Olympics begin! 360-degree Vancouver and area

[lucky1]

For those not attending the Olympics, this wonderful site gives you a real feel for the city in 360 degrees...

Scroll down the left side to see various landmarks, i.e. English Bay (where the palms are).

Whistler is skiing venue, as well as Cypress Mountain (the last may not be included).

http://photobubbles.com/

Barb

[lucky1]

Here's the Whistler Olympics video.
Official site for results, too (select Home from the video link page).

The scenery will blow your mind...

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-vi ... 286wQ.html

Barb

[hardyjim]

I saw a show on the Travel channel about Vancouver last night-
Mt.biking,hiking,boat tours and lift rides,the train blah,blah,blah

Looks pretty boring


Seriously,the people that live and play there are truly blessed!
Probably the most beautiful city in the world,if not,in the top 3!

WONDERFUL,I was ready to move there last night!

[Paul Ont]

Jim,

I do love the scenery in Vancouver, but pick your words carefully! I love the city, it's freindly, clean, and beautiful. The people there definatley are more into exotic gardening than elsewhere in this country, it seems that every house has a palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) planted out front!

The only downside, for me anyway, is that my least favorite weather, between 0 and 10 celsius with rain, occurs virtually evey day in the winter. It's great for the plants, but it's not for me. On the plus side, the summers are not hot, which is great for exercise. I was there the end of June and had to wear a jacket every day! The half-marathon I ran started mid-morning and was quite pleasent the entire time!

I'd say you couldn't ask for a better place to hold the winter olympics, and it would also probably be an ideal candidate for the summer olympics... Maybe not for sprinting though (too cool)!!!

[lucky1]

How about a little contest to guess who will light the Olympic Cauldron at BC Place tonight.
It's a big secret right now.

My guess is Dr. Roberta Bondar, Cdn astronaut (thanks to NASA!)

Entries close at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time!

The prize is, well...being correct.

[hardyjim]

Barb
I have no idea about that,I don't really follow that very closely right now.
I do know they have had very little snow and have spent millions bringing it in -amazing.


Paul
I have no clue what
"pick your words carefully" means.

If you said pick your nose carefully........

I would check to see what kind of forum this is

[Paul Ont]

Jim- By that I meant be careful not to offend our BC brothers! But looking back on it, I don't know what the hell I was talking about!

My guess is Wayne Gretzky... Who else?

[hardyjim]

Wayne is the man!
Best hockey player ever!

[Barrie]

I'm holding out for Neil Young

[lucky1]

Paul wins! It was Wayne Gretzky!
Good one, Paul.

Great opening ceremony...but I bet the guy on that hydraulic arm got fired

KD Lang singing Cohen's song Hallelujah was fabulous.

What a devastating day, with the death of the 21 year old athlete from Georgia.
How very sad...he was just a kid.

Barb

[hardyjim]

If he was in Iraq he would be called a hero
Pretty sad though-it just goes to show you how dangerous some of that stuff is-those long jumpers,the
down hill skiers,etc-That is some seriously dangerous stuff.

[lucky1]

An announcer yesterday said luge athletes experience twice the G-force of astronauts during shuttle launch.

And the Georgia coach's comment was poignant:
"People shouldn't die when they make a mistake in sports".

Barb

[hardyjim]

So true!

[lucky1]

Time lapse fabulous new video of Vancouver.

Cameras have sure come a long way...this was taken with a Nikon.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/conten ... 0047-10474
Barb

[TerdalFarm]

Congrats on that gold medal for men's moguls. Well deserved for a great run in difficult conditions.

[lucky1]

The U.S. got gold and bronze in the Women's Moguls. Congrats!!!

Did anybody see that camera angle from the start gate, looking down to the finish line?
Jeez, almost got a nosebleed looking at it
Darn near vertical.

That'd be like skiing down the side of a 100-storey building--with protruding window ledges--and two jumps in the middle.

Barb

[TerdalFarm]

Barb,
thanks on behalf of us down here. Those young woman made us proud.
When I was much younger (and loved farther north) I loved skiing very fast down mogul-covered slopes. But never like that! The muscle strength to pull that off is astounding.
--Erik

[lucky1]

Tomorrow's men's downhill will be right up your alley then.


BTW, that 2010 link on page 1 gives up-to-date results.

Barb

[lucky1]

Congrats USA ... on gold AND silver in Women's Downhill today.

[TerdalFarm]

Seeing Ms. Vonn cross the finish line with all her weight on her left leg, favoring her injured right leg, was awe-inspiring.

[lucky1]

...maybe that was responsible for her spill on Thursday.

Congrats to the US for unseating the Russia gold medallist in men's skating.
...wonder if there's a French judge this year

[TerdalFarm]

That's how it looked to me: she had her weight on her left leg and the right was along for the ride.
She had lidocaine injected in it (legal). Maybe she ever so slightly lost track of where it was as she conentrated on skiing one-legged.
I missed the skating as I was trying to get my kid to do his homework.