2010 Vancouver Olympic & Paralympic Super-Thread - Page 100

satishreddy · #**1981** Posted **Feb 15, 2010, 7:39 AM**

I went to the Vancouver Victory Ceremony tonight. The first half hour was "Celebrate BC", the 2nd half hour consisted of the medal ceremonies. After that was the Nelly Furtado concert. Some impressions:

(1) There was a large crowd. I'd say it was 90 - 95% sold out.

(2) I enjoyed "most" of the Celebrate BC performance. It consisted of a fusion of songs/dances/music from different cultural groups. It started with First Nations dancers, then some fiddlers, followed by Indian dancers and musicians, etc. The nice thing was that there was not a break. One group followed another and the performances overlapped each other. The Indian dancers were accompanied by the fiddlers. The Indian musicians accompanied some other dancers. There was a weird part with some wacky dresses? (I don't get haute couture I guess.)

The part I didn't like was when they showed video of people saying BC is the best place on earth. I want to be entertained, I don't want to be lectured or given some political message.

(3) The nice thing about the medal ceremonies was that those taking place in Whistler were shown on the screen in BC place.

(4) I can't say I am a huge music fan, but I enjoyed the 7 or 8 songs that Nelly Furtado sang.

All in all, it was an entertaining night and I am glad I went.

SpongeG · #**1982** Posted **Feb 15, 2010, 7:40 AM**

CTV just reported there were 22,000 people at the ceremony thing tonight

the zip line has a 6 hour lineup!

satishreddy · #**1983** Posted **Feb 15, 2010, 7:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Gull

How was security? Just curious how early I need to get into the building for Monday's victory ceremony. I'm guessing an hour?

I went early to the victory ceremony. I think I arrived at the security check about about 5:30. (The ceremony started at 6:30.) There are several tents with security. There was no line in the one I went to. I was out of there in less than a minute. The walk from security to the stadium is about 10 or 15 minutes, on the other hand. You don't need to show up 2 hours before the Victory Ceremony. My guess is that if you arrive 30 - 60 mintues before the start, then you should not have much of a line up.

I have gone to 2 events now. There have not been significant line ups as the security checks.

entheosfog · #**1984** Posted **Feb 15, 2010, 7:51 AM**

Just a few semi-Olympic-related pics from moi from today:

The flame and the mob scene in front:

Lotsa people down at Canada Place and area:

Skin Of Time, former upside church site:

Really, who could ask for a better Feb day? It was amazing out!

I finally spotted this guy! Guess he's looking for a bigger audience, with all the foot traffic that was down in Coal Harbour:

I really have to meet this guy one day. My my!

Deutsches haus!

They're showing films in these containers:

Rusty Gull · #**1985** Posted **Feb 15, 2010, 7:53 AM**

I have been to most of the Canadian pavilions over the weekend, except for Alberta. I would agree with the media pundits that the Canadian Pavilion is disappointing.

My favourite pavilion by far was Saskatchewan House. A simple but massive beer tent with astroturf carpeting, a gargantuan big screen tv, very respectable blues bands on the main stage, and ice-cold beer. With the mayor of Regina mc-ing. Very family friendly and folksy and fun. It hit the right note for me personally.

All of the pavilions have big line-ups, so it's hard to tell what's worth the wait... and what's not.

Rusty Gull · #**1986** Posted **Feb 15, 2010, 7:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by satishreddy

I went early to the victory ceremony. I think I arrived at the security check about about 5:30.
I have gone to 2 events now. There have not been significant line ups as the security checks.

Thanks for the info satishreddy! It seems like the security for the stadium events is actually going quite smoothly, compared to some other venues.