Last night I went on a reconnaissance mission to downtown Vancouver. The purpose was to see what the Granville Mall was like mid-Olympics. Wow. What a party. What a joyful, exciting and wonderful experience! Of course it is not what you would call a family-friendly event. It was 9pm when I went for my stroll along Granville. And the street was packed from sidewalk to sidewalk with people carrying Canadian flags, waving flags, singing “O Canada” and generally having a good time. It was awesome.
At the corner of Granville and Robson I saw who I thought was Jagrup Brar, NDP MLA from Surrey. I right away went over to talk to him. After I introduced myself, he introduced himself, not as the New Democrat, Brar, but as Dave Hayer, Liberal MLA for Surrey-Tynehead. We laughed at my confusing him for a New Democrat and we both agreed that it didn’t matter whether we were NDP or Liberals, the city was alive with energy from the Olympic celebrations. I made sure to remind him that it was the great Premier Glen Clark who started the entire bid process.
On the Skytrain home I met a very cool couple. They are world travellers…and they have two small children! Their son Joel is only 6 months old but he has already been to Hawaii and Argentina. The older sister looked to be about 3-5 years old. It was inspiring to see these people out enjoying the Olympic vibe. It was also cool to see people respond to help these folks get their gear on and off the Skytrain. Sometimes I just feel so proud of my hometown of Vancouver!
Later today we will be packing the twins into the Ergos and heading to downtown Vancouver. I am pretty keen to get into the Vancouver Art Gallery to see Leonardo da Vinci’s group of drawings, referred to as the Anatomical Manuscript A. The drawings concentrate on the structures of the body and the movements of musculature. Apparently the Queen, Elizabeth II that is, had one of her people deliver these drawings to the Vancouver Art Gallery from the Royal Collection, Windsor. I will post up my observations from this out-trip later tonight…after the girls are safely asleep in bed.
Until then…