So I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to have landed in Vancouver almost a year AFTER the Winter Olympics had come and gone. If I’m ever stuck trying to make conversation with a Vancouverite, all I have to do is ask “how was it here, last February?” and they erupt in a wide grin and start talking up a storm. Most mention where they were for the men’s gold medal hockey game, and the sonic boom (well OK…but “loud noise” probably just doesn’t cut it) created by over a million people simultaneously cheering in the Greater Vancouver area the moment Sidney Crosby scored the “golden goal” on Feb. 28th, 2010. Here is an overly lengthy (but so darned heart-warming) mash-up video of people celebrating the win (9 minutes, but who can deny them their unbridled joy?). 
(props for this picture go to the CBC website)
Interestingly, aside from that goal, a lot of people mentioned how amazing it was to have seen the Paralympics. Most are just regular people who could never afford to go to many of the Olympic events, but the Paralympic tickets were much more reasonably priced. Some said that for the first five minutes it was hard to see beyond the person’s disability, but after that they got so caught up in the athleticism of what they were watching (be it wheelchair hockey or blind biathlon where athletes hurtle themselves down hills and curves they can’t see) that they forgot about any of the athletes’ limitations.
Anyways, I digress. Thanks to the one-year anniversary of the Olympic Games, I was able to witness and experience some of that Olympic spirit myself. On the one year anniversary of the opening ceremonies I headed downtown to see the relighting of the Olympic Flame (no uncomfortable-looking Wayne Gretzky this time folks). My spot in the crowd was so poor all I could see were a group of people huddling under umbrellas (it was raining…are you surprised?) and a giant Canadian flag.
While waiting around for stuff to get started some people spontaneously started singing Oh Canada, which was heartening. And then voilá, after another 20 minute wait and a 10 minute speech, the flame was lit!
There are actually two Mounties and a ton of former-volunteers in Olympic blue jackets in the crowd. My favourite is probably the guy in the foreground in the Canada jersey with a flag, about to topple backwards into the pool in 2 degree weather.
Cool orca statue by Douglas Coupland in the vicinity. Captures the symbol of Vancouver and our digital lifestyle:
The obligatory non-photoshoped picture to prove I was at the scene:
And half-an-hour later “holding” (well, touching with the supervision of two other adults) an Olympic torch.
There were plenty of other activities going on along Granville St. and Robson St. including street hockey, couples dancing, and free ice skating. I also witnessed a flash mob of hip-hop dancers which happened so suddenly and was over so quickly I didn’t manage to capture them on camera. It was neat how as soon as their choreographed dance was over everyone just melted into the crowd.
Lots o’ fun and lots of happy people out and about. I’ll leave you with a few more shots of a quieter part of Vancouver near Jericho Beach. I ventured out a little further than usual though and almost came across a nudist beach. Probably no one out in February, but I turned back before I could disturb anyone ;)
