Yesterday we had a day off and took the kids downtown to ride the Canada Line, see the torch (it’s surrounded by a chain link fence for safety reasons apparently), catch the Olympics vibe (amazing!) check out the Canada North pavilion (excellent!), maybe see the medals at the Mint pavilion if lineups not too long – they was a wait of 45 minutes – too long for 7 and 11 year olds!

We wanted to experience the sights and sounds. The buskers are in from all over the world and they are super – we particularly enjoyed a young South American and his excellent juggling act and then Basketball Jones who is in from New Zealand. What a skill in attracting and holding the crowd and not shy to ask for a 20 buck donation to his hat at the end! There were crowds everywhere enjoying it all on Granville St. which is closed to traffic.

We had hoped to ride the zipline but the wait was 4 hours. Sure looked fun though!

On the way home on a very crowded skytrain we learned that it was also a day of celebrations for Chinese New Year and a welcome to the Year of the Tiger which made the city doubly crowded and doubly excited on a sunny Vancouver day in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We felt fortunate to be part of it all.