Vancouver Welcomes the World

Last night was a proud moment from the couch as we watched Vancouver welcome the world for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. A few hours before the opening ceremonies the news was spreading about the tragic accident at Whistler, a Georgian athlete had a fatal accident on the Luge course. Many of us heard the news as we were travelling home from work to make sure we were ready to view the ceremony at 6pm. The Vancouver Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee did an incredible job of honouring the athlete and the Georgian team and somehow found the balance of the pressure that the show must go on. And what a show it was! They covered many aspects of being a Canadian. A snow boarder flew through the Olympic Rings into the stadium -it was fantastic! The Four Aboriginal First Nations that the Olympic events take place on did a beautiful ceremony welcoming the world. The ceremony also included music with Canadian talent, the acrobatics of the Cirque De Sole, and appropriately included Canadians who have inspired us over the years. And a big salute to the engineers under the stage who had to work really fast and strategically to shift to plan B when there was a mechanical failure in the lighting of the indoor Olympic Flame. They managed to get 3 out of 4 of the torches up to light the flame. The torches the athletes carried to light the olympic flame have a limited flame time and apparently they only had 20 seconds of flame left when they exited the stadium. Whew! Wayne Gretzky a Canadian hockey legend travelled in the back of a pick-up truck (very Canadian scene!) through the city to the waterfront to light the Olympic flame that will stay lit throughout the games. It was the longest torch relay in Olympic history due to the vastness of Canada. We have tickets for a few events and plan to enjoy the city and all the buzz that is happening. Go Canada Go!