Gates and doors to the Olympic Village swing open to the public for the first time!

Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vancouver City Council invite you to be part of this amazing day and recapture the magic of the 2010 Winter Games.

Saturday, May 15, 10am-5pm

Two entrances to this event:

First Avenue at Manitoba Street or from Seawall onto Athletes Way.

Events and activities:

· Ceremony with Mayor and John Furlong at 11 am

· View the Olympic and Paralympic Medals up close

· Meet the athletes for photos and authographs

· Pin trading

· Games’ torches

· Olympic street banner sales

· Sponsors’ booths

· Sledge hockey skill testing

· View the Athletes’ buildings

· Historic Salt Building, and athletes’ “living room”

· Vancouver Fire and Rescue services Band

· Meet the businesses in the neighbourhood

· Mini-exhibit of 1020 Winter Games memorabilia

· Lucky loonie exchange

· And much, much, more!

So the Olympic Games are over, sure I’m going to miss them. Yaletown looks very empty after the 17 days of the games. If you didn’t have time to go to the pavilions and attractions during the games, you’ll be able to go to some of them during the Paralympics Games, for sure there will be shorter line-ups. Some of the attractions that will re-open for part of the Paralympics are:

1-Zip line at Robson square (which saw up to eight hour waits)

2-Canada Pavilion at Live City Downtown, located at the corner of Georgia and Cambie.

3-Royal Canadian Mint Pavilion at a new location to be announced.

4-Manitoba House, located at the corner of Georgia and Cambie.

5-Northern House at 602 West Hastings, currently open.

6-Olympic flame area at Jack Poole Plaza will open after the flame is re-lit March 12. It will stay open until March 21.

7-Whistler Live is also slated to re-open, including the medal plaza, village square and skiers’ plaza, where shows will run throughout the day during the Paralympics.

8-Bombardier Streetcar will be operating until March 21^st.

9-BC Pavilion located at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

10- BC Hydro Power Smart Village, still open until March 21^st. Located at 333 Dunsmuir St.

The Torch will arrive sometime around noon, at David Lam Park on Feb 12^th via dragon boat (torch bearer is summer Olympian Kamini Jain, a kayaker) to the new ferry dock at David Lam. then it will come up Drake to Hamilton, turn north onto Hamilton, run to Helmcken, zigzag to Mainland and then continue to the Stadium by 1:45 in the afternoon. This means that Hamilton will be shut by police at some point around 11:30 am before the relay arrives.

the relay involves quite a few vehicles including the Coke parade Happy 1 and Happy 2.

So bring your red mitts and Cdn Flags and your kids and friends and lets line up along the route and cheer! you can also watch it streamed live, or put this link onto your website LINK to WATCH:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/torch/follow-torch/index.html

In 2006, Italy played home to the Winter Olympics. In a few weeks, the historic Roundhouse Community Centre will play home to the 2010 pavilion known as Casa Italia. The pavilion will be open to the public and will feature some of the best food, drink and entertainment that Italy has to offer. You can expect to see Ferrero Rocher as well as some other fine Italian products on display. Casa Italia will be open daily to the public between Feb 6 - 28th from noon until 6pm daily. The pavilion is only one block north of the LiveCity Yaletown and should therefore be a popular destination will locals and visitors alike.

Are you wondering what is going to happen between the stadium and science world? Well just have a look at this images. By the way if you want to know the correct name of that area is North East False Creek, home of future condos by Concord Pacific.

LiveCity Yaletown – on the water’s edge at David Lam Park. LiveCity Yaletown will feature live local, national, and international entertainment on the main stage in the afternoon and into the night, culminating each evening with a dynamic nightly closing show. Giant screens will show highlights of Olympic Winter Games sport coverage and visitors can enjoy the interactive Olympic sponsor pavilions, Vancouver House, and much more… all for free!

From the arrival of the Torch on February 11 through to the closing ceremonies on February 28, LiveCity Yaletown will light up each day and night with energy and excitement from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. daily.

Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., LiveCity Yaletown will be offering exciting educational programs for Vancouver students Grades 6 – 12. Sign up to bring your class to the site and choose from a selection of interactive speaker series from athletes who will share their stories of inspiration, sport science and motivation.

To participate in LiveCity Vancouver’s educational program, please contact the Vancouver School Board.

Friday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., family programming, similar to the weekday educational component, will offer kids the chance to experience the Games in a family friendly environment.

The afternoons will feature highlights from the day’s sporting events on the giant screens followed by late afternoon live entertainment and the official medals presentations. And Olympic sponsor and partner pavilions will be open all day – come by and explore these exciting and interactive pavilions!

Don’t forget to take a walk through Vancouver House, showcasing Vancouver’s leaders in the environment, new media, green technology and creative sector. Vancouver House will tell the story of Vancouver Green Capital, our city's powerful new economic development focus, as told by the innovative and creative Vancouverites who are bringing it to life.

Vancouver House plays a key role in the City’s economic development strategy by hosting visitors, media and dignitaries.

By 8 p.m., we’re ready to light up the stage with our headlining act with free concerts every night of the Games, followed by a spectacular nightly show looking out onto the water of Vancouver’s picturesque False Creek.

The City of Vancouver will host a transportation showcase project during the
2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and reintroduce the streetcar to
Vancouver streets.
From January 21 to March 21, 2010, a demonstration streetcar project –
The Olympic Line – Vancouver’s 2010 Streetcar – will run between Granville Island
and the new Canada Line Olympic Village Station at West 2nd Avenue and Cambie
Street. State-of-the-art Flexity Outlook streetcars will be provided and operated by
Bombardier Transportation for the 60-day demonstration project (on loan from
Brussels, Belgium). Bombardier is a highly respected Canadian company and is
recognized as a world leader in rail and mass transit solutions.
The Olympic Line will be free for all riders and operate between 6:30 am
and 12:30 am, seven days a week. It will provide reliable and sustainable

transportation for athletes, visitors and residents alike – as often as every
seven minutes between stations.

Here’s a quick list of what will be happening in the next 2 months, are you ready?

Jan. 12- Main press centre opens.

Jan. 15- Quebec St. from Terminal to 2nd closes.

Jan. 24- Renfrew St. from McGill to Dundas closes.

Jan. 29- Pacific and Expo Boulevard close.

Jan. 29- Olympic Villages open, airspace security restrictions begin.

Feb. 4- Olympic lane traffic restrictions begin.

Feb. 5- Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts close.

Feb. 11- Olympic torch relay in Vancouver.

Feb. 12- Opening ceremony, B.C. Place.

Feb. 28- Closing ceremony, B.C. Place.

Mar. 1- Olympic lane traffic restrictions end.

Mar. 12- Paralympic opening ceremony, B.C. Place.

Mar. 21- Paralympic closing ceremony, Whistler.

Mar. 24- Paralympic Villages close, airspace security restrictions end.

As most of you know, moving around downtown Vancouver during the Olympics will be a little bit hard (hell), specially for the ones that live in Yaletown. Here is the downtown map of the closures that will be taking place in early February.

For all of us that live in Downtown Vancouver and want to try to get into Costco during the Olympic games, here is the deal. We will no be able to access the store from Pacific Blvd. instead we will need to get through Beatty St. also the schedule will change during the month of February. alternatively, you can walk have fun carrying 100 rolls of toilet paper.