Temptasia
Well-known member
My Post Olympic Random Thoughts:
I can tell you that even two months after we are all in olympic withdrawal. I still see people rocking the red mitts and official olympic hoodies.
I work right by Robson square and I miss the road closures and the masses of people that gathered just because. I miss the smiley tourists and athletes. The random high fivers.
I noticed a good increase in transit ridership now that people have gotten used to riding the Canada Line. A piece of the olympic legacy that I believe has changed Vancouver. Making downtown very accessible and little greener.
Then there's the real estate market...it has picked up and getting hot but we won't know for how long...people are being irrational I think, but it seems like everyone wants a piece of Vancouver at the moment.
I fell in love with my own city again and now have a sense of pride I never had until we had the olympics. I am also glad the rest of the country felt united and felt it was THEIR games as well. I think VANOC really tried to include the rest of the country....but the athletes really did all the work because they had the amazing support from their hometowns and provinces.
I honestly had very low expectations of these games and I think a majority of the population and media as well. Going into it, we had very little to celebrate. We were in the midst of the global recession, people losing their homes and jobs, and natural disasters destroying communities all over the world. It was very hard to focus on the olympics and I felt a sense of guilt that we were having a very expensive event take place while others suffered.
It wasn't until the very first day and morning of the Olympics that I finally felt it was real. My bf and made our way down to Stanley Park just before sunrise to see Arnold Schwartzenneger run with the torch. My god was it a beautiful morning. Stanley Park was eerily quiet until Arnie made his way here and the chaos and energy just exploded into the city. Thousands of people were in the streets at 7 in the morning! Waving flags from different countries...wearing all their colors.
It was not an event without challenges and bloopers but the way those things were handled made it more canadian. We say sorry, fix it, and laugh about it later.
En Francais: Hahaha, am I the only one that enjoyed John Furlong's attempts at speaking French? I could imagine dead French highschool teachers rolling in their graves at his pronunciation and butchering of the language. Takes me back to grade 8 French classes. Love how millions was invested into the event and they couldn't budget a language expert to help him.
February 28, 2010: I watched the game at home with my family. I was a complete wreck throughout the game....even felt sick to my stomach when we went into overtime. When Crosby scored I went ballistic and was screaming and hopping around like I just won the lottery. I didn't know how I was going to react but I think we all did the same thing at the same time. So cool. I might just have to get myself a gold outfit and wear every year on February 28, our unofficial national holiday!
Our hockey players can play where ever they want as long as they remember where they came from and represent when it counts!
Here are some pics:
I can tell you that even two months after we are all in olympic withdrawal. I still see people rocking the red mitts and official olympic hoodies.
I work right by Robson square and I miss the road closures and the masses of people that gathered just because. I miss the smiley tourists and athletes. The random high fivers.
I noticed a good increase in transit ridership now that people have gotten used to riding the Canada Line. A piece of the olympic legacy that I believe has changed Vancouver. Making downtown very accessible and little greener.
Then there's the real estate market...it has picked up and getting hot but we won't know for how long...people are being irrational I think, but it seems like everyone wants a piece of Vancouver at the moment.
I fell in love with my own city again and now have a sense of pride I never had until we had the olympics. I am also glad the rest of the country felt united and felt it was THEIR games as well. I think VANOC really tried to include the rest of the country....but the athletes really did all the work because they had the amazing support from their hometowns and provinces.
I honestly had very low expectations of these games and I think a majority of the population and media as well. Going into it, we had very little to celebrate. We were in the midst of the global recession, people losing their homes and jobs, and natural disasters destroying communities all over the world. It was very hard to focus on the olympics and I felt a sense of guilt that we were having a very expensive event take place while others suffered.
It wasn't until the very first day and morning of the Olympics that I finally felt it was real. My bf and made our way down to Stanley Park just before sunrise to see Arnold Schwartzenneger run with the torch. My god was it a beautiful morning. Stanley Park was eerily quiet until Arnie made his way here and the chaos and energy just exploded into the city. Thousands of people were in the streets at 7 in the morning! Waving flags from different countries...wearing all their colors.
It was not an event without challenges and bloopers but the way those things were handled made it more canadian. We say sorry, fix it, and laugh about it later.
En Francais: Hahaha, am I the only one that enjoyed John Furlong's attempts at speaking French? I could imagine dead French highschool teachers rolling in their graves at his pronunciation and butchering of the language. Takes me back to grade 8 French classes. Love how millions was invested into the event and they couldn't budget a language expert to help him.
February 28, 2010: I watched the game at home with my family. I was a complete wreck throughout the game....even felt sick to my stomach when we went into overtime. When Crosby scored I went ballistic and was screaming and hopping around like I just won the lottery. I didn't know how I was going to react but I think we all did the same thing at the same time. So cool. I might just have to get myself a gold outfit and wear every year on February 28, our unofficial national holiday!
Our hockey players can play where ever they want as long as they remember where they came from and represent when it counts!
Here are some pics:
