Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 - Free the Flame

Wednesday February 17, 2010

Vancouverites, domestic and international Olympic visitors have equally referred to the fence surrounding 2nd cauldron next to the International Broadcasting Centre of Vancouver 2010 Olympics as 'an iron curtain'.  I agree building fences is not endorsing an uplifting or memorable event in Vancouver.  This cauldron fence is an eyesore.  This metal fence simply reminds most of us how fences are always build to exclude people.  Remember people are the same where ever you go - and you have to make the best of finding your own crowd to mix and mingle.  This time this crowd is majority - therefore 'Free the Flame'.  The scarse amount of tickets and high prices alone exclude most of average people from being able to see the Olympics in person including myself.  I could not afford or justify to pay through scalpers over 2,200 Candian dollars for a large hill ski jumping event.  What a big disappointment!  But such is life in the Olympic venues - wink wink!  This is hard for both spectator-wanna-bees and the athletes!  Hunting tickets should be an Olympic sport event - and not meqasured in dollars but persistence and endurance - wink wink!  On the other hand I enjoyed tremendously seeing people whether young or old dressed up in goofy outfits, smiling and exited on the streets of Vancouver.  The oldest person I met was an Australian lady of 95 golden years and the youngest was a 2 month old baby girl from Sweden.  I have luckily met people from USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, UK, Norway, Iceland, Poland, Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland - a lot of Chinese tourists and last but not least Canadians and Japan.  I totally forgot to do the traditional pin trading and picture taking ... oh well, tomorrow is another day of Olympics.

I have enjoyed the days here at homeport and seeing my family.  Connor is happy to be out there dealing with boat issues, sailing and enjoying the great weather.  I managed to get tickets to a hockey game with decent price after googling hours on the internet - yippee!  Getting used to the noiseafter a quiet time was surprising - wearing earplugs helped - I had a great time - of course, it helps when the hockey team you are rooting for wins.  Yahoo!  Hurrah!  The favorites in men's hockey are Canada - Sydney Crosby scored the winning goal during shootout against Swiss - phew!, Sweden, USA, Russia, Finland - Teemu Selanne is the hockey player with the most Olympic scoring points - and Czech Republic is an other favorite for winning the coveted Olympic hockey gold - not necessarily in this order!  Women's hockey seems to live up to its usual expectations.  Canada's women are the heavy favorites and Finland or Sweden most likely will end up third, if USA's female hockey team continues their good gameplan successfully. 

Co-Captain and Hostess Erica ... reporting live from Vancouver - wink wink and a big smile!