Rock Stacking Art by False Creek

Canada Place – Five Sails – overlooking the inlet waterfront

Sunset over the city – from the Seabus ferry

Lonsdale Quay – North Vancouver

Granville Island – public market and Francophone House-sponsored Street Carnival Parade

What a city!

…and I feel that I only got to experience a sliver of it because all of the Olympic events, etc.  There is another BC trip in the future!

I told you all about the hockey games, but Kris and I also got a couple of other tickets too… and I am so glad we did!  It exposed us to these sports that we knew so little about and rarely have the chance to see (maybe only once every four years) so, for that reason alone, it was worth it.

Oh yeah.  I think curling just may be climbing that list as my 2nd favorite Winter Olympic sport… but it’s really hard to figure since there are so many good ones.  But seriously, curling is awesome.  I had no idea what I was missing until we checked out the Men’s Round Robin round last Friday.  The game itself is quite strategic – like chess on ice! – but it was once again the amazing fans and Olympic atmosphere that help you get all caught up in the moment.  Curling matches are usually more quiet like golf matches – the crowd is hushed and then there is some light applause when the player does well… well, Olympic curling in Canada is another matter all together.

It was raucous.  Cowbells, face paint, flag waving, random singings of national anthems.  It’s serious business.

We entered the Olympic ticket lottery almost two years ago, and I just randomly checked curling because I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn about it… so glad I did.  Now, I can’t wait to actualy try it!  We got Men’s tickets, but I wish we had scored some Women’s too – it is just so neat to watch.  The Canadian team is 9-0, an amazing streak.  The US is not faring as well, but they are young (they look like college students) and have more time to develop.   Here is a short video I took as the games were going on.  What you DON’T see on TV is that there are four games going on simultaneously on four different sheets of ice.  So, there is always something to watch and cheer for!  The day we were there, it was China/Norway, US/France, Canada/Denmark, and Germany/Switzerland.

Kris and I studied the Wikipedia guide to Curling before we went to the game (while watching some matches on TV) and generally learned about the strategy.  It’s fascinating!

We also got a change of scenery as we made our way across the channel to North Vancouver en route to Cypress Mountain.  Cypress is the location for the snowboard competitions, and freestyle skiing – moguls, ski/board cross, and aerials.  We had tickets for the Men’s Aerials qualification round, so we got to see some high-flying acrobatics!  It was amazing.  And it was also freezing!  (Vancouver has been so balmy and spring-like that Cypress was a bit of a shock – and a reminder of home with some snow on the ground… but we layered up!)

There were 25 skiiers from many different countries, and the top 12 competitors (with a combined score from their two runs) goes on to the competition round on Thursday.  Our tickets were for standing room, so we saw a nice view of the skiier coming down the mountain, but it was harder to see their landing, so we were looking up at the projection screens for that.  After each run, the little army of blue Olympic volunteers would go and inspect the snow and repack it to make it safe for the next competitor.  They were truly “shovel-ready”!

From this short video, you can see how fast each run is – the skiier comes down from the top right and BOOM!  hits the podium and flies up and twists and flips and curls all around… and then… (usually) lands on their feet.  It’s jaw-dropping.  Some of the skiiers got to 50 ft in the air on one jump!  Scary – but amazing too!

…and Kris and I watched from down below with huge smiles on our faces! )…

By now, you know that Kris and I LOVE hockey.   We are pretty hardcore fans, and we came into the Olympic Games with tickets to 9 hockey games.  So far, we have been to SIX of them.  Everyone of them has been so much fun!  Almost as fun as the game are the die-hard fans that travel to these games from their home countries.  They make the game that much more enjoyable.  Face-paints, cowbells, flag-waving.  It’s just amazing.

Finnish fans before the Finland/Belarus game

Russian fan before the Russia/Latvia game

German fans at Germany/Sweden game

Some friendly Americans (from NYC) that we met at the USA/Norway game

…and of course, the GAMES and the ATHLETES!

I found a great spot for photos down near the ice, and have been lucky to get some nice photographs of the players as they come out onto the ice.

Miikka Kiprasoff and Kimmo Timmonen – Team Finland

Sergei Kostitsyn – Team Belarus

Team Norway

Jaromir Jagr – Team Czech Republic

Team Russia salutes the fans after a big win over the Czechs

Team USA warming up before the game against Norway

I made some signs – the Team USA sign above and then a slightly more creative one for my favorite hockey player, Evgeni Malkin on Team Russia.  His nickname is “Geno” so that was the inspiration behind this one:

…and what’s cooler than meeting up with other hockey-loving knitters at the Olympics?  Brynna, Amy and I are all active on the Ravelry hockey forum Puck This! and we arranged meetups.  Brynna and I met up to watch the first Canada game against Norway at a park with outdoor screens.  Afterward, we headed to the Russia/Latvia game.  It was great to meet her!

Amy and I both had tickets to the Sweden/Germany game and texted throughout the game and then met up afterward!

With a friendly blue-jacketed Olympic volunteer at the Canada Hockey Place arena

… More photos and stories to come…

Over on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic group, we started planning a meetup for Vancouver area knitters , or people who are in town for the Olympics… and as the details fell into place, the numbers grew, and we ended up having a wonderful group!  About 25 knitters came out to brunch on Saturday morning at The Whip restaurant in downtown Vancouver.   We had a whole loft area to ourselves and we had a great time – knitting, chatting, feeling each others’ yarns, and eating some yummy breakfast food too!

It was a particular joy to meet some new and old friends alike, some of whom I have known on the internet since the early days of knitblogging – this was the case with Mandy “Yarnageddon” and Felicia “Sweet Georgia”!

After our meetup, there was a general invitation from Felicia to come to tour her studio, Sweet Georgia.  What a treat!    Her studio is beautiful and so is her yarn… I came away with some amazing goodies

After the studio, we walked around downtown and enjoyed the unseasonably warm and sunny weather.  Winter Olympics has a whole new meaning with this weather!

Kit, Siew, and me near ScienceWorld

Photos of the procured yarns when I get back home… but in the meantime, stay tuned for some more Olympics photos!

Did they know that I was coming??

Of course there are hundreds and thousands of other hockey-loving knitters out there… but it’s quite the serendipity that THIS was set at the train station nearby…

Just in case it’s not clear… a ball of yarn on the floor, trailing up to a “drawn” hockey player on the wall!  Unpictured, the next ball of yarn trails over to the ubiquitous red Olympic mittens!

…Perhaps I lucked out with a reasonably calm station to snap this photo…

This city is filled to the brim with excitement and LOTS of people from all over the world.

We had a nice and easy flight over from DC – leaving feet of snow behind!  A big highlight of the plane trip was the Chicago-Vancouver leg when we we were on the plane with Ryan Miller, the Team USA goalie and probably the biggest star of the US hockey team.  He is great.  His family was on the trip with him, and I managed a little wave and got a head nod and smile in return.  I tried not to get too freaky fangirl, but I also patted his shoulder and told him “Good luck!” when we passed him boarding the plane.  It was really fun.  I also made quite the progress on my spur-of-the-moment knit, the “Canada” socks from Nancy Bush’s Knitting on the Road.  (Haven’t knit socks in so long, but it feels great!)

Our first day in the city was about getting out and exploring.  We got some yummy vegan foods – more of that in a future post – and headed downtown to soak it up.  A few pics from around town, with plenty more to come in the following days..

We are so excited for our first event this evening – the Russia v Latvia hockey game!  The US and Canada also play today, but those tickets are so hard to come by – but we will be watching on TV

More to come from Vancouver soon!