Snow, Skis and Falling Over

Learning to Ski has always been a life-time ambition of mine. I suspect it was all those Bond films when I was younger, but I've always wanted to try it - even knowing that I'd have no natural capacity for it!

So I was lucky enough to be able to arrange three days away from work and head over to see Elaine and Co., to try the slopes of Mount Washington, and even luckier that Elaine's amazing! She took John and I to the bus stop at 4:30am (urgh), as well as lending me her ski pants, a knee brace, and taking me out to an absolutely wonderful meal the night before! (Thank you 'Lainey!!)

The place was amazing. I'd never seen snow so fresh and deep, mountains so high, pines that ghostly shade of white and covering the land as far as you could see! The air was crisp and clear. My feet fell right through the snow the moment I stepped off of the bus, and it even snowed on-and-off while I was there!

It's been a really good season for them at Mount Washington, way better than at Grouse or Cypress in Vancouver. Washington's bigger too, though not so big that it's a resort-trap. There's not much in the way of shopping, which means everyone there is there to ski or board! I managed to book myself a lesson for $72 with included rentals, and a lift pass. Not bad and very cost effective because God knows I'm not a natural! So John went off to board and I started my 10am lesson.

We started off with learning how to put our skis on and start-stop - something I still haven't really mastered - ha! Our two instructors were Aussies - sisters I think - and I got to know Jess all too well because I was at the bottom of the class. I was constantly running into people and falling over, so the last hour or so I basically got a one-on-one lesson - how cool is that?! Not only were the instructors very patient but they even managed to be really encouraging, which was good, because it kept your outlook positive. It also helped that the snow was nice and thick, so I wasn't falling onto hard ice or anything, and I wasn't hurting my knee - yay! Though you could still kinda tell that it was weaker than the other one - which didn't help when trying to stop gorram it.

Anyway, after much slipping, sliding, falling, etc, I still enjoyed myself! So my first proper pay-packet when I get home, I'm going to start planning a trip to the Alps. It was exhausting but in a good way. After my lesson I completely crashed – didn’t help that I’d been up since 3:30 and eaten barely anything. So John and I grabbed a BeaverTail – a cool little donut-mix in a flat-tail shape, covered in sugary goodness. I had cinnamon and sugar, mmmm.

Then we trudged back to our gear and John watched with amusement as I struggled to put on my skis! Then he realized how slow I was and went off for a run while I kept practicing starting and stopping. I literally managed to go down the baby-baby slope twice before giving up. But it was worth it to get a better handle on it in my own time.

By that point I was dead tired. Sooooo tired. I had some water, deposited my rentals, met up with John for a bit, had pizza. He came back from his last run pretty pissed. His goggles had epically failed to protect his eyes, so much so that when he complained he got his money back on them. But he was still pretty ticked off that his last run had been a bummer. We caught the bus back, making good time on the way home, and chilled in front of a few DVDs. Even better, I woke up in the morning to a smattering of snow – how cool is that?

A Wander Round the Gallery for a Little Art...

When it comes to culture Vancouver certainly lacks galleries and museums, and its no real suprise - after all, the most valuable artworks in history are in Europe! So Vancouver's premier Art Gallery, at Robson Square, is almost entirely short-term exhibits on loan from elsewhere. The Leonardo da Vinci exhibit - the Mechanics of Man - for instance, is on loan from Windsor Palace. Now add the fact that it's FREE entry over the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics - and it's well worth seeing!

Sadly, everyone realised this, and over the Olympics queues went down the whole block, with over an hour's wait to get in. The gallery was closing much earlier than expected, around 3pm, making it one of the most in-demand attractions, with probably only the Zip-Line for competition!

Luckily for me I managed to get in after only 20min or so, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't too crowded inside. The first level had the Mechanics of Man, displaying the pages of da Vinci's Anatomical Manuscript A and though it was short/small, it was a really well put-together exhibit! They managed to give a few good examples for the historical context, as well as displaying translations of da Vinci’s mirror-script on the walls, so that you could better understand his thoughts. Most of them were scientific, mathmatical, logical, but then, occassionaly, there'd be this surprising glimmer of philosophy. A few short lines, showing da Vinci trying to deal with the fact that his anatomical studies were taboo. I it found utterly fascinating.

On the same floor the Visceral Bodies exhibit continues da Vinci’s theme almost seamlessly, adding a more modern twist. Innovative artists such as Wim Delvoye, Wangechi Mutu and others have provided some truly fascinating works, encouraging us to look at how we represent the body in new and intriguing ways. Particularly grusome but interesting were the wax-sculptures of limbs, which were suprisingly realisitic. And I particularly liked the stain-glass windows which used x-ray sheets.

Further on up in the building Visions of BC houses many of Emily Carr’s expressionistic landscapes, alongside more modern works. I loved the full-sized whale-skeleton made of plastic chairs, and the Murder Research installation, both offering very different aspects of life in BC. Then at the very top was BC Pavillion, which has a few technological marvels and gadgets to entertain, though the "3D immersive experience" was a little... erm, underwhelming.

For a modern-art collection the gallery is fantastic! And you know what? For these particular exhibits I'd say it was better than the Tate Modern, because you see, the exhibitions are well thought out, and even though it lacks the big names, it has something to suit everybody. If you don’t like videos – there’s sculpture, if you don’t like your art too abstract or conceptual, then there’s something a little more literal. Even though the gallery is small, it’s more than enough to take up a few hours at a leisurely pace and I would highly recommend it.

