Party in the Village!

Saturday's trip to the Athletes' Village in downtown Vancouver was wonderful. I met up with Alison and Jennifer, two of my Event Services Athletes' Marshalls team. It was so great hanging out and exploring the wonders of the village together. We got to relive some of the best moments of our Games experiences and make new memories together.


When we arrived, we got into a special line for Blue Jackets and were given commemorative pins and a $25 gift certificate to London Drugs. (A Canadian drug store that carries almost everything-the "drug" part of the name is almost a misnomer.)

We got to tour through some of the buildings where they had Olympic and Paralympic displays and photo ops set up. We witnessed the handing over of the village to the City of Vancouver from VANOC. We heard Rick Hansen speak. He's always so inspiring. Afterwards, we went to take photos with the giant sparrows and the beaver from the Closing Ceremony. I had to hug the beaver, seeing as I'd already kissed the moose!

We toured one of the condos in the village where the Australian athletes stayed. The condo was amazing and we had a good time goofing around, taking photos. In the end, I think I shot over 200-I know I completely wore out a brand new set of batteries!

My husband had come into the city too, met with me briefly at the village and then walked Indy up to Granville Island. Once he got there, he called me and I hopped an aquabus and sailed up the inlet to meet them for lunch. (I'll post about that tomorrow!)

I thought I had had all my Olympic experiences and that my Olympic ROD journal was going to be completed soon. Now I have 200+ new photos to choose from and more memories to add! My journal runneth over! *grins*

**Mouse over the images in the slide show to read the captions.**