Conquering the East

Hello, hello, and once again it's been awhile! These past few days I've been cramming in as many pavilions as possible and I've successfully gotten into some of Vancouver's most popular ones.

The Bombardier Train

My week started off with a short trip on the free Bombardier train to Granville Island. It's a beautiful train, very sleak, smooth and sustainable, with a gorgeous interior. It only goes to one stop, from Cambie (aka the Olympic Village stop on the Canada Line) to Granville Island, but if the train proves to be successful during the Olympics, the city wants to extend it to Science World, then on to Vanier Park and eventually to Stanley Park and other parts of downtown Vancouver. If you haven't ridden it yet, it's going to be in operation until March 21 and I definitely recommend the experience. If you would like to see the train become a permanent fixture in Vancouver, email: eric.mital@vancouver.ca of the Downtown Street Car Project.

I also have some PDFs with information regarding the trains here if you're interested. Pass them on to friends and family because the more people who know about the them, the better! As Bombardier would say, "The Climate Is Right for Trains":

Transit Solutions | Vancouver's Historic Railway


Atlantic House


After the train ride, I decided to try my luck at Atlantic House, located on the top and bottom floors of the Granville Island Arts Club. I thought that I had left early enough that the line would be managable, but to my dismaying unsurprise, it was snaking out into the road. I resigned myself to wait and did so for about forty minutes before getting completely bored. They had volunteers walking up and down the line answering questions and reassuring people about the wait, but their efforts didn't help. Most line-ups at least move so you know it's not all in vain and you're actually working towards something, but the Atlantic House line was stagnant, and that's because they only allow ten or so people in at a time. I eventually gave up and found a smaller line for a 12:30 performance of Come On In! Songs and Stories from Atlantic Canadain the building across from the Arts Club. The performers were: Daniel Payne, Monique Poirier, Meaghan Blanchard, and David Myles.

The music was wonderful and traditional, sung in both French and English. The performers told their stories and invited some of the audience up on the stage with them to help sing along. After the performance was over and I was back outside, I noticed a small line-up moving quickly into the bar portion of the Arts Club. I follow it in and noticed a door standing ajar that led up into the upstairs portion of the pavilion. No security guards or volunteers were around so I pushed the door open, walked briskly up the stairs, and BOOM, there I was. I had just SNUCK into Atlantic House!! I was so surprised I'd actually gotten in that I was overly delighted and polite about the free samples I got; it was New Brunswick day, so I was given New Brunswick fare, which consisted of a bag of potato chips, a box of tea, chocolates, and a delicious round of chocolate cake from McCain. There were also oysters, but I of course didn't eat those. I got some pins and lip balm on the way out, and outside of the pavilion were three rows of touch-screen computers, plump lines of people in front of them. During my initial wait in the Atlantic House line-up, one of the volunteers handed out cards with a code on it that visitors were supposed to enter onto the computers. Once you had punched in the code, you were entered into a contest for a trip for two to Atlantic Canada. But entering in the code also brought up a game to win a pair of hand-crafted wooden clappers.
Three doors popped up and you had to choose the right one. Well, it must have been my day, because I won!! It was great, just great. After that, I hopped a ferry to Yaletown to see if I could get into some other big venues.


Ontario House


Ontario House had been the one pavilion I really wanted to go to, but the lines were always unappealingly massive. That's why my mom gave me her Olympic transit staff pass to see if I could use it to bypass the lines. We really weren't sure if it would work, but guess what ... IT DID!! I got up the courage to go up to the main entrance, flashed my pass at the door volunteers and walked in quickly before they had a chance to tell me to turn back and wait in line.

Ontario House is part bar/restaurant and interactive exhibit. I'm sure you've all heard of this, but they have this thing where three screens project live aerial footage of three places in Ontario: Niagra Falls, The Parliament buildings in Ottawa, and the CN Tower. Three chairs are below the screens. Three people at a time sit down, have head phones with special sensors put on them, and are told to then focus their minds on something. A screen attached to the chair allows the participants to see their brain waves and how high or low they are rising. The lower the waves, the more relaxed the person is. The higher the waves, the more concentrated the person is. The chairs react to the brain waves and sends vibrations from the bottom of the participant during low waves, to the head of the participant during high waves. The participant can control the light of the aforementioned places on the screen with their brain waves, and in the case of the CN Tower, which is the one I did, you can light it up and make it spin.

