On the 17th, I had a delicious breakfast at the Moka House up the ramp from where the boat was. I felt pretty tired, and had another long journey ahead of me back to the mainland for another day of curling. Well, not really a whole day of curling, but the day was essentially devoted to the curling. I would have to leave on the 11am ferry to maike it to the game on time, and I started to get into a routine whenever I had to go somewhere. Make sure I've got my camera, and that it is charged :p . Make sure I have tickets, make sure I've got my wallet.
It didn't help that I was waiting for my credit card replacement to show up at Dennett and judy's. They had been calling every few hours while I was out yesterday, and thankfully on this morning they had caught me to confirm that we would be around to sign for the card. Mastercard were insisting that UPS would need a signature, so we would see once the day had panned out. I was living on borrowed time if that card didn't show.
After breakfast and some morning curling watching on the computer, we headed out to the ferry. The usual carbon-copy ferry crossing occurred - Sea West lounge seat, coffee, cake, leather recliner....
When I got to the Tsawassen Ferry terminal things seemed a little better organised at this time of the day. There was actually an express 620 bus to take me straight to Bridgeport Canada Line station waiting - one of several. I just showed my Olympics ticket and got on. It was quite a nice feeling - this one ticket seemed to get you some respect from people, and a nod from the driver. People who didn't have tickets were always interested in talking about what you'd be seeing, and how they had tried to get tickets and failed, or how they had wished they had tried in the first place. In spite of the obvious burden that an olympics puts onto the host city, everyone seemed to be very warm to it now that it was finally happening.
When I got to King Edward station, I knew not to follow the ridiculous instructions being given by the volunteers to send people all the way down to Manitoba street, and instead chose to walk up the hill to the top of the park and maybe spend the time I had before the match - about an hour - looking around perhaps at the Bloedel conservatory. When I got there, the heat in the bubble was overwhelming and I instead chose to surf the gift shop and take in the powerful fountain outside. I finished up in the gift shop and noticed that it was already 14:05 - the match will have started already, but I wasn't panicked. I made my way to the venue and got in quickly - so much for the security yet again. I did have a pat down this time, but it was utterly pointless - people too polite to even ruffle your jacket. I'd had the same thing twice before now, and found it fairly laughable. Time will tell if I get a more thorough pat down at any of the other events.
This match was a mixture, but no Canadians. I was instead taking an interest in the GB match. There were times when the men's GB team would pull off the right looking shots, but then either get the weight wrong or not provide the curl. This happened in enough cases to make the game seem tight at the beginning, but the brits - who were playing France - won out in the end 9-4. It was strange watching the british match, because Canada aren't playing and as such support for anything generally seemed muted. It was a shame, because of all the places the crowd might support, it would either be the UK or the US.
The curling exited at around 5:15, and I pretty much had to go straight back to the island in order to make sure I didn't get back at an irritatingly late time for Dennett to pick me up. As it stood, I'd likely be back late so when I got to King Edward station and saw the lineup, I decided to get some dinner to give the line up time to quieten down.
So I had dinner by going to Flying Wedge, which is a pizza chain in the City. I found the place reassuringly well laid out, with a huge fridge behind the counter labelled "Food Rotation FIFO". This meant that they had structured the shelves in the fridge so that you could only take the pre-prepared base out of it that had been made the longest ago. I like places that manage their food well. The deal here is you can buy wedges of pizza for around $5 individually, about $9 for two and they had other deals. There is good selection - I went for the Pepperoni, and I was not disappionted at all. The tomato sauce on these pizzas was amongst the best I have tasted in a long time - lots of herbs coming through, and yet a sweet and dark tomatoey flavour to boot. The cheese was a 4 cheese mix, and the pepperoni was absolutely huge slices, and properly meaty yet fall apart. I'd rate the Flying Wedge an 8/10 on Cambie street.
I returned slowly to the station with my pizza, eating it along the way and no doubt making many other people want pizza too.
