Day After the Olympics In Vancouver

March 1, 2010

 Well, they are not wasting any time on the streets of Vancouver, already venues and pavillions are being torn down. We walked passed Robson Square today. It was all roped off and the tear down was in progress. Streets are open again which is a good thing for the people in Vancouver. It looks like the mass exodus of people they were expecting was true. I hardly saw any Olympic people out on the street today. In fact I’m pretty sure I was the only one wearing red mittens. We headed over to the Bay Olympic Superstore and for old times’ sake there was a line up to get in, only about a 30 second wait. It was still busy in that store, looking at it you might never know that the Olympics had ended the day before. I had a pin to exchange and headed over to that area. I thought I would try to trade pins once more at the Coca Cola Pin Trading Centre and again was shut down by the collectors, quite rudely in fact! Most Olympic people I have talked to have been so nice, these pin traders not as much. I guess they look at it like a business transaction and if they don’t want anything from you they have no need for you. I think from now on I’ll only trade with friends or others who approach me. It’s not like I am a serious collector or am hunting for particular pins. I was looking up some of my pins and it seems like they are pretty good ones. They were not available to the general public and there were only a certain amount produced and distributed usually to employees. Guess I’ll hold on to these for awhile. I exchanged my pin and we moved on.

From the Bay Superstore, we went to Robson Street. I wanted to do a bit of shopping before I left Vancouver and Robson Street seemed like a good place to start. One store that I really liked and would fly back to Vancouver to go there was a store called Plenty. It was a well merchandised store, had a good assortment of price points and the staff was very attentive which is a nice change. I tried on a bunch on things and only came away with two tops. One sweater I’m still on the fence about. I’m going to look them up and see if they sell online, at the very least I’d like to get a list of the lines they carry and try to locate them in Toronto. Went into a few other stores and looked at shoes. By this point I was exhausted even though it wasn’t very late. I think the pace of the Olympics was catching up with me. Or it could be the cold I got a few days ago. We headed home to have some down time before tomorrow. I also had a few blog posts that I needed to catch up on, particularly my Closing Ceremony post.

I’m meeting up with some Vancouver Olympic friends for coffee in the morning. We can talk about the Olympics and pretend it’s not over!  In the evening I'll have to start packing for our trip home on Wednesday. :(

My Vision for the Olympic Games

One of the most exciting things about telling people about my trip is seeing their reaction after I’ve told someone for the first time where I am going. Their entire face lights up and they always say some kind of version of “That is so amazing. You are going to have such a good time”. It’s hard to put into words how happy they look and all the nice things that have been said to me. I’m excited that so many are excited for me that I am going on this trip. It will be unlike any experience that I’ve ever had and I intend to enjoy every second of it. I feel like I’m experiencing this trip for all those who won’t be there. Hopefully through my blogs and pictures, they’ll get a feel for what Olympic fever is like in Vancouver.

In addition to attending all the events and cheering on our great Canadian athletes, I can’t wait to talk to people from all over the world who will also be attending this Olympics. Canada has always had a great international reputation and I’m looking forward to hearing visitors thoughts on Canada and Vancouver. Can you imagine what the energy will be like in the city for the duration of the Games? I can’t wait to see what that feels like. I’m expecting everyone to be in a great, friendly mood. Open to meeting others from different countries and cultures. I envision walking down the street and seeing perfect strangers’ high fiving each other, and Canadians yelling “Canada Rocks”. I’m sure the Olympics will bring out a huge amount of pride in people. I will get to see that firsthand.

Canada Day celebrations on Robson Street. I think these people know how to party!

Everyone will be in such a great mood, I can see spontaneous breakouts of song and dance happening all over the city. Can you imagine, shopping on Robson Street and all of a sudden people start singing and dancing in the street? It would be like our own episode of Glee! Hey Vancouver, is there some kind of theme song for the city? If so, someone please tell me what it is so I can start putting some moves together. If there is singing and dancing going on somewhere I want to be a part of it. Maybe we could even get Michael Buble to grace us with his presence and smooth jazzy voice!

By complete coincidence, I was invited back to my old dance studio this past week for a class. My dance teacher invited me to see “if I’ve still got it”. Little does she know, I never lost it and I’ll be practicing my moves for Vancouver 2010!

It is sure to be a fun and exciting time. Canada is host to people from all over the world. Let’s be sure to show them a good time, whether it’s singing and dancing on Robson Street or blowing them away with how many medals we are winning! I am sure I will scream myself hoarse. That’s just the nature of the Games! What is your vision for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics? Leave a comment to share it with everyone.

Excuse me while I go practice my double pirouettes!  See you on Robson Street for singing and dancing!

Vancouver, we will soon be together.




A very special thank you to Tomarra Walker from Robson Street Business Association for providing me with the photos in this post. Photo credits are as follows: Photos 1, 2 and 4 - deliciousphotography.com, Photo 3 - Tomarra Walker.