Lesley is a much bigger fan of the Olympics than I have been, though I have been watching the Olympics more in recent years. One thing I like about the Olympics is how they bring the world together. The Olympics are truly a world-wide set of events, and having the Olympics so close to where we lived seemed like a rare opportunity. So, we decided to go to the games.

Leading up to the games, I was a little concerned about how the enormity of the Olympics might add to the crowd and make the city too full of people to enjoy doing anything.

Fortunately, there was no wait to drive across the border. And, while the public buses were crowded, it wasn't any worse than when we visited San Francisco. It looked like most people just stayed downtown. A few of the streets downtown were closed to vehicle traffic and full of people, especially on the Friday of the Opening Ceremonies. There were lots of people there, but they all fit downtown without making the city too crowded.

The atmosphere downtown was very festive. Buildings were decorated to support the Canadian Team and there was Olympic-inspired public art. There were also several celebration sites, which people waited in line to enter. One of the centrally-located sites, the one at Robson Square, was very crowded and every few minutes someone flew overhead along a zip line.

Robson Square during Olympics on Vimeo.

There was also an official Olympics store downtown. The few times we walked by, the line to enter the store was 30 minutes or so, combined with a long wait to check out inside the store.

There were also some protests, though the only protest we saw was of a large group of people holding signs and chanting in a plaza.

One of the big attractions was the Olympic cauldron. On the first day we visited it, people filled the area around the cauldron, some of them climbing on barricades, sitting on shoulders, or pushing their way to the fence to get a picture of the cauldron.

Olympic Cauldron on Vimeo.

Olympic Cauldron at night on Vimeo.

Being in Vancouver for the Olympics was quite an exciting experience.