The Busy Streets of Downtown Vancouver

My curiosity got the better of me and I headed to Downtown Vancouver this afternoon to see the sights and hear the sounds of the 2010 Olympics. I was astounded by the number of people that were there. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that from Stadium Skytrain Station to the Banana Republic Store on Robson would there be so many people. The streets were packed with people young and old sporting clothing from an assortment of countries; the majority being from Canada.

The first thing I noticed was how friendly and warm the ambiance was and how clean the streets were. I'm sure Vanoc would not have it any other way.

In order to cross the street, everybody had to squeeze in like sardines in a can and to think that we had the main thoroughfare to walk on, not just the sidewalks.
Some of the pictures include Olympic snowboarders using a trampoline as their stage to do their tricks in front of the Canada Post building. To say the least, it was entertaining to watch the three guys do their front flips, back flips and twirly things (I have no idea what they are called).

As mentioned earlier, being curious about the entire event, I went to The Bay to see first hand if there was any leftover evidence of yesterday's riot. I was not surprised to see that the glass had been cleaned up. The only evidence of the uprising was some paint on a fire hydrant and on the concrete floor below the glass display windows. Continuing northward on my journey, I noticed a gentleman standing motionless holding two tennis racquets. His face was painted white and he continuously stared at the concrete floor. Perhaps when one of you looks at the picture you can figure out what he was trying to accomplish.

During my very tiring walk, there were quite a few performers stationed on the streets: skip rope jumpers, magicians and comedians. Being that I am so short, it was hard to see much less take a picture but I will post some of the pictures of these performers anyway.

Along 700 block of Granville were the LunarFest displays to showcase diversity in Vancouver. The artwork was absolutely marvelous.

Lastly, as I was leaving to go home, I noticed two protests that were going on at the Art Gallery. The first was for the release of Iranian prisoners and the second was for PETA, the latter being the most popular since a few of the protesters were naked.

All in all, it was an interesting day; however, I don't think I will return to the area until the Olympics are over.