It was so nice for me to go out yesterday with Dick and Nathalie and Vivien.
It started off at the Oval that there was little to do during training and most of the press was not there so they let us go early…
I had sushi with Shannon, Nathalie and Vivien at the Brickhouse skytrain area…

Then up to downtown to meet Dick, on the way downtown, a greek gave me a pin of his country, I collect pins of the Olympic’s Dick got everyone into that…
Dick dressed to the nine’s meets us at the Art Gallery and there we go hoping that we can show him all the houses, so much for that… not possible everything is so full you cannot get in anywhere….

Dick under a Dutch Welcome sign

we did our best to get through the crowds but it was difficult, What we did not know is that Dick was actually starving and had not eaten anything… so we should of given him anything eatable… so that we could of stayed in a line up of 1 hour to eat… but that is impossible when you are so hungry…

Nathalie, Dick & Vivien

We ended up at my place with Nathalie and Vivien and we saw Canada win gold again on TV, that is very exciting!

Having fun in Downtown Vancouver

We are too busy at the Oval for me to add info on the blog, I promise on Friday morning when I have 2 hours in the morning before work to add extra information and to tell you all the exciting things that have been happening.

Please come back on Friday!
It is fun but tiring and life is in the fast lane of the Olympic spirit…

Ingrid & Monica at the Heineken House

Copy of article on Internet:

Arnold

VANCOUVER – Action star-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger thrilled fans in Vancouver on Friday when he ran a portion of the Olympic torch relay.

The California governor took hold of the torch and carried it through part of Stanley Park on what is the final leg of its journey toward the start of the Vancouver Games.
Hundreds of people waving Canadian flags came out to see the Terminator carry the flame as dawn broke over the city, the Vancouver skyline in the distance.

One fan held a sign that read “The Torchinator” as Schwarzenegger ran past a statue of a runner who has now been adorned with Olympic-red boxing gloves.

Schwarzenegger carried the flame through Vancouver’s Stanley Park, before handing it off to Seb Coe, chairman of the London 2012 Summer Games. Screaming fans lined the waterfront route and swarmed into the area where the handoff took place.

Rolly Fox, father of Canadian hero Terry Fox, and Walter Gretzky, father of Wayne Gretzky, are also set to carry the flame today – the last day of the cross-Canada relay.
The journey has linked the country through thousands of torchbearers who have brought it to Vancouver, where the Winter Games will officially begin when it is used to light the cauldron at the opening ceremonies.

Just who will be the final torchbearer is still a mystery, a closely guarded secret that has fuelled speculation, rumours and anticipation.

9 more hours

What do you feel when you see this clock now finally not mention days any longer, only hours to go?
I am so excited my heart is beating faster and I cannot wait until Jacques Rogge the president of the Olympic Committee says in French the games have started…. I am going to clap real hard even if it is only in front of my own tv.

I bought a 37inch screen in my bedroom which is fantastic to watch the games on….. popcorn, feet in the air after volunteering and watch what I did not see during the dress rehearsal….

My boss and friend Dick Jansen told me yesterday that biking in RIchmond has been a true experience. The Dutch are used to biking and using all the signs with their arms, and he was going left in the middle of the street of Richmond and his experience is that the entire traffic stopped very shocked what the heck this was….
The way he was telling it I had tears of laughter in my eyes…

This is only a funny article for the Dutch….

I was so lucky to be flanked by two of my good friends and to join the thousands of Volunteers to see the Dress Rehearsal.
Of course I cannot tell you what I saw but I can tell you how it made me feel.

In one word “AMAZING”, it represented Canada, you can be proud of what BC did.
As a foreigner who has the pleasure of living here since 2007, I can first of all tell you that Vancouver is a breathtakingly beautiful City! The mountains the sea and lots and lots of green and Stanley Park just make up some of the beauty of this city.

When I saw the way you represent the entire Canada in the opening ceremony it is absolutely beautiful, I had never been present during a ceremony and it is so different then to watch it on TV, as the ambiance and atmosphere are non-describable…

Vancouver you can be proud of putting on a FANTASTIC OPENING, after the real televised ceremony I will write more, but I am promised secrecy.

I also realized that when the Canadian Flag went up that my grand-children were likely to be Canadians… and that created a slight lump in my throat…

If you intend to go to the Bay to buy some Olympic souvenirs, I would suggest to do this in the morning, the evenings are murder and the cashier line ups way too long!
the red mittens I was told this is the last batch that comes in and then there are no more… so it is now or never….
The pin collection is a very big thing at the moment and among the Volunteers, my friend Dick has so many that he got me into the craze of the PIN MANIA…. I cannot believe that I am one of the people going pin crazy.

Go to the bay in the morning to avoid lines…
Go buy the red mittens before there are no more!