Monday February 15
Wow - Sunday was a special day for all of Canada and it was really something if you were downtown. We arrived downtown around 11am and it was busy and as the day continued so did the volume of people. Went to the Bay and couldn't believe the line up to get into the store. They have divided the main floor into 2 sections with one half being just Canadian and the other half is just the other main hockey playing countries. The line up for the Canadian section was the complete length of the store and we were told that the wait would be up to 2 hrs. We passed but went back later and waited to spent our money about 10 - 15 minutes and then it's either cash or Visa only.It like the Bay has had 2 christmas seasons in 3 months and I can't imagine how much money they are making. The streets are crowded just like our Stampede midway on the busiest Saturday night ever and this is every street in the main part of downtown and it's just wall to wall people. The pin traders are here and there is a bunch of them, there is street preformers of all ages. there is a zip line that goes over the main area that you may see on the TV broadcast and it looks like fun but you have to go up about 4 or 5 flights of stairs to get to it and the stairs are packed with people just waiting to go and it last about 30 - 45 seconds. Went down and saw the caldrum and they have it fenced off but I heard this morning that they are either going to remove the fence or at least move it back so people can get closer. Spent the rest of the day walking and enjoying all the surroundings and the people. I have ran into some friends from Calgary who now live in Vancouver and a couple who are just here for the games as well as some NHL people who are also working the games. Today we'll probably go back downtown and see if
can get into Alberta House as we tried on Friday but it wasn't open and then it was going to be for a private party and the other people area would be small so we'll try today. Tomorrow I have 2 games (Women's) at UBC and then on Wednesday we have our first men's game followed by 2 games on Thursday so we are going to be busy as well as exciting.