Vancouver 2010: Olympic Outing #9
I realize there was no Olympic Outing #8, but I left that with my trip up to Grouse Mountain. I’ll try to breeze through where I went and what I did today as I’m incredibly tired but don’t wish to leave this post until tomorrow. Note that my pics are somewhat sloppy today; it was amazingly cold and the famous Olympic mittens don’t allow me to move my fingers around (aka I didn’t wear them).
Main stop of the day: LiveCity Yaletown. It opened @ 11am and naturally, there was a huge lineup. We even had to go through security to get into the place, but the lines went by fairly quickly.
The main thing–or the thing that stood out the most–was the Coca-Cola Pavilion/Open Happiness House or whatever it is they call it. It’s a very interactive pavilion–probably one of the best pavilions they have for the Olympics. The workers there are very cheerful and friendly.
First, you go through the history of Coca-Cola and how it’s been intertwined with the Olympics since forever ago. You get to see the changes to the bottles in terms of everything from looks to material.
Next, you get to view a short video on Coca-Cola and the Olympics (if I’m remembering correctly). And then you get let into the interactive, fun area of the pavilion.
There was an area where you could get a free bottle of Coke, either in regular or zero.
There were more interesting things but I wouldn’t want to spoil all the fun in case anyone hasn’t been there yet. LiveCity Yaletown includes other pavilions like Panasonic, Samsung, and Acer.
Outside the Samsung Pavilion were 3 incredibly cute huskies, leashed to a structure of some sort of sled.
Inside the Samsung Pavilion. There wasn’t too much in there. Everyone could play some games, look at some phones, and collect some stickers.
There were a few other things on the side of LiveCity, but I don’t really remember what they were nor were they that interesting.
Back Downtown, there was a school (more like drum and bagpipe) band from Sardis Secondary (from Chiliwack, BC) performing on the street, and boy were they good. Not only that, but they had in-sync movements like wiggling around their heads and waving Olympic-coloured flags in unison.
We also went to where CTV broadcasts during the day and also where they were handing out pins (in which there was a massive lineup for as well). That area was also where I watched Clara Hughes win bronze on her last race.
Something I noticed today. Remember the largest Canada flag in the world that was vandalized? This is what I found today (FYI, not being vandalized).
Guess they want to make it look pretty again.
Anywho, while on the SkyTrain en route to home sweet home (and then out again for the epic Canada vs Russia hockey game), while passing by Canada Hockey Place, I expected large crowds outside of the stadium, and there they were.
Before I take off, I’d just like to say…
CONGRATULATIONS TO:
Clara Hughes: Speedskating – Women’s 5000m – BRONZE
Kaillie Humphries, Heather Moyse: Bobsled – Women’s – GOLD
Helen Upperton, Shelly-Ann Brown: Bobsled – Women’s – SILVER
Jessica Gregg, Mariane St-Gelais, Tania Vicent, Kalyna Roberge: Short Track Speedskating – Women’s 3000m Relay – SILVER
4 medals for Canada today! And there will definitely be at least one more tomorrow. We’re now tied with USA and Germany with 7 gold medals, and despite our lower medal count thus far, I’d say we’re doing better than we did in 2002 and 2006 considering in those Olympics, we had 7 gold medals in each of those Games. Guess Alexandre Bilodeau was right. The party’s just getting started. 