One last thing...

Okay, just one more thing and then I'll stop with the Olympics pictures.

Promise. The thing is, I'm not that into architecture but, man, Vancouver, BC has some wonderful buildings. I found myself snapping lots of pictures.

Okay, I'm done. I hope you enjoyed my Olympic experience. I certainly did!

Granville Island

On our second day at the Olympics, we made a quick trip to Granville Island for breakfast. Granville is in the heart of Vancouver and while we knew we didn't want to be there as traffic increased, we decided to brave it early in the morning. Granville Island is an arts and crafts community. That's evident everywhere. I loved this guy who has a duck for a spirit animal. His tag says "John had hoped his spirit animal might have been more impressive."Our view as we ate was the Vancouver skyline - beautiful! Granville is home to a large indoor public market that includes produce, desserts, flowers, hardware, and just about everything else. There is a wide variety of restaurants which offer foods from every region in the world.

Hockey. It's Canada. Even at 10 in the morning the Canadians are all about hockey.

There's a wide variety of things to do on Granville Island. Unfortunately, we had only a limited amount of time to spend there.

Dan and Randy would like to have sampled some of the Granville Island Brewery's finest but it was early and the Sampling Room wasn't open.

The Swiss Pavillion was located on Granville Island and we wanted to see what was there. Unfortunately, it was simply a high-priced restaurant. But his chocolate Lindt truffle replica just outside the front door was cute.

There were also cutouts of obviously Swiss athletes surrounding the building.

Then, the rain started and it was time for us to leave. We did try to get into the Holland House Pavillion later that morning but the line was...long. So, we stopped for some lunch, then headed home to our Vancouver.

The Olympics...and tired but very happy feet!

After leaving the women's bronze medal hockey game, we headed toward Robson and Granville Streets and the BC pavillion. It was where the action would be, we'd been told.

That was an understatement if ever there was one.

Everywhere, stores provided a running talley of the medal counts.

Dan and Randy decided they needed to quench their thirsts. Luckily, this pub happened along!

New Canadian friends who gladly shared both their table and celebrating as the Canadian women's hockey team won Gold over the US.

I stayed outside with the camera to drink in the Olympic experience in my own way - through pictures. Here's the BC Pavillion area:

It was pretty evident that Canada was proud of its athletes, and very happy to be hosting the Olympics.At the BC Pavillion, people were crowded into sections to watch the game on big screens. The cheers were an indication to me of who was winning.

On the right is the count-down clock. It kept track of how many days were left. And look at those blooming trees. Did I mention this was the WINTER Olympics? Man, I love the Pacific Northwest!And lots of people were taking advantage of the free skating provided at the BC Pavillion. Imagine...50 degrees and skating!

This building afforded me with a great view of the Granville and Robson street intersection.

We'd heard there was a zip line in town and when I heard the screams and looked up, there it was.

Free rides were available when your feet finally gave out.

Music was playing everywhere you walked. Every kind of music you could possibly want to hear, and then some.

And everywhere, there were street performers.

Like this Alice Cooper look-alike. And his snake. Not sure of the connection there but I guess the dude likes snakes. And Alice Cooper. Go figure.

And of course, Batman was there to watch over Gotham...er...I mean Vancouver.

Even the Travelocity Gnome was there showing off his Canadian spirit.

Elvis? I guess every Olympics needs its own Elvis. Even if he's silver.

Some artists were even showing off their artistic talents. I can't imagine working with that many people around. I'd be distracted.

Then, there was this guy. Notice the patrol officer in the foreground. Id think it would be difficult to control a crowd when there's a guy in his apple-green briefs and blue socks helping direct traffic. But that's just me. Don't ask me what this guy was doing. I don't have a clue. It was the Olympics. But no, it wasn't THAT warm. After the Gold Medal game was over, people piled out into the streets to celebrate.

As the sun set, suddenly sides of buildings lit up. Skiing and snowboarding competitions were showing on several buildings while messages of welcome were on others. How fun is that? It had been a great day and I hated to see it end. I'd gotten to be part of the Olympics; a small part, no doubt, and certainly no one else could understand my excitement at being there. But it's a day I'll always remember.

Thanks, Canada!

I think that's a statement we all can agree with!