This is a special note to say, Happy 30th birthday to one of my oldest, dearest friends, Miss604. I’ve known Rebecca (Becky) for 25 years now, since we were five years old, when we met in Mlle. Dupont’s morning Kindergarten class at Hjorth Road Elementary School in Surrey. A girl with golden curls and big blue eyes sat beside me on the orangey-brown carpet. She was holding keys. Like grown-up house keys. I said, “Whose are those?” She said, “They’re mine.” I thought she was so cool and I knew we had to be friends. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩

The Victoria Film Festival is ramping up for its 2010 events, activities and film screenings. Hosting over 100 films over the course of 21 days the VFF is a year-round celebration of film and movie making on Vancouver Island.

Coming from 30 countries around the globe, the films are either animation, narrative, documentary or experimental. Festival screening categories include Canadian Wave, Future Perfect, Pleasure Paradox, Special Presentations, and World Perspective.

Special events include Converge, where you’ll take to the streets of Victoria wandering through 30 short film screenings in unique microvenues as well as Sips n’ Cinema which pairs screenings with wine tastings at Legacy Art Gallery or Whitebird Lounge.

Running January 29th until February 7th the entire festival kicks off with an opening gala screening of Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky directed by Jan Kounen at the Capitol 6 January 29th. The festival will wrap up with the closing gala screening of independent film, Unmade Beds directed by Alexis Dos Santos.

The full festival program is available for download. Tickets for individual screenings are $9 (with a one-time $2 festival membership fee), festival passes are $125 and VIP passes are $250. You can also purchase gift certificates or packs of 10 tickets.

If you’re going to head over from the mainland the festival has also arranged an exclusive offer with the Fairmont Empress. For $169/night you get two film tickets for every night you stay in the hotel, a full English breakfast, and cocktails in the festival lounge. The offer valid for stay between January 26 and February 10, 2010. You can email [email protected] or call (250) 384-8111 for more information.

You can catch up with the VFF on Facebook or on Twitter @VicFilmFest. According to their Twitter profile, they will be hosting a follow/re-tweet contest this afternoon at 3:00pm.

A few weeks before Christmas John and I were invited up to the Teahouse in Stanley Park for dinner. My only other experience at the Teahouse was at an office dinner about nine years ago so my memory definitely needed refreshing.

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Located at Ferguson Point in Stanley Park, just up from Third Beach (and across from Pauline), it’s a wonder why we haven’t stopped in for lunch or dinner before. With a wide Western view from the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean it’s the ultimate place to catch a sunset over supper. Nestled among the Cedars, and formerly known as the Sequoia Grill (2004 – 2009) the Teahouse has quite the history. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩

Late last year I was invited, along with other media, to experience the Olympic Capital of the World — Lausanne, Switzerland. Home of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Museum, we received tours of both locations and I must say, it was pretty neat to see “Vancouver 2010” plastered on banners, within artwork, and on signs around both venues.

The ancient Olympic Games were held every four years in the Greek city of Olympia, in the Kingdom of Elis, from 776 BCE through either 261 or 393 AD (source: wiki). After a 1500-year hiatus the Olympics as we know them were re-introduced and re-envisioned by Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France (this explains why French is spoken during Olympic ceremonies as well). In 1894 Pierre de Coubertin, after creating a national association for athletics in France, founded the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement as defined by the Olympic Charter. He wasn’t the first person to have the idea of the modern Olympic Games, but he was the first to found the Three Pillars (sport, culture, environment) and make it an international event.

Demetrius Vikelas of Greece was the first President of the IOC in 1894, and the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896. The second Games in 1900 were held in Paris, France. The Winter Olympics were not introduced until 1924 in Chamonix and until that point figure skating and ice hockey had been events at the Summer Games (source: wiki). The Winter and Summer Games were then held within the same year until 1992.

If you get the chance to visit Switzerland, you should try to make it to Lausanne and definitely check out the Olympic Museum. I’m a sucker for museums in general but the archival collection of athleticism over thousands of years, and throughout nations, in this single place is just impressive.

The exhibits begin with the Ancient Olympics and walk you through hundreds of years of sport and tradition. The modern Games may have been developed in France and have their headquarters in Switzerland however there is no shortage of tribute and respect for the Ancient Games of Greece in the museum.

The translation of the mantra Citius Altus Fortius is Faster, Higher, Stronger. Our guide told us that it doesn’t necessarily mean over your rivals, more so yourself — being the best that you can possibly be comes first. We saw ancient relics such as tools, golden wreaths, and pottery depictions of the games in which all participants were naked. As such, married women in ancient times were forbidden from being spectators of the Games.

Winners of events in ancient competition were considered demi-gods, crowned by Zeus himself. They wore wreaths made of Gold and were praised for possessing the ultimate balance of inner and outer beauty. Medals were an invention of the modern Olympics.

The Ancient Olympics were abolished in the year 393 AD because the Christian Emperor banned pagan festivals. Rumour has it that the Games continued unofficially in underground circles.

