Living in Olympic Wonderland, Week 1

Oh Miga, you little rascal!

She's been having a lot of fun this week, and so have I.  Not surprisingly, in spite of all the dire predictions, naysayers, controversy, and good ol' fashioned whining leading up to the Games, pretty much everyone I've spoken with this week has been very positive about what's going on here.

At street level, the Winter Olympics are a big fun party that happens to feature sporting events.  The main topic of conversation here is not who won what medal, or which athlete was a disappointment.  The local dialog is about where we've been, what we saw, and who we met this week.  Even those of us who haven't been to the actual games are getting in on it.

There is a lot to see and do in Vancouver right now.  A whole shanty town of tents and domes has appeared in the big empty lot between the stadiums and Science World, most of which are free and open to the public.  These are the "community pavilions", and they include exhibits from three provinces: Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.  I went into the Quebec and Saskatchewan pavilions yesterday, the latter being the best of the two (perogies and Pilsner beats a Cirque du Soleil douchebag any day).  There is also Atlantic Canada House on Granville Island, Alberta House downtown, and apparently there's a Manitoba House somewhere.  There are also plenty of international houses around the city - usually a take-over of a restaurant, bar, or community hall.  Remember how last month I whined about the Roundhouse being closed?  It has become Casa Italia, which I am told is a big disappointment (they have no food!  Come on!)

Downtown is the epicentre of Olympic fun.  I wandered up Robson on Sunday through a thick crowd gawking at street performers, artists, and various attractions, including a zipline over Robson Square.  If you're willing to stand in line for four hours you can ride the zipline for free.  That's four hours of waiting for 10 seconds of entertainment.

Lines.  If there's one experience shared by visitors, locals, ticket holders, and freeloaders in Vancouver this month, it's standing in line.  You will line up to get on the Skytrain (though this hasn't been as bad as Translink said it would be; I've not waited more than 10 minutes for a train this week), you line up to get into a venue, and you line up to get into almost all the free pavilions and exhibits (side note: if there's no line for a free thing, you can pretty much guarantee it's not worth seeing).  Whether it's worth it to stand in line for an hour or more to get into something is hit and miss.  I know two people who went to Atlantic House at different times.  One saw the notorious Ashley MacIsaac perform there, which was needless to say well worth the price of admission.  The other walked into what was essentially a beer hall with $8 pints.  Similar assessments exist for Swiss House and Russia House, the latter of which has taken over all of Science World to give everyone a rather drab preview of the next Winter Olympics in Sochi.

To quote a co-worker on this subject, "free is not always the best price."  My time is worth a lot more to me than my money, and in most cases I'm not willing to stand in a long line to get what amounts to low level entertainment.

In stark contrast to its free pavilion neighbours, Molson Canadian Hockey House charges a very steep admission ($99 for a day pass in the "Fan Zone", or $450 and up for VIP Lounge access).  The upside to this is you get a much higher quality of entertainment than at the free pavilions, free food (but cash bar, where I assume you can spend $8 on a Molson product), and no line.  I'm going to try to see Sam Roberts for free at LiveCity Yaletown tonight, but I could also see him in a much more comfortable and pleasant environment tomorrow at Hockey House if I felt like spending the hundred bucks (I don't).

All that said, the real fun in Vancouver right now has very little to do with lining up to see something for free, or spending a week's pay on Olympic tickets and other premium things.  The true excitement here is how everyone is out and having fun together, and coming together over something as simple and elegant as sport.  I stood outside Hockey House for a while on Thursday, and watched the Canada vs. Switzerland game on their big outdoor TV's (no charge to watch these).  I saw the Swiss score to tie the game in the third period, and a couple hundred people felt the same disappointment I did.  Later, those people felt the same excitement and relief when Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal in the shoot-out.    There are many moments like this happening all over the city between friends, countrymen, and people who live on the other side of the globe.

That's the best part of being in this city right now.  The usual cares of the world are nowhere to be found; instead we are all excited about the games, and enjoying the spirit of thousands of people coming together.  Best of all, the weather in the city has been fantastic (somewhat to the detriment of the events scheduled at Cypress, but that's another story).  It's an amazing time to be out and about in what is always the most beautiful city on Earth.  This is Vancouver at its best, and I feel very fortunate to be here.