Vancouver Madness!

Well, March is almost finished, time to get some thoughts and experiences of the past month 2 months (!) down on paper.

In October 2008, about 2 months before I knew about coming to Switzerland, Emily and I decided to apply for tickets to the Olympics in Vancouver. We were successful and got tickets to a few events and I was definitely not missing it just because I was in Switzerland. To that end, I travelled back to Canada in the middle of February to take in some Olympic Games.

I actually surprised her by not telling her when exactly I was arriving in Montreal and then just showing up in her lobby on Valentine’s Day (a modern Casanova, I know). We took off for Vancouver on the following Thursday and were staying for a full 9 days.

Through our extensive network of contacts (not really, but…) we managed to find places to stay with friends in both Whistler and Vancouver for the entire time. It was really a life-saver considering the price for a night of accommodation in Whistler was more than I make in a year. So a big thanks has to go out to Will, Tamsyn and the Dutkiewicz family for their extremely generous hospitality. Anytime you want to visit Switzerland, there’s room for you here!

We went up to Whistler the morning after we arrived via the Greyhound and we took in a Nordic skiing event which was alright. The next day we went skiing in the morning and then took in the first two heats of the 2-man bobsleigh which was the best event we watched (despite my initial trepidation) as we had complete access to the entire track and could get extremely close to the action. It is unbelievable how fast they are going when you are that close:

Unfortunately we missed out on seeing any downhill events because of some early delays and rescheduling, but we managed to sell our tickets so it all worked out in the end. We managed to take in a few of the country pavilions including Norway house where we ate waffles with jam and watched the events with Norwegians. We also met up with a friend from Ottawa who we had no idea was taking in the games as well. From there, we took in a Sam Roberts concert and the first Canada-USA game in Whistler Village Square with a few hundred of our closest friends (and an Austrian TV crew, it’s amazing how well you think you speak German after a few pints). It was these moments that were the best part of the trip for me. It was really cool to be in a huge crowd all cheering for the same outcome. A heaping spoonful of patriotism indeed.

We went back to Vancouver, went to the loudest curling game I’ve ever attended (alright it was only my second, but it was crazy loud. Perhaps the metal bleachers and ample beer consumption had something to do with it?), and also took in a great Constantines and Wintersleep concert at Yaletown Live. Although our original plan was to rent a car and get in some skiing in the interior, the summer like conditions and lack of snow convinced us to shelve those blueprints and instead remain around Vancouver and take in more of the atmosphere and sights. Below are a couple of the better photos in an album.

Whistler Olympic Park

The top skiers coming through to the finish.

After about 20 attempts, Emily took this great picture.

2, 4, 6 mittens?

I guess China was expecting colder tempeatures?

Instead, lots of beautiful green grass.

THE PANTS!

Cons killing it in Yaletown

Our picture with Quatchi and Miga

To sum it all up, it was a great experience (although I still have a few problems with the business side of the Olympics) and I highly suggest you try it out if you have the means. Sochi in 2014 anyone?