (and yes, they were also Leafs fans) and they had been to a lot of events and even had tickets to the Men's Gold Medal Hockey Game. I told them that I would talk to them right now because we are on the same team (Canada), but once these 17 days are over we are enemies again. I was glad that I went and the atmosphere was great as you would expect. Plus I was on tv. You may have seen me, I was the one wearing a Canadian Authentic home jersey. Okay, so there were thousands of jerseys like mine, but how many were worn by people who kept dozing off? We were both really tired but falling asleep at a sold out Olympic Hockey Game? That's pretty bad. And now I'm even considering renaming this blog 'The Narcoleptic Olympic Blog'. Sounds pretty catchy to me.

While walking around afterwards we found out that Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won Gold in the Ice Dance. Apparently they skated brilliantly. Unfortunately I never did get to see their performance. That's one of the drawbacks of going to events. I also know that in Men's Curling Canada won 7-2 over the US (take that Meredith Viera) and in Women's Curling Canada beat Sweden 6-2 (take that Ikea). I only know that because I saw the scores. Sorry I can't be more informative but I know next to nothing about curling so even if I did watch I wouldn't be able to talk much about it. I just know the team that yells "Hurry HARD" (or is it "HURRY hard"?) the loudest usually wins.

We walked to the Canadian Mint where you can actually pick up a medal, but the lineup was too long so we kept walking. My feet were tired, my back was sore, my hips were screaming and I had a bad migraine. I'm old and I haven't walked that far since I was in High School. At least this time I had shoes and there wasn't three feet of snow. We walked back to the Waterfront Station and hopped back on the train back to Maple Ridge. And yes, I fell asleep a couple more times on the way. At least I didn't snore.

All in all it was a great day. I was so glad I was able to get down to Vancouver and see everything that was going on and all the people. While I do miss my easy chair, and I bet it misses me, my easy chair will be around forever and unfortunately these Games will not. For those of you who live in the Lower Mainland or even those of you within a few hours drive of Vancouver, if you haven't experienced Vancouver or Whistler yet during the Games it is definitely worth the effort. The city has come to life and I don't think it can ever be called a no-fun city again.