Torch relay, day #106, bearer #43: Howe and Robson Street. Photo Credit: Vida Portatil on Flickr

It’s on! The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games have officially started, and what a great day the Heringer-Ames family had yesterday. We woke up early to see the last day of the torch relay and had lots of fun watching the Olympic flame passing by us.

Photo Credit: Vida Portatil on Flickr

It’s Carnival week in Rio de Janeiro, but apparently the Province of British Columbia has the best party happening in the word. My city is wearing red and white, people are having fun on the streets and an interesting cultural program is a temptation to whoever is in Vancouver right now. Check out the Cultural Olympiad program and visit CityCaucus.com to find some free stuff to do in Vancouver.

Mr. Ames and I tried really hard to find a place in Downtown Vancouver to watch the opening ceremony, but all the restaurants and venues that were showing it were either packed or had a 3 hour wait list. Our home with Megabite Pizza ended up being the best option, but the crowd effect was still missing, so we decided to log in to Twitter.  And yes… that was the best idea ever!

I wish I had created an event, so I could share the comments here with you. I can assure you that they were brilliant and funny! If you’re interesting in reading what Vancouverites and visitors are saying about the Olympic games, the most popular hash tags are #van2010 and #Vancouver2010.

Shane Koyczan stole my heart during the opening ceremony. I’ve watched a lot of people interpreting poetry, but this guy is so far the best that I’ve ever seen!

(I tried to get the official video of Koyczan through CTV’s website but it’s just impossible. I promise to post it here when it gets to youtube!)

Mr.Ames and I are heading down to Robson Street, between Bute and Thurlow, to watch the Dancing in the Street flashmob at 3:30pm. See you there!