B & dB

Had a nice day yesterday, with my nephew Graeme, getting the lay of the land in the False Creek area; It seems like where ever you walk there are Pavilions and activities of one sort or the other!

In the evening I headed back to the same area with Nan to show her our finds and to check out the night scene. We found that the False Creek area is far busier during the day which made it easier to go inside the Pavilions representing Quebec and Saskatchewan. The False Creek area, like so many other areas in Vancouver, is absolutely stunning!

We have been inside three Pavilions now and peeked inside others and based on that experience came the title of this post, B & dB, which represents the impression I have so far of what the Pavilions are all about, Booze and Decibels, LOTS of BEER & LOUD Music!!!! – I must be getting old because I did not appreciate it at all

….part of a protesting group! ? :)

Off we went to Vancouver this morning, in our car! I guess we shouldn’t do that but we did and found it to be a traffic jam free ride and easy to park the car – in the Sears parking lot! If the word gets out it will make matters change in a hurry, so mum’s the word, eh :0).

We started off with a short walk to McCarthy Tetrault’s, to sign some papers, and then back up the hill to Robson’s Square, a quick peek at what was going on and then onward to the new Convention Center once again – this time there were still lots of happy visitors milling around but we found a super spot to photograph the Flame – gain :0).

Build it and they will come

Today the sun was shining and out came the people! Yesterday there were lots of people walking the streets, most of whom were probably tourist since they did not let the rain stop them from enjoying Vancouver, but today it was shoulder to shoulder people and my guess is that it was because the locals came out to see what was going on before having to go to work on Monday.

It was great to see how well what could be called a “crowd” behaved, lots of smiles and people being polite to each other; no pushing or shoving, just masses of people moving en mass in various directions. The Olympic flame burning at the north end of the new convention center was a big attraction and it is good to know that it will remain in place for many years to come.

When it came time to head back to the North Shore we expected a delay in getting on the Seabus but even that was a pleasant surprise. We had a two sailing wait but with a Seabus coming every ten minutes it was a breeze.

2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony

GO CANADA GO, and if the Opening Ceremony is anything to go by Canada is indeed ready to go, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Our day started off with taking the Seabus over to Vancouver and a casual walk to Robson Square, a quick look around, and then lunch at the Kamei Royale at 1:00PM; the restaurant was full so just as well that we had made a reservation. So far so good, Seabus provided an easy way to get to Vancouver from North Vancouver and our bellies are now full.

It was great to see the streets of Vancouver streaming with people, especially since yesterday the streets were empty and I had concerns that nobody was coming to our party. It was also great to see everybody in such high spirits and funny to see the protesters who were protesting any protesters that they may come across; a tough looking crew they are too!

False Alarm

What a change of scene! There we were, sitting in our condo reading when a helicopter sounded real close – it was, so I picked up my trusty camera and went out on the balcony to photograph it.
No sooner had I come back inside when some-one was banging on our door with the door knocker and using it as though they wanted to pound the door open with it!

I peeped through the spy hole to see who the heck it was, it was an RCMP.

I opened the door and told him that was one heck of away to knock on some-ones door and was told in response to stay back from the windows in case a bomb went off outside and blew the window  in! Having said that he took off to, I suppose, pound on some-one else’s door.
Not heeding the warning, we are on the ninth floor for goodness sake, I went to the window to have a look around – sure enough, the area outside was being cordoned off!
After about an hour Nan and I decided to drive to Park Royal to purchase me a winter jacket, lots of good sales on right now. When we drove up out of the car park we could see that Chesterfield Avenue was cordoned off and was told we would not be able to return to our condo until the “suspicious looking package” had been investigated.
Fortunately it turned out to be a false alarm; it was some-ones fishing rod and cape!