With many establishments being accused of bumping up prices to serve the Olympic-sized crowds, there are a few businesses that are welcoming the influx of visitors by offering up free tours of Vancouver.
Tour Guys
Type: Guided
Cost: Free
Tour options: Gastown & Downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park, West End & Granville Island.
Website: TourGuys.ca
Vancouver Art Gallery
Type: Guided or self-guided
Cost: Free until February 28th, 2010, depending on the tour you select
Tour options: Buggy, Brown Bag, Crit Night, Early Morning History, Exhibition, Staff Pick, Hot Spot tours. After March 1st other tours are free with gallery admission.
Website: Vancouver Art Gallery
Gastown Walking History Tour
Type: Self-guided
Cost: Free
Tour options: Follow along spots of interest found on this online map.
KitsTREEmap
Type: Self-guided (about 3 hours if you do the entire circuit)
Cost: Free
Tour options: Follow along spots of interest found on the online map.
lululemon athletica
Type: Running tour
Cost: Free
Tour options: Start at lululemon athletica Robson for a running tour every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 2:00pm.
Commercial Drive Artwalk
Type: Self-guided
Cost: Free
Tour options: Until March 21st, 2010 pick up a passport and visit destinations along the Drive to get it stamped.
UBC Botanical Garden
Type: Guided tours
Cost: Free
Tour options: Daily drop-in tours 11:00am – 12:00pm at the UBC Botanical Garden.
Should you have any tips for more free tours around town I’d love to hear about them. Also, keep your eyes peeled for “photowalks” being mentioned on Twitter. They often walk through various neighbourhoods and are a great way to explore.
It comes to this – our neighbouring nations play each other in tournament hockey action at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Team Canada takes on Team USA at 4:40pm PT today over at Canada Hockey Place and even last night you could see flags from both countries being paraded up and down Granville street. The city is a rumbling mass of patriots from around the globe and none more loud and present than those representing Canada.
People keep asking who we will be cheering for, me being born and raised in Metro Vancouver and John being a permanent resident of Canada, originally from Iowa. Even though he’s in love with his new host country, one thing is certain, he is a Team USA guy to the core. John will be cheering on the team that brought us the legendary Miracle on Ice back in 1980, a team that has a proud, strong tradition of hockey and undying patriotism. The Vancouver Canucks’ own Ryan Kesler will also be sporting the red, white and blue, which is another reason he’s excited to cheer for his home country.
On the other hand, I did spend some time in Boston so you’ll catch me cheering for the Bruins now and then (when the Canucks aren’t in the picture). However, when it comes to international play such as this you can be sure that there is only one team that will move my soul, and that’s Team Canada. I know where I was when we won gold in Salt Lake, I have painted a maple leaf on my face, I have joined in on spontaneous versions of O! Canada (in either French or English), and growing up I played pond hockey on frozen fields in Surrey (even though as the goalie I had to use a broom).
This is Canada’s game, this is my country’s pride and joy. No matter how much I love America for being such a friendly and loving neighbour (filled with amazing people, most of them with the last name Bollwitt) I’ll be wearing red and white today.
Sitting with my husband wherever we choose to watch the game I know there will be cheers for both side of the 49th parallel. The city will erupt with each goal, regardless of the net in which the puck lands. This is the beauty of Olympic hockey.
Your friendly neighbourhood pub: Fogg & Suds (Robson), Score on Davie, Yaletown Brewing, The Lions Pub (Coal Harbour), the Kingston, Ceilis, the Dover (Denman), Library Square Public House
We’re loud, we’re patriotic, and man, we’re everywhere. Canadians are showing their colours and painting the town red with their enthusiasm, celebrating Vancouver 2010. “O! Canada” rings out every few minutes on street corners and you’ll find men, women and children wearing and waving the Canadian flag with pride.
Watching CTV, they interviewed Shani Davis from Team USA who has won back to back gold. “I didn’t know Canadians were this patriotic. I always though Americans were more,” he shook his said and added, “not even close.” People are calling this “Canada Day every day” and it is, from dawn to dusk.
Should you have any more images you would like me to profile, please feel free to add them to the Miss604 Flickr Group. I don’t think I’ll get tired of seeing these happy, excited, and smiling Canadian faces any time soon.
As a side note, it’s well worth checking out the other province’s pavilions if you’re out and about. They have information about beautiful travel destinations from here to St John’s.
Day 8 at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics saw us win another gold medal, thanks to skeleton athlete Jon Montgomery, as the City erupted in even more celebration.
I have never seen this many people in Vancouver at one single time, for consecutive days, all chanting and cheering non-stop for hours. It’s as though we just won the Stanley Cup and everyone is watching footage of the winning goal over and over again for 24 straight hours.
My day yesterday focused on writing, hugging the Stanley Cup as it sat in the media centre, and then being a guest of two beer companies: Molson and Budweiser, who both hosted fantastic events.
I went to a tasting event for Rickard’s Dark, the brand’s new porter. It was light-tasting for a dark beer and went down smoothly. Attendees were blindfolded (to heighten senses and flavour profiles) as Chef Lee Humphries of the Irish Heather presented us with three courses, all prepared with or for pairing with Rickard’s Dark.
Someone commented after the first two courses that the only thing missing was bacon. They must have been on the same wavelength as Chef Humphries as he included bacon in the last course – dessert. I’ve never thought of trying bacon ice cream (and pairing it with a dark beer) but this just worked.
Later in the evening I hit the red carpet to cover Club Bud‘s Burton Party with my gal Keira-Anne.
The event is by invitation only so if you had a your ticket the wait in line was minimal and once inside the Commodore, the free Budweiser was flowing. However before partaking, we spotted many famous Team USA athletes from current and past Olympics out on the red carpet before they headed in.
Guests of honor included: Nancy Kerrigan, Vernon Davis, Heather McPhee, Bonnie Blair, Chris Spencer (Seahawks), Carl Lewis (legendary sprinter), Seth Wescott, Graham Watanabe, Trisha Burns (snowboard/agent), Gretchen Bleiler, Lindsay Jacobellis, Stacey Cook, Alice McInnis, Elijah Teter, Mike Jakowski, and Johnny Weir (figure skating).
Inside, the Commodore was transformed into a winter wonderland complete with ice sculptures, white drapes, lighted ceiling, and icicles hanging precariously from a seemingly frozen stage where scantily clad dancers got the crowd moving. John and I are heading back to Club Bud tonight for their NHL night that will see many more stars, from Hollywood and the NHL.
John and I had the chance to see it on opening weekend and it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. I’m not sure what I was expecting going into the show however it blew me away with modern themes, humour, and dazzling visual effects. If you saw the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony on TV and were mesmerized by the floor to ceiling projections, imagine the same technology but in a small, intimate theatre setting.
Both John and I really enjoyed the performance although if you have young ones this may not be suitable as it has mature language and subject matter.
Should you have the chance to check it out before its run ends, I highly recommend doing so. Tickets start at $30 and are available online.