Moving on to the modern Games, the museum has a display with every single Olympic torch ever used. The torches start with the 1936 Games, which has the first torch relay from Olympia to the venue in Berlin.

Unfortunately one thing Baron de Coubertin did not believe in was that women belonged in sports. In the second modern Games in Paris however, they were allowed to compete only in tennis and golf.

Smith and Carlos at the 1986 Games in Mexico were featured in a photo (but not the legendary photo of them of them on the podium saluting the civil rights movement). Additional exhibits included an explanation of Olympic funding, highlights from each host City over the years, and symbols explained.

According to our guide, the individual event icons (like the ones in the photo below) get more abstract each year. He made a comment about how Vancouver’s are a little too focused on artistic value and that it’s a bit hard to figure out what the depicted sports are supposed to be.

On our way up to visit the hall where Olympic-worn uniforms and equipment are displayed we spotted the lower room in the building, which is the AV archive for every Olympics ever recorded.

The two upstairs halls include one side for Summer Games and the other for Winter. Each features signed uniforms, shoes, shot puts, javelins, skates, hockey sticks and skis that have been donated by Olympians.

This is also where you’ll find the “wall of shame” where they note every single banned or prohibited substance. I forget now what was in the “Black Box” but I know it wasn’t good.

Once we were done touring through historic and modern archives, we went back down to the main level of the building which was mostly dedicated to Vancouver 2010. There was an entire room with a gallery of First Nations art called “Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast” as well as a “Green Games” exhibit.

Outside the museum is an immense garden that weaves down to the street alongside Lake Geneva. Up on the hill there are hundreds of public art pieces that celebrate sport and athleticism.

Towering above all, on the highest point of the steps of the museum was a totem pole by Jim Hart.

The familiar scent of cedar filled my lungs and there among stone pillars and rushing fountains peering down at the lake, I felt so proud to be standing next to such a majestic piece that symbolized my home.

After the 2010 Games we’ll be looking towards London in 2012, Sochi in 2014, and Rio in 2016. The museum will swap out its exhibits on the main level to tribute each city yet the amazing achievements while the archives will maintain their collection of artifacts, both ancient and modern, that have left an indelible mark on sporting history.

You can view the rest of my photos from my media trip to Switzerland in this photo set, and read all posts here.

Last night John was looking over street closures during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and trying to figure out his new public transit route to work. I would imagine many who work in or around downtown Vancouver are also going through this phase of planning their commute (if they haven’t taken two weeks holiday during this time).

Photo credit: PiscesDreamer – submitted to the Miss604 Flickr Group

Here are some transportation options you’ll need to consider over the next two months, according to TravelSmart2010.ca.

Taking Transit in the Lower Mainland
The West Coast Express, Canada Line and SkyTrain lines will have expanded hours of service. You will still be able to take transit around the Lower Mainland (it’s encouraged as opposed to driving) so you’ll want to explore all options with regards to times of service, routes and fares.

There will be a third Seabus in operation and the free streetcar line from Olympic Village Canada Line Station to Granville Island will be available as well.

Transit buses will have extended day and night service although with road closures and pedestrian-only lanes, here are a few routes that will change to skirt them around the security zones:

Click to enlarge / View all maps here.

Fare wise, souvenir 6-week monthly passes are available from Translink and will be valid February 8th until March 21st, 2010. If you’re in Whistler, Squamish or Pemberton you can also buy a souvenir monthly fare pass from BC Transit. If you have an Olympic event ticket, it serves as a day-pass for transit services such as buses, SkyTrains etc.

Taking Buses to and from Olympic Events
If you have tickets to an Olympic event and would like to book your transportation you will need to get your tickets ASAP. You can do so online and take note of the shuttle bus departure hub locations:

Tickets to Cypress are $12 while Whistler is $25 and you may only pay by Visa online. NOTE: Prices will increase to $25 for Cypress and $50 for Whistler if purchased on or after January 11, 2010. All tickets are valid for a round-trip.

It is highly recommended that you take public transit to get to these departure hubs. If you would like to “park & ride” there is no cost but you’ll require a parking pass to leave your car there. This pass can be obtained online when you book you bus tickets. You can contact the Olympic Bus Network by phone Monday through Saturday from Canada and the USA for more information.

You can read about one blogger’s experience in purchasing Olympic Bus Network tickets here.

In General
If you need to come into work downtown (and cannot telecommute) see if you can carpool or take transit. Should you choose to carpool, make sure you can get to a parking space that is not in a locked down security zone or closed street / pedestrian corridor.

Transit alerts will be available online and if you’re traveling up to the Squamish / Whistler region remember they are serviced by BC Transit.

For more information refer to TravelSmart2010.ca as they have plenty of resources available. There is also a guide to getting around on the City of Vancouver website.

With all that being said, it’s best to leave the car at home and plan your transportation options well in advance. My best bet right now it to rely on my own two feet to get me around.