The Scope

After a few days of frustration, I took the internet to find some free attractions with no line-ups. Thankfully, someone had done the legwork here and one thing in particular did pique my interest — the Olympic Line Streetcar. It’s a temporary streetcar they borrowed from Belgium for the games to take passengers to Granville Island. I’ve never been able to turn down a free streetcar ride. Must be the hobo in me.

The Olympic Line

Granville Island (actually a peninsula) is a small “island” in False Creek across from downtown and has a very boardwalk-y / old-town-centre vibe. With boards underfoot and water all around, it was the perfect place to put Atlantic Canada House. The four Atlantic provinces joined forces to create Atlantic Canada House, where visitors can “experience the East Coast way of life.” If they can get in.

I had planned to meet up with some friends and fellow St. John’s-ians (St. John’s-ites?) Jeff and Patricia at Atlantic Canada House but of course we were foiled by the dreaded line.

So instead, we headed to the closest place we could get into where they served beer. We chatted about the games, the city and what we thought might await the patient in the Atlantic Canada House. (Conclusion: not monsters, unless you think lobsters are monsters.)

We sat for a while in the Granville Island Brewery tap house. (Just like the Granville Island is not an Island, the Granville Island Brewery is now in Kelowna. It seems they aren’t very strict with names ‘round these parts.)

Beers and hockey-talk. I am so out of my element

Unlike me, Jeff and Patricia came for the sports. They love them some sports. They have tickets to the gold medal men’s hockey match. This is, apparently, a big deal. They hope to see Canada in the gold medal game, but fearing that may not happen they also picked up tickets for the Canada-Germany game a few nights prior. And when I say ‘picked up’ I mean purchased from a legitimate dealer who stood outside the venue before the game began, smoking and yelling ‘tickets!’ at passers-by.

Jeff used to live in Vancouver so I was curious to get his opinion on how has the city had changed for the Olympics. He said, “So many more people and so much more energy. And the giant hole in the ground that used to be Granville Street is gone.”

More energy and fewer holes. My thoughts exactly.

We agreed