I explored more of Olympics fun today with J and M.

We started off with seeing the outdoor Olympic cauldron (there are two: one was lit inside of BC Place during the Opening Ceremony and the second was lit outside of the Vancouver Convention Centre). It’s kind of interesting to see – there were a lot of people clamouring to get a good photo of it and there was a lot of security around (the area was fenced off and police officers everywhere), but it looks pretty cool, so here it is:

Canada Place (next to the Vancouver Convention Centre):

Vancouver Convention Centre:

These are some wonderful public service announcements that are put out by Translink. I guess they’re showing off what’s so awesome about Vancouver, eh? The world’s best? Did Canada win gold in pickpocketing as well as men’s moguls (which I totally watched live on television last night, along with the Victory Ceremony this evening – crowd was insane over Canada’s first gold medal ever in an Olympics held in Canada).

Outside of Ontario House (didn’t go in – will have to make another trip to line up to go in!):

Hockey House – I did not have tickets to get in, so clearly I wasn’t allowed in (but at $99/ticket, I don’t really need to go inside). It is, however, very photo worthy on the outside of the building. There was this great maple leaf entrance on the other side (no photos because it’s of me and my friends).

Outside of Maison du Québec and Saskatchewan Pavilion. There was not much to see at the former (a small bistro, volunteers saying bonjour when you enter). At the latter, there was the “Sphere”, I had a photo op with a pair of Mounties from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in full uniform. My friends and I also got wrist bands that said we could drink at the Saskatchewan Pavilion because they thought it was “really cool” that they could legally drink (even though we’re all 20 and have been able to legally drink since we turned 19).

There was a tent area for Right to Play, an organization that works towards helping children get into sports in places that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to do so.

There was some beautiful artwork along the path, this is one of them (with a polar bear!):

This is right outside of Science World/Russky Dom/Sochi House:

And inside were some lovely Russian displays, a look at their country’s different companies and just general information as well as cultural things like their performers:

An inukshuk, because it was awesome:

Outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery steps (so much stuff was going on there, I didn’t get a chance to go in, boo):

Me outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery:

Giant Canadian flag, on two sides of a building – is this awesome or what?

And, last but not least, a polar bear display. The sign says “Please do not feed the polar bears or touch the iceberg”.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Monday, I know I certainly had a lot of fun out and about in Vancouver, BC. However, no city exploration tomorrow as I will be busy getting two (of four) of my wisdom teeth removed and will probably not be wanting to go out at all, boo.