It was the coolest experience: strange, humming music started playing as vibrations went all the way up my back. The CN Tower went from a slow spin and dull luminance to a brilliant pink and wildly-fast revolution. I gripped the arms of the chair as I concentrated all my thoughts on one thing: Massachusetts. I got my wave reader to reach all the way to the top, and a little bit beyond that. Once in a while I would break my concentration to stare at the screen and watch the Tower light up and spin. When it was over, I collapsed back in the chair, mind exhausted. I received a pin that says "My Mind Lit Up the CN Tower."


Pin Collecting


If you were to go downtown now, you would see hundreds of people wearing vests loaded down with all sorts of Olympics pins, or sitting behind small tables laid out with pins, or newbie collectors wearing Olympic lanyards around their necks, strung with pins. Pins, pins, pins! The trading and appraisal of Olympic pins is taken very seriously. I should know, my mom used to be a trader and she has several very valuable '84 Olympic pins in her collection. Anyway, I`ve collected a lot of stuff in my life, from spoons to stuffies, but I never did get in on the pin action. However, seeing so many collectors got me into the collecting spirit and I went about getting as many free pins from the pavilions as possible.

Helpful Hints: tell venue volunteers you're from the province that the venue you're at is representing. It's the best way to get pins. Also, all Apple stores are giving away limited edition red square pins, and most retailers are throwing in mascot pins when shoppers spend a certain amount of money. Holt Renfew isn't giving away any pins to my knowledge, but they do have a FREE booth where you can have several photos of yourself taken and then compiled into a mini flip book. It's a pretty awesome keepsake.

Here`s my pin collection so far:



It's not much, but then again I'm not willing to spend ten bucks a pin. Just thirty dollars on stuffies.


The O Zone



After a busy day of cutting lines and pin collecting, I thought it would be a good idea to go out to Richmond and check out the O Zone. The Zone has got really strange hours, not opening until 3:00 pm on weekdays, 12:00 weekends. But the time I got there, it was around 4:00 and pouring outside. Without an umbrella and unwilling to walk around, exhausted, in the cold rain, I decided to hang out in Richmond Centre Mall. I ended up seeing Shutter Island, which started out passable (it takes place in Massachusetts, Boston Harbor, HELLO!) but quickly detoriated into predictable garbage. Here's a hint: its formula is exactly like Angel Heart (1987). Here's a tip: If you haven`t seen Angel Heart, watch it instead of this movie.

Once the film had ended, I left the mall and ventured outside, where blessedly it had stopped raining. By this time it was around 6:30, and the O Zone was strangely dead for a venue that had only opened three hours earlier and still had four-and-a-half hours to go until closing. There were still a few venues open, like the O Zone Signature Tree in the Cariboo, BC, showcase tent.


Now let's see if I can get into Russia House!


-Bonnie

Night of the Cheburashkas

Good morning, everyone,

Why am I blogging instead of going to bed? BECAUSE SUNDAY WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!! I probably don't have to remind any of you that Team USA won the hockey game last night, but I can tell you I was the happiest girl downtown walking against the hoards of sour-faced Canadians. And to top it off, when I went down to Russia House, a giant Cheburashka was dancing around out front!!!



From there, I went to the BC Hydro's Power Smart Village, which gives out green light-up necklaces. I got there right at closing time so one of the reps just handed me one; I didn't have to answer any power smart trivia for it, which always makes me feel like a douchebag because I know the answers but don't necessarily put them into practice at home...

From there it was on to the giant London Drugs across from the Bay, which is having a massive 50% off sale on ALL OLYMPIC MERCHANDISE. I grabbed a box of four mascot stuffies, which normally goes for $60, but decided not to buy it and hold out for the even better discounts which I'm sure (hoping) follow after the Games.

