I suspect everyone with a camera has some wonderful photos to remind them of the past 16 days. As the Olympics come to an end, here are some miscellaneous shots from the last week, in no particular order...The Canada Russia hockey game offered many photo-ops. but I was fascinated by all the spectators in red and white, and the Russian team gathering for its pre-game huddle around the goalie.
It was also fun to watch the game with some English ladies who demonstrated their new Canadian pride.
The Royal Mint display at SFU's Segal Business School was surprisingly interesting. I did not have the patience to line up to see and touch the medals, but I was fascinated by the holographic coins and the million dollar gold coin on display.
One day, I went up to Whistler where the District of Squamish and Pemberton hosted a day to encourage economic development. It was delightful to meet some of the locals who had won Olympic medals, but for me a highlight was meeting Peter Mansbridge, the evening's guest speaker, who I have admired for many years.
Without a doubt, however, the highlight of the two weeks was experiencing the infectous spirit on the streets, especially around Robson Square, where a stage was set up, fireworks were set off nightly, and nearby buildings served as video screens.
Around the corner, CTV set up a studio on the street where Bill Good seemed to be broadcasting 24 hours a day...
Elsewhere in the downtown, office buildings and trees were lit up and the early blooming flowers created an almost surreal effect for February. The tower crane on the Jameson House site seemed to be saying everything's alright!
The recently completed Granville Mall looked pretty good with the handmade lanterns, but why did they not use a more attractive finish along the street...the broomed concrete is most unfortunate.
The nearby Bay Store, with its daily line-ups looked pretty good at night...
Travelling around during the day I came across some unusual sites. On Granville Island, after taking a ride on the new tram, I came across Duh Hockey Gyz...
Over at the North Shore of False Creek I found a series of globes designed as interesting public art, and great demonstrations of patriotism at CityGate
One of the biggest surprises was how well the traffic was managed...in fact there was so little traffic at times, the streets felt almost surreal and parking had to be put on sale!
I have many hundreds of more images, but hopefully these will inspire others to post some of their favourite photos...It has been a great couple of weeks, but now it's time to start working so that many of the wonderful things that happened in Vancouver can become the legacies for our city.
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