I got to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal after 7:30pm, and as such I had to wait for the 9pm ferry. Not the most fun I've ever had. But everywhere I've been on Vancouver's transit system left me feeling safe. I never once felt the irking I sometimes get on say the London tube or on the bus network out here in rural Cambridgeshire. Maybe it is because everyone in at least Vancouver seems to talk to each other ad-infinitum and as such everyone feels more at ease with where they are.... One thing I don't recommend though is buying any of the drinks from the hot drinks machine at the Tsawwassen end of the ferry to Schwartz Bay. It costs $2 and tasted - at least while I was there - as though the machine had a constipation problem in the tube that dispenses the flavouring powder. I can't confirm if this always happens, because I never bought it again.
I got back, and found that UPS had delivered my card. It turned out that they didn't even wait for a signature and had just dumped it on the drawbridge of the house boat. So much for the truly ridiculous pronouncement by mastercard that the thing had to be delivered and signed for.
The next day (18th), we had tickets for the IMAX and went to see a film about the evolution of Cowboys around the world, and then we saw a film about the wildlife in the Serengeti. The IMAX is buried inside the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, which is about 15 minutes walk from Fishermen's Wharf. Also inside the Museum is a very good gift shop, although their prices were typically touristy. They had aboriginal art of various flavours, books on presumably exhibit material and the obligatory Vancouver 2010 Olympics merchandise, which I love to browse through. It really is great way to make money for the support of the Olympics, because everyone wants to take home a piece of memorabilia or the odd souvenir of their trip to remind them of the great time they had while there. For me this was no exception, although my fascination quickly became pins. They had venue pins, mascot pins, landmark pins, sport pins, cultural pins etc. It turns out that there is a huge industry in trading Olympics pins, and people come from all over the world just to collect them and go to places like The Bay to the pin trading market. I won't be participating in this hobby! But I did buy pins that reminded me of my trip - one for each of the sports I watched, one of an umbrella to remind me of the rain, and some from my trips to places, and of course of the mascots.
We wlaked back to the boat in the dark after the IMAX and had food from the excellent Grilligans takeaway at Fishermen's wharf. Come rain or shine, Dave - the proprietor of Grilligans - sells well considered, delicious food. In the time I was there, I had: a turkey salad pita (delicious, with thick layers of turkey, fresh salad, mayonnaise and all was tasty and fresh); His poutine (a classicly French Canadian dish of fries, special gravy and cheese curds. His fries are crispy, and cooked in a special fryer designed to do fries. The gravy is delicious and herby and the cheese curds are large, and soon become deliciously chewy - a recommended dish for warming up on a cold day, or filling a gap in your appetite); And his rib meal (amazingly tender ribs marinated in delicious BBQ sauce, and cooked on his BBQ out on his deck, all served with his fries and coleslaw which Dave makes up fresh on the spot).
On the 19th, my dad arrived and we helped my uncle Dennett pick up a floating dock for his Seadoo from a local shipping company. It was a big plastic box with a dug-out and rollers to lift the hull of the Seadoo out of the water.
The 20th saw my Birthday come around, and we went to Butchart Gardens - a national historic site, which means it is about 100 years old. Canada is such a young country that it's civilised history is really measured in decades, as opposed to the near millenia of Europe and North Africa. The Gardens come in two basic blocks - the sunken garden, and the Japanese garden. The highlight for me was the Japanese garden, which included authentic elements imported from Japan, and provided stunning photographic opportunities even with my compact camera.
When it came around to it,I had a laid back and easy time out on Vancouver island in the middle of an otherwise hectic olympic schedule. I'd never slept on a boat before, and although there was an earth quake on the night of the 19th that disturbed the waters enough to make sleeping difficult, it was a very comfy experience. The only to note about being on such a boat is that they aren't well insulated, so they need to be brought up to temperature before staying inside them. And they also need very specific knowledge of how the boat works in order to be able to bring things like forced air heating and the propane system for the oven up to working order, the prior needing the diesel system and the latter needing some solenoids engaging.
I bought a bag on Sunday the 21st of february to hold all of my purchases on the way back home to the UK and to take the pressure off my back by putting the weight onto the bags wheels, and also got hold of an attractive spread of Canadian Geese made from charred Cedar wood at a local gift store for half price.
See my pictures on picasa for all of these things and more.
I departed from Vancouver island around lunchtime on Monday the 22nd of February for a hectic week of competition, and a different B&B every night (but with no idea where I'd be staying on the night of the 25th).
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