Waiting for the bus, I discovered another Russian pavilion on Burrard --


Jeez, these guys have taken up the entire city! of course, all these venues are private, but at least they lined the entrance and walkway with Cheburashkas in order to make passerbys feel better about being denied entrance. I looked forward to seeing what the Sochi Olympics will be like.


Alright, well now that I've been given the chance to share my happiness and excitement with y'all, I'm off to bed.

Pleasant Cheburashka dreams!

-Bonnie

2010 Vancouver Winter Games Counter
Drunks Wall-peeing: 7
Pavilions Visited: 9
Olympic Souvenirs: 10
Olympic Goals Achieved: 1 1/2

"We Are Here"

Hey y'all,

It's the halfway point between the Games and by now I've made it to the majority of the pavilions. There's still the zip-line, B.C. House, Irish House, Haida Gwaii House, and the Richmond pavilions to check out, and I plan on doing all of those in the next couple of days.

But tonight was reserved for the Four Hosts First Nations pavilion, which is next to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. You can't miss it -- just like Saskatchewan House, it's inside a giant, inflatable volley ball. Coming from work, I discovered that the quickest route to the pavilion was cut off by Olympic security, so I had to detour through the Plaza of Nations, and I'm really glad I did because it's amazing down there! The entire plaza has been turned into a multicultural bazaar selling souvenirs, clothes, crafts, and lots of food, glorious food! My recommended eats: roasted corn, bubble cake, and tornado fries. Yum! The place was packed with the pre-hockey crowds and the spirit was just pumping.


Weaving my way back around to G.M. Place (oh, sorry, Canada Hockey Place), I walked along congested streets until I hit an empty stairwell leading up to Beatty. By the way, I should mention that along the way, I witnessed three drunk guys peeing against walls, and not hidden, shadowed walls either. Because of this, I have decided to record the number of public-peers I see right here in this blog, starting with this post. I don't really blame them, I hear the washroom situation is pretty bad downtown. A couple of guys at Dominos told me that they tried desperately to bribe the counter staff at MacDonald's into giving them the key to the handicapped washroom because the line for the men's was twenty minutes long. And the moral is: drink responsibly, dear readers.

My timing at the Four Hosts First Nations pavilion was perfect because the line was short and it was the last showing of the night. The pavilion honors the Four Hosts First Nations: Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tseil-Waututhi. Inside, the venue is just like Science World's Omnimax Theatre. A nine-minute movie featuring all the First Nations groups of Canada is projected onto the 360° domed roof. The message that the Four Hosts want everyone to remember is: "We Are Here." After the movie ended, a venue rep, and member of the Squamish community, thanked us all for coming and said that because his people have always passed on the history and knowledge of their culture, it is now our responsibility to spread the message, too. So I'm doing just that! If you haven't gotten a chance to see the pavilion yet, or sadly are not planning to, don't worry; I recorded the movie and have uploaded it here for your enjoyment!


After that, I headed towards Alberta House, which is just another glorified bar, but with country music. On my way home, I stopped by MacDonald's because the current Happy Meal toys are of the Olympic mascots, and bought three of them, one for each mascot. Hey ... they could be worth something one day! At home, I was surprised and ecstatic to find a lovely little Mukmuk stuffy key chain hanging from my light switch. He reminded me: I MUST find the mascots for a photo-op! If you see them around, please let me know. They've been strangely aloof during the games...

Peace out!

-Bonnie


2010 Vancouver Winter Games Counter
Drunks Wall-peeing: 3
Pavilions Visited: 8
Olympic Souvenirs: 9
Olympic Goals Achieved: 1 1/2

Pavilions, pavilions, and more pavilions

Thursday after my volunteer shift at the Vancouver Aquarium (by the way, admission prices are 50% if you get there between 8 and 9:00 am!) I decided to check out Saxony House, which is inside the Vancouver Rowing Club. There wasn't anything there for me, but if you are into German music, nine-dollar traditional German food, and lots of German beer, I suggest you check it out.

