EH OH CANADA GO
ok. the olympics are awesome. i'd try to explain it all here but there's no way i could.
we stayed about an hour away (if you drive like an american.. 40 minutes like a canadian) from vancouver. there's absolutely no spectator parking at the venues, in fact the roads around the downtown venues were closed to traffic altogether, so each day we drove into burnaby and left the car at the mall and hopped on the (sometimes extremely overcrowded) skytrain and rode it 20 minutes downtown.
downtown was packed solid with people, it was amazing. i wish we had had one more day to visit all the pavilions, because then i wouldn't have minded waiting in the long lines to see everything, but since we were cramped for time we pretty much just wandered around and explored and enjoyed the atmosphere without going inside any of them.
each province (but i don't think we ever found ontario?) had a pavilion setup with music, food, swag, etc inside. i think i only got a picture of the outside of quebec's, but each was different and fitting to the province. BC's was largest (obv) with an outdoor ice rink and a zipline. alberta's was prettiest.
i had promised tons of people gifts from the games but we didn't make it back into the Bay downtown because the line was 2 blocks long every time we walked by. i figured it wasn't that much different than it was when we were in there in november so eh. we hit the bay and zeller's in chilliwack and burnaby and they were pretty much gutted.
i kid you not, almost every single person you'd see, not just downtown but the people in the suburbs just going about their business, were wearing canada gear. so awesome.
Science World was turned into an exhibit for Sochi 2014. they had a store with tons of stuff, mascots and all, but once we finally got in line to get in they were closing. we tried to hit it the next day before our game but they weren't open yet.
the mens hockey games are going back to back so after our game they shuffled us out of there so fast (and efficiently, i have to say they were crazy organized and it was pretty neat.. kudos to vanoc.) to get the next crowd in for the next game.
protesters used newspaper bins to smash in windows at the Bay downtown on monday. id what it is about vancouver and its protesters. everyday there were "travel alerts" for "expected protests" everywhere. while walking in the village we heard about one going down on east hastings and remembered our not-so-fond-drive down that road during the memorial cup 3 years ago.
the dang red mittens are everywhere and everyone is wearing them. i admit that not only did i buy myself some but i bought a new stuffed Quatchi whos wearing them too.
i love canadians and the fact that they like to talk as much as i do. everywhere you go you get chatted at. loves it. i also love the head nods we'd get from everyone while we were walking around in our USA stuff before the game... a kind of quiet "we respect you guys, and we're rooting for you guys until you play us, then its on." kind of thing.
the game was cool. since most of the spectators were wearing canada stuff, it seemed like the whole arena as there for switzerland (although there were a surprising number of schweizers there) and the canadians started out rooting for us… until we took a 3 goal lead and then they turned on us and were rooting for suisse (or rooting for an exciting game to happen.) a few times almost the whole arena broke out into U S A! U S A! later that day at a sports store at the mall i was talking to the kid working and he told me how intimidating that chant is and how he wishes canada had something so simple and universal as that, haha.
every store window and sign says "GO CANADA GO" and has flags up, even all the way out in chilliwack.
i was pretty much in heaven. the day we spent the most time downtown it was cloudy and cool, but no rain, totally perfect. i saw germans and czechs and swedes and brits and russians and slovaks and a belarusian and and and.
we also squeezed in the normal canada stuff- boston pizza (in chilliwack,) the normal white spot (in burnaby) and coffee and timbits from tim hortons.
our hotel was really super nice, the nicest i've ever stayed in by far, and was super cheap.. i'm guessing just because its chilliwack? but i like chilliwack. whatev. i'll totally stay there again.
yesterday we got back to chilliwack in time to catch a chilliwack/seattle whl game there. something i've wanted to do for awhile: see a game in a little town, little arena, some REAL major junior hockey in canada. we got in for 5 bucks since we were wearing red (lol that matts red was on his USA jersey) and we were both really excited until the game started.. i thought i'd enjoy the smaller arena, but i didn't. i hate the open concourse design and i think i'd enjoy a smaller arena if it were old and had character, this one is brand new and generally crappy. only one level in the bowl, vending machines on the concourse, cheap plastic seats, no attendants keeping people from walking all over, kids running wild, no fans cheering, etc. there were annoying drunk fans (presumably partying beforehand during the canada/norway game) and we even saw a drunk guy try and fight security guards and get tackled and the guy was still putting up a fight. the game was HORRIBLY boring thanks to two of the worst teams in the league playing a scoreless/hitless/heartless game. we left after the second period and only stayed that long because we had bought chuckapucks.
there's so much more i wanted to talk about but i'm so exhausted. i didn't want to come home!
i was so focused on the game we were going to that i had forgotten that i have a week and a half of olympics stuff to watch at home, and that hockey was just getting underway. yay! right now i'm watching slovakia (the hossas!) and czech republic.. the first exciting and competitive match of the games.
