Vancouver Olympics. Under the Big Top.

Critics refer to the Olympics as the five ring circus. Certainly, here in Vancouver, Olympic preparations involve hoisting a lot of white canvas tents. Pictured above is BC Place Stadium, which has just been closed to the public(and professional football) to fit it up for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. As I walked by the tent structure in the foreground, I could hear rehearsals underway.

That's the Olympic Village in the distance. It was turned over to VANOC just last month to prep it for the arrival of the athletes.

All of this area is rapidly being fenced off and fitted up with security cameras. The City promises to remove all the video cameras from public areas after the Games. We shall see. Until then, they will see....

It surprises Olympic newbies to learn that a lot of money is being spent on temporary international, national, provincial, native people's and corporate pavilions. Sort of a world's fair for the rich and something to do if you couldn't get actual Olympic tickets.

Here, a storefront in the upscale Heritage District of downtown, is being converted to displays by Canada's Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut.

Across False Creek, Vancouver's Science World & Imax Theatre(the big silver ball) has been leased in its entirety to the Russian government to show off the next winter games in Sochi in 2014.

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But the biggest pavilion of them all is Molson Canadian Hockey House. It will not fit in one camera shot. Just try to picture an 81,000 square foot rectangular, white canvas tent, surrounded by acres of asphalt. At $15,000,000, it is the largest, temporary, freestanding pavilion ever built in Canada. Like at the Super Bowl or a Formula One event, entry to the Big Tent will not come cheaply. Tickets ranging from $99 for a half-day in the "fan zone" to $8700 for 17 days access to an executive lounge area with catering by the renowned chef, Wolfgang Puck, first rate music and comedy performances, a chance to meet the Who's Who of NHL and world hockey and all the beer you can drink. Molsons is planning for the consumption of over 350,000 cans of beer.

***They better have portapotties!

Nelson House Bed and Breakfast- 2010 Olympics

Image courtesy of VANOC & CBC

Yes! Nelson House B & B has ONE LAST ROOM still available for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Our "Vienna" room is only CAD.$148 (+ 15 % tax)/nt. However, it MUST be rented for the MINIMUM 17 NIGHTS of the games from Feb.12 to Feb.28th (inclusive). Please see our website for details on the room and the rental procedure.

The Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) today revealed their month-long transportation plan affecting downtown Vancouver and the highway corridor to Whistler. The map above indicates red security zones, yellow parking restrictions, blue 24 hour Olympics lanes for approved transit only, the closure of major roads such as Expo & Pacific Boulevards and the Georgia Viaduct. As well, most of Robson St., Granville & Beatty will also be closed to all vehicles to create pedestrian-only throughfares. The goal is to remove 30 to 50% of the normal downtown traffic. Needless to say, they are laying on lots of extra public transit options... a brand new Skytrain line from downtown to Richmond & the Airport, extra Skytrain cars on all other lines, a third Seabus, 180 new city buses....

See the mauve star on the map? If you were staying at Nelson House B & B, you could walk anywhere, enjoy the people-watching and forget the traffic hassles!

2010 Olympics - one year to go!

A photo of Vancouver's 2010 Olympics Clock ticking down.

National media are checking the excitement level today. 365 days from now, the world will gather in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games. This is the third time that Canada has hosted an Olympiad - Montreal in 1976, Calgary in 1988 and now Vancouver's turn in the spotlight is rapidly approaching!

ALL of the sports venues are ready. World Cup Alpine Ski races and bobsledding have already been help up at Whistler. The Four Continents Figure Skating competition was held here in town just last weekend. The reports on facilities and organization have all been great. Canadian athletes are glad to get a leg-up by being able to use the competition venues over the next year. In fact, the Four Continents' men's gold medal winner was a Canadian whiz kid, named Patrick Chan. If you love figure skating, remember that name. He just turned 19!

The City of Vancouver is responsible for construction of the Olympic Village. The developer has suffered due to the worldwide credit crunch and city taxpayers are now on the hook for a gigantic bank loan, sufficient to ensure that the Village is completed on time, this November. Nevertheless, there are 14 cranes on the site working day and night. After the party, the waterfront, eco-friendly properties will be sold off as high-end condos. So - City Hall says "Don't worry!"

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee(VANOC) released the design of the torch and torchbearer's uniforms today. You can expect to see what look like space aliens running from one side of Canada to the other with a whalebone. But I do like the Olympics colour scheme - all natural green, ice blue and white. The colours capture Vancouver and Whistler, just as red and gold reflected Beijing.

Vanoc and some (jealous) media in other cities are scolding Vancouverites to get with the booster spirit. We are such a laidback bunch here. Sooo... west coast. It takes a lot to get us excited but I think that the goosebumps are on the rise. Our metro population is extremely cosmopolitan. I am sure that it is our immigrant and first-generation Canadians who are most interested in having the world come to call. In the end, good down-home Canadian hospitality is sure to kick in. I can believe VANOC's predictions that the streets of downtown will be filled by up to 250,000 celebrants EVERY night of the Games. We are getting ready. Rain or shine. Here they come!