Later that day, after work, I walked down to the area where Science World is, or as I like to call it: Pavilion Place. I really wanted to see Russia House, and being misled by the non-existent line-up, I thought it was the perfect time to go and avoid the crowds. Unfortunately, Russia House has terrible hours: it closes at five. I got there at 7:30. I could see the Cheburashkas in the gift shop window, stared at them longingly until I felt the security guards watching me like I was going to break in so I headed for the other pavilions.

A short walk down are three pavilions all together: Saskatchewan, Québec, and Ontario. because it was nighttime, concerts were playing and people were crowded around big outdoor screens watching the hockey game between Team Canada and Switzerland. I went into the Saskatchewan pavilion first, which is housed inside a giant, inflatable volley ball with images projected onto it. It wasn't crowded, and next to Northern House, I think it's one of the best pavilions. I'm starting to notice a pattern here: all the good houses are usually deserted because they feature provinces that everybody thinks are uninteresting. Well, let me be the first to debunk that myth by saying the Saskatchewan pavilion was awesome. You can get a free picture taken of yourself in front of a Saskatchewan landscape, and once it's taken they give you a bar code and URL where you can obtain your image. I chose a wheat field:


Afterwards, I went into what I believe was Québec House, but there was nothing there except a French band and the stench of beer in the air. I'll try again another time because I was under the impression that there would be exhibits and all that fun, touristy stuff. Ontario House was insanely busy so I didn't even bother.

And that's what I did this week. Oh, I haven't been to Atlantic House yet, but my crazy-awesome, Maritime grandmother waited two hours in line just to see it, and she says they're giving away free samples of lobster, clams, fish, crab, basically every Maritime dish, so if you like sea food, you gotta go. She also told me she's been bullshitting to volunteers in each pavilion in order to get pins, and it's worked so far: she's collected three.

Check 'ya later!

-Bonnie

The Pursuit of Happiness ... House

WARNING: This post contains overly-joyous music brought to you by Coca Cola. Listener discretion is advised.


Hey everyone,

It's been a little while since I last posted and that's because I've been working on a really long, extensive post which I will be putting up soon, once the headache it has given me goes away.

Anyway, in the past few days I have visited a number of the pavilions. On Wednesday I went to Yaletown, deciding to try my luck getting in to the walled-in venue where the Coca Cola (real name is the "Happiness House") pavilion, as well as the Samsung and Acer tents are. I experienced a rare phenomena in that the line was quite short (around 15 minutes wait), so in a matter of moments I was inside. On stage, French Canadian folk singers were entertaining the masses and near the entrance was a row of food vendors, each serving different meals from around the world.

I had come to the pavilion with the direct intent of obtaining one of those glowing, limited edition coke bottles that's a part of Coke's "Open Happiness" campaign. To my dismay, I found out that the only way to get one was to wait in the snaking line-up for the Happiness House tent. Well, when my heart is set on a useless, dust-collecting knick-knack, nothing can stop me, so I decided to suck it up and waited around 30 minutes (which is pretty good by pavilion standards). As I waited and got closer to the entrance, I observed Coca Cola staff members and what their jobs were. There were two guys whose sole responsibilities were to unhook the sides of the tent and flap them every time another staff member came out and yelled "We need air!" And they actually have a high-fiver at the entrance! Can you imagine, it's somebody's job to high-five a bunch of freebie-grubbers like myself. They must have hired one too many people to create a useless position like that. Well, good on Coca Cola for being all-inclusive. I wonder what that job would look like on a resumé...

The Coke tent is divided up into rooms, the first one being a walk-in history of the company's history, including displays of all the old bottle designs and the Olympic torches going back to the 1996 Games. It's impossible to read any of the artifact captions because your being scuttled through quite quickly, but at least all the exhibits were at eye level so that everybody could see them. And since everybody would rather watch and not read, maybe I was the only one disappointed by this. Anyway, after the mini-museum, groups of people at time were crammed into a tiny theatre and made to watch a blessedly short Coca Cola PR video that detailed the company's ties with the Olympics. I didn't much care for this part, thinking it a waste of time, being on a one-track mind to get a friggin' glowing bottle as I was. The Coke rep who played the video to us got everyone to count down from three, and as we all shouted in unison: three...two...one! she slid back the wall with the theatre screen on it to reveal the heart of Happiness House.

