Day 164: 3rd day of Olympic festivities

After work I met up with some friends to see Olympic festivities. We were in downtown to see some of the pavilions. The first pavilion we saw was the Aboriginal Pavilion. The outside of the pavilion is very clean and unique. We lined up just in time for the show. Inside the pavilion reminded me of the space center theatre. Everyone who came in the theatre formed a large circle to look up at the inside circular screen. There was a speaker who came on to welcome us to the pavilion. The show was 9 minutes long and had scenes of nature and of aboriginal culture.

We walked a few blocks to BC Hydro building. They had a few tents / portables up. One tent had the dance floor. It was really neat. The more energy you use on it, the more it lights up. Another tent had just patio lounge chairs and a TV to watch Olympic coverage. We sat and watched Patrick Chan (Canada) figure skate thru the short program. We cheered him on then moved on to a portable with energy efficient items. One of the items that I thought was very neat was the oven. It was split into two portions: the top third and the bottom two thirds. You can use them separately. It is useful for baking small portions without wasting so much heat.

The final adventure was to LiveCity Downtown (Beatty and Georgia). We had to wait in line. Once we got to the entrance we had to be searched, like at the airport (except you don't have to take your shoes off). I had to throw my bottle of water away. The security guy told me that Coke is the sponsor and won't let us bring other drinks in. I said 'what if I brought in a coke drink can I keep it?' He said 'yes'.
The hype was about the $10 million Canada Pavilion that opened a day after the opening of the games. We sat in a bobsleigh to take a picture. We walked to see the old hockey and ski equipment. The highlight of the Canada Pavilion was seeing the Stanley Cup. We had to wait in line for about 30 mins to take a picture with the Stanley Cup and two RCMP officers. I got to take a picture with the Paralympic torch. After the not so impressive Canada Pavilion, we went to see the Manitoba Pavilion. I think there were two rooms but we only got to see one because the other one was booked for a private function. The room we got to see was quite boring. It was a large billboard for Manitoba. There were interactive TV's with more information on Manitoba.

We then walked down Beatty street. We got to the Bell Ice Cube. There was a line up outside and we didn't feel like standing in line. We also walked past Alberta Pavilion. There also was a line and we peaked thru to see what was inside but we couldn't see much.