we stayed about an hour away (if you drive like an american.. 40 minutes like a canadian) from vancouver. there's absolutely no spectator parking at the venues, in fact the roads around the downtown venues were closed to traffic altogether, so each day we drove into burnaby and left the car at the mall and hopped on the (sometimes extremely overcrowded) skytrain and rode it 20 minutes downtown.
downtown was packed solid with people, it was amazing. i wish we had had one more day to visit all the pavilions, because then i wouldn't have minded waiting in the long lines to see everything, but since we were cramped for time we pretty much just wandered around and explored and enjoyed the atmosphere without going inside any of them.
each province (but i don't think we ever found ontario?) had a pavilion setup with music, food, swag, etc inside. i think i only got a picture of the outside of quebec's, but each was different and fitting to the province. BC's was largest (obv) with an outdoor ice rink and a zipline. alberta's was prettiest.
i had promised tons of people gifts from the games but we didn't make it back into the Bay downtown because the line was 2 blocks long every time we walked by. i figured it wasn't that much different than it was when we were in there in november so eh. we hit the bay and zeller's in chilliwack and burnaby and they were pretty much gutted.
i kid you not, almost every single person you'd see, not just downtown but the people in the suburbs just going about their business, were wearing canada gear. so awesome.
Science World was turned into an exhibit for Sochi 2014. they had a store with tons of stuff, mascots and all, but once we finally got in line to get in they were closing. we tried to hit it the next day before our game but they weren't open yet.
the mens hockey games are going back to back so after our game they shuffled us out of there so fast (and efficiently, i have to say they were crazy organized and it was pretty neat.. kudos to vanoc.) to get the next crowd in for the next game.
protesters used newspaper bins to smash in windows at the Bay downtown on monday. id what it is about vancouver and its protesters. everyday there were "travel alerts" for "expected protests" everywhere. while walking in the village we heard about one going down on east hastings and remembered our not-so-fond-drive down that road during the memorial cup 3 years ago.
the dang red mittens are everywhere and everyone is wearing them. i admit that not only did i buy myself some but i bought a new stuffed Quatchi whos wearing them too.
i love canadians and the fact that they like to talk as much as i do. everywhere you go you get chatted at. loves it. i also love the head nods we'd get from everyone while we were walking around in our USA stuff before the game... a kind of quiet "we respect you guys, and we're rooting for you guys until you play us, then its on." kind of thing.
the game was cool. since most of the spectators were wearing canada stuff, it seemed like the whole arena as there for switzerland (although there were a surprising number of schweizers there) and the canadians started out rooting for us… until we took a 3 goal lead and then they turned on us and were rooting for suisse (or rooting for an exciting game to happen.) a few times almost the whole arena broke out into U S A! U S A! later that day at a sports store at the mall i was talking to the kid working and he told me how intimidating that chant is and how he wishes canada had something so simple and universal as that, haha.
every store window and sign says "GO CANADA GO" and has flags up, even all the way out in chilliwack.
i was pretty much in heaven. the day we spent the most time downtown it was cloudy and cool, but no rain, totally perfect. i saw germans and czechs and swedes and brits and russians and slovaks and a belarusian and and and.
we also squeezed in the normal canada stuff- boston pizza (in chilliwack,) the normal white spot (in burnaby) and coffee and timbits from tim hortons.
our hotel was really super nice, the nicest i've ever stayed in by far, and was super cheap.. i'm guessing just because its chilliwack? but i like chilliwack. whatev. i'll totally stay there again.
yesterday we got back to chilliwack in time to catch a chilliwack/seattle whl game there. something i've wanted to do for awhile: see a game in a little town, little arena, some REAL major junior hockey in canada. we got in for 5 bucks since we were wearing red (lol that matts red was on his USA jersey) and we were both really excited until the game started.. i thought i'd enjoy the smaller arena, but i didn't. i hate the open concourse design and i think i'd enjoy a smaller arena if it were old and had character, this one is brand new and generally crappy. only one level in the bowl, vending machines on the concourse, cheap plastic seats, no attendants keeping people from walking all over, kids running wild, no fans cheering, etc. there were annoying drunk fans (presumably partying beforehand during the canada/norway game) and we even saw a drunk guy try and fight security guards and get tackled and the guy was still putting up a fight. the game was HORRIBLY boring thanks to two of the worst teams in the league playing a scoreless/hitless/heartless game. we left after the second period and only stayed that long because we had bought chuckapucks.
there's so much more i wanted to talk about but i'm so exhausted. i didn't want to come home!
i was so focused on the game we were going to that i had forgotten that i have a week and a half of olympics stuff to watch at home, and that hockey was just getting underway. yay! right now i'm watching slovakia (the hossas!) and czech republic.. the first exciting and competitive match of the games.