All eyes are on Vancouver...
These words, or something as equally soaked in exaggeration, have been repeated time and time again leading up to and throughout the course of these 2010 Winter Olympic games. Vancouver is great and I'd be hard pressed to disagree that it has a lot going on as a city; that said, I was admittedly more interested in getting a chance to see the rest of the world on my home turf. And while tourists and drunken foreigners are entertaining in and of themselves, the officially branded "cultural houses" were sorely lacking when it came to any defining sense of identity or soul. Here are my thoughts on a few of the houses I checked out.
Switzerland House = Located in a restaurant on Granville Island. Outside, cute Swiss girls handed out pins and sample-sized chocolates while they talked with there adorable accents... alright, it was actually pretty good.
Russia House = Located in within the Telus World of Science. It was basically happy hour for sponsors of the 2014 Winter Olympics being held in Sochi. Room after room of brands and pitchmen. Somewhat of a boobie-prize, their current mascot is more hilarious then all of ours combined.
Quebec House = Down the road from Russia House this massive cube decked out in blue and grey looked promising and mysterious. Too bad it was virtually barren inside (if you can call being contained within four paper-thin walls as being "inside" something). On the upside, there were lots of empty chairs to sit down at.
Ireland House = Doolin's Irish Pub on Nelson. I think they increased the price of their beer. That's about it. That said, overpriced beer is still beer, the ambiance and energy in the place made for good times if you could foot the bill.
I went downtown in search of culture and all I got was this lousy torch.
PS: So I don't come across as entirely sour it should be said that I actually quite enjoyed walking amongst the crowds and letting the energy of the crazy masses of people get me excited for the games and for Vancouver. Go downtown with some friends and make a day--and long night--of it. Grumbling aside, this is the most alive the city has ever felt.