Music was blasting, people were in line-ups all over the place, a magician was in the center of the room, juggling crystal balls -- exactly like David Bowie did in Labyrinth (and if you weren't distracted by something else Bowie had in that movie, you'll remember exactly what I'm talking about). Reps behind a bar handed out ice-cold Cokes in the 2010 Olympic bottles to everyone coming through, and if you were keen to stand in line, you could play recycling-themed video games on a big screen, or get your picture taken with the Coca Cola polar bear. I wandered around a bit, but my movement was rather restricted by the hoards of people, so I made my way to the exit.

And that's when I saw them: the glowing bottles. Because Coke is repenting its many years of using environmentally-unsound plastic bottles, it's all about going green now. A series of plastic tubes zigzag around the exit, and if you give a Coke rep your bottle, he/she will feed it into one of these tubes, where it will be sucked up into an unseen recycling box, and a glowing bottle will shoot down it its place, a great memento proving you helped Coca Cola save the environment. There were also less exciting recycling boxes next to the exit doors, where a glowing bottle would also appear if you recycled. I went to these ones because the line for the plastic shoots was annoyingly long, and placing my empty bottle into the box, a bottle glowing red, blue, green and yellow came up, I grabbed it, and felt instantly accomplished.

These glowing bottles are going for $100 or more on eBay, so I highly recommend getting down there and grabbing one while you still can.

Until next time!

-Bonnie

Free to roam, as long as it's free

In consideration of convenience, I checked out a few of the Granville Island pavilions today, which are probably the least busy Olympic-related venues in Vancouver. And there's a reason for that. Francophone House feels like a job fair: it’s just booths set up in the False Creek Community Centre gymnasium, with lots of pamphlets and brochures. No exhibits or anything interactive. The House of Switzerland was equally as uninteresting: for eight bucks you can get melted cheese on a slice of bread and a sausage. Quite the rip-off, especially since they were giving away the cheese melts for FREE on the opening day.

I didn’t go to Atlantic House because the line-up was practically the length of the Island, but I hear it’s amazing, with live concerts and different Maritime meal samplers every day. One of the highlight performances at Atlantic House a few nights ago was Ashley MacIsaac, and if you’re not familiar with him — and didn’t see him play during the opening ceremony — before you look him up on Wikipedia, watch this video of him on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to really get a sense of why he’s known as Canada’s bad boy:


I also saw the cauldron at Canada Place, which was spectacular, except for the five layers of reinforced fencing separating visitors from it, but I hear that’s going to be removed soon. Oh, rumor has it that a new souvenir of the cauldron has been release, so I'll be sure to check that one out. On the way back, I went to Northern House, which, I have to say, is the best, most interactive pavilion in Vancouver. It’s not that busy, either, because everybody’s so pre-occupied with the parties going on at Irish House and the Coke pavilion. A band was playing at Northern House, and they have this video maker where you can record a message while video footage of the Territories rolls behind you. Be warned, though: if you decide to record a video, you have 20 seconds of talking, which can be quite a long time for somebody who just walked off the street and wasn’t expecting to be filmed on camera. Anyway, it was loads of fun and I have the video I made below to prove it:

Bonnie's Olympic Hello!
But today was not all warm, Olympic memories. I found USA House. Bad news: it's not open to the public. The place is hidden inside a condominium showroom; the windows covered in ornate, full-length privacy stickers. I was able to get through the front door, but three security guards and a secretary blocked the rest of the way. Just over their heads I could see walls and walls of Team USA apparel. I was informed that the store is only for members of Team USA and their family and friends. A moment of silence please.







Since my Olympic goal was such a complete letdown, I’ve decided to compile a new list of goals that hopefully won’t be so disappointing. In no particular order they are:

• Get one of those light-up Coca Cola bottles
  
  
• Get my picture taken with Quatchi, Sumi, Miga, and Mukmuk
  
  
• See the rest of the pavilions
  
  
• Go to Russia House and get at least one Cheburashka
  
  
• Take a ride on the zip line
  
  
• Wait and see if the 2010 merchandise goes on sale after the games, and then BUY MASCOT STUFFIES!!!!
  

