February 12th - Opening Ceremonies

Downtown Vancouver was a buzz of activity yesterday...it reminded me a lot of downtown Ottawa on Canada Day, but bigger!!!  In the early afternoon, we headed downtown to Robson Square - when we got there the Olympic Protestors were assembled at the Vancouver Art Gallery which created quite the congestion...however there was lots of activity happening at the Square regardless - performers, musicians, and a zip line! 

We then headed to LiveCity Yaletown, which is a site near BC Place that has been set up with giant screens and exhibits that everyone can go and watch the games - we got there around 4:45 and the lineup to get in was huge and there was a good chance that we wouldn't even get into the park until after 6:00...so plan B - head to Concord Place nearby where all the provinces have "houses" set up - big tents really, where during the day they have events promoting their assets,  but in the evening it becomes a party where you can watch the games on giant screens, partake in some beverages and food, and later on listen to some local bands.  We chose Saskatchewan House and were lucky enough to find a table to set up at and got ready to watch the Opening Ceremonies...It was pretty fun to watch them in a crowd of people and we all cheered like crazy when the Canadians paraded in...

After the ceremony, everyone spilled out onto the street and as we were nearby BC Place, the people were everywhere...tons of police and security volunteers, steering you to the Skytrains etc...we chose to walk about 10 blocks to a farther Skytrain as the crowd at the closer one was just crazy...although there were so many people trying to get somewhere, it was amazing how quickly we were able to get where we were going.  One of our housemates actually went to the ceremony and she said it was absolutely amazing and worth all of the $700 that she paid to see it...