Olympic Flame and Closing Ceremony Reflections

This post has been a long time coming, but I've been a busy beaver so you'll have to forgive me =D

Viewing the Olympic Flame is something people feel drawn to do during the Olympics. It becomes something of a pilgrimage, a feather in your touristy cap to say "I was there". People felt so obliged to see what is essentially, just another bonfire, that queues for the viewing platform grew hours long!

Luckily for me, I went during a hockey game, and was standing in a quickly-moving queue for no more than 10min. It was the best time to go. Evening, a blue twilight making the flame that much brighter. All the city's lights coming aglow.

As I stood in the queue I met a couple from Canada, who'd been pavillion-seeing all day. I also met a family from Vancouver who had the amazing idea of taking a flag up with them, and taking a picture of themselves infront of the flame with the flag! Deffinatley one for the album. You see, that's what the Cauldron's all about. There's not much there, it's not that amazing, it's just one hell of a photo op'!

As you probably know, they had technical difficulties with the torch at the Opening ceremony, lol. Well, they took the chance to put it right again in the closing ceremony, and hats off to them, I think it was a brilliant idea. Better to laugh at yourself than get angry! They had a mime pull the fourth arm of the torch from the ground, and then let the athlete who couldn't light it before set it aflame. So at least she got her moment.

You see, even though this games has been frought with problems, Vancouver 2010 has not only coped, but gone beyond the pail to make it right again. Somehow I can't see the British cynics doing the same if - sorry, when - our games go wrong. Plenty of politicians will be loosing their jobs. And another thing! If the UK Press has led you to believe that Vancouverites have been "lapping up the dream" over the last few years your very, very wrong. It's been nothing but a thorn in their side for all this time, but strangely enough, during the games, I think a lot of them actually came around to the idea.

The closing ceremony, like the opening, was a mixed bag and suffered a little from poor planning in my opinion. It's hard to put into words but it kinda just left a bad taste in your mouth. They could've done without bloody Nikki Yanofsky & friends for one, because that was quite bland - but the Sochi 2014 exhibit was AWESOME!

The atmosphere was buzzing thanks to Canada's last gold in the hockey earlier in the day. They were so hyper-active that during John Furlong's speech they wouldn't stop cheering! The speech was really good, he's such an eloquent public speaker, that I actually wasn't bored - more than what could be said for the spoken-word pieces by William Shatner, M J Fox and that other woman - once I'd gotten over the fact that - look it's Captn JT Kirk!!! It was quite boring, and everyone in there was ready for a party - particularly the athletes!!!

Shame that they didn't really deliver a party really - after the boring spoken word pieces came Michael Buble (also miming), and some inflatable giant beavers, Mounties etc... omg it was horrendous, and boringly coreographed - I even felt slightly embarrased.

Then came Nickelback - woo yeah! Awesome, get this party started! Then Avril Lavigne - woo yeah! Concert! then Alanis Morissette - miming to a very boring song, which was disturbingly mellow after all that rock music! She just didn't capture the stage like K.D. Lang did. Then a few Canadian bands I'd never heard of but were OK - except Hedley, they were designed for Teeny-boppers. Then (after stopping-and-starting) came a hip-hop dance group which was quite cool (but by this point I was bored), and STOMP (well the Canadian equivalent) - then before you knew it it was all over! And a little underwhelming after all that! lol, oh well, it's still a shame to see these games go - cock-ups and all! =)

It's All Over Now... and we say Goodbye So Soon to Vancouver 2010

We all knew this day would come. The Olympics lasts but two weeks, leaving almost as soon as it arrives and leaving one hell of a mess behind! Still, even though it's been a few days now, the streets feel empty, and it's more than a little disconcerting, living without Vancouver's Winter Games. The thing is, that even if you have no love for sport, the sheer volume of people, the shouts of support, the busy attractions could not fail to touch your life in one way or another.

Now there are no queues of pin-freaks outside HMV, waiting hours for CTV's commemorative pin. There are no pot-heads and drunks stumbling through in maple-leaf-flags and screaming "Wooo Canada yeah!" before running out again. The red and white has melted away, along with the temporary screens, buskers and free concerts.

I was working through the Hockey final - damn it - but I could hear the shouts and cheers from the bottom floor of HMV, let alone the main floor! Canada 3 - USA 2 and what a sweet end to the Games. The car-horns started beeping, people kept cheering, from the late afternoon all the way into the wee-hours of the morning - a near-constant frenzy of chaos. It reminded me of Naples. Hot-headed, loud, blaring, an edge of bite behind the smiles... when your sober, such things can be pretty scary. When you knock off work and get a couple of drinks down ya however... =D Electric. Exciting. Absolutely bloody mental! High-fives and hugs all round, music in the street, just a brilliant, drunken vibe.

[Video: the sound of the crowd outside HMV on Robson and Burrard. Those car-horns are happy car-horns, and, BTW, that video was taken at an ebb of noise (yes, that was a quiet portion of the night).]

I almost didn't go out. But I'm glad I did. My feet were dead from a long weekend of working and sight-seeing, I was tired, cranky - and then I realised that the reason I was cranky was the fact that I'd had no fun. The fact that I couldn't find the closing ceremony online only added to my frustration (they really put it in the most obscure location)! Soon realising that it was utter madness not to take up the inivtation I ended up getting to Malone's quite late. But just in time to still enjoy the atmosphere before catching one of the last SkyTrains home.

And so we say goodbye, so soon, to the games. And isn't it a shame. We know by now that time goes on and oh, so soon, goodbye...

The Paralympics just won't be the same.