See you at the free stuff!

-Bonnie

The search for USA House

On Friday, like some thousand or so other people, I decided to go check out the opening of the pavilions in and around Downtown Vancouver. But unlike everybody else who wanted to see everything, I was on a quest for one thing in particular. I was looking for USA House. I had long ago assumed that there would be one; they have pavilions for all the other countries — even the ones with one or two athletes — and the USA is not only Canada’s neighbour, but it has the second-most participating athletes. My parents said “no chance,” but in my zeal to support Team USA, I decided to embark on a quest to prove the pavilion’s existence and buy a really awesome team jacket.

There had been some rumours about USA House swirling around in the pre-Olympic air regarding its status. Many speculated that it wouldn’t be open to the public or feature any interactive exhibits. Others semi-confirmed that it would feature a team USA store. I really didn’t care, as long as I found it, but then came another problem: where in Vancouver was USA House located? Conflicting venue guides listed it as being on the corner of Seymour and Nelson, mere steps from Irish House; somewhere on Abbott, close to the new Woodwards building; and across from Alberta House. I woke up early on the opening day of the Olympics and raced downtown in my Doc Martin boots, trying out the Seymour/Nelson angle first. The area was practically deserted; Irish House was locked up, hung over from the night of partying before and getting ready for the roaring celebration that would surely follow the opening ceremony. I tried all four corners of that junction and found nothing. Saddened, but not dissuaded, I decided to go up to Robson Square and see if I could find someone with relevant information as to its whereabouts.

Robson Square was teeming with people who had just come from watching the torch pass by on Georgia. Torchbearers were wandering around, taking pictures with ecstatic Canadians. The line-up for the two-second zip-line was four hours long, so I bypassed it and made my way through the crowds to the Hotel Vancouver. Inside, I went immediately to the concierge, whose desk happened to be in the central gathering place for the Olympic Athletes. I mostly saw Team Russia walking around in there ornately-patterned blue and red jackets, but as I was asking the concierge for directions, a woman from Team USA came up beside me. I was too nervous to say anything, but I’m guessing she was on the woman’s hockey team. Anyway, the concierge had no idea, but he did say that the 5th floor of the Bay was selling merchandise for all the teams, so I made that the next stop on my quest.

The Bay is so busy right now that the elevators will not stop on the first floor for shopper asphyxiation and claustrophobia reasons. The fifth floor was less like a mob, so I walked easily through all the different countries. Russia has the best stuff, probably because they have the next Olympic Games. They have these adorable mascot stuffies that look like Ferbies with orange faces and they come in three colors: red, white, and blue. I almost bought two of them but decided against it at the last possible moment. I was a little disappointed with the Team USA apparel, which was quite limited and nothing special, and exorbitantly priced. All the more reason there was for me to find the actual USA House.

Next up was the Alberta House location. The only other venues around that area were the fly-by-night ticket-scalping stores that had opened up quickly in empty lots. By this time, my ankles were throbbing with blisters: Doc boots are not a good idea for long, desperate journeys. Now finally feeling the possibility of defeat, I limped to the Woodwards location, didn’t find anything, and caught a bus home without seeing or doing anything Olympic-related (I missed all the torch relays by mere minutes and I had gotten downtown way before any of the venues opened up). In fact, the only thing I have to show for Friday is the painful blood blister on my right ankle.
I’ve posted a question on Yahoo Answers begging for the location. Someone replied saying USA House is in a basement at Seymour/Nelson. Basement of what? Irish House? It better not be in the Penthouse Strip Club, or I’m gonna be big-time pissed. Another reply mentioned a rumour that USA House is now open to the public.

I don’t know what to believe, except this: USA House must exist. My Olympic goal is to FIND THE VENUE, BUY A JACKET, AND SUPPORT MY TEAM!

And if I don’t find it, I mean it won’t be the end of the world ... I won’t put up missing posters ... or drive around calling out its name ... or stay up all night making phone calls ... or get a search party together ... or walk the streets for the entire two weeks looking in every tent and every shop ... Wondering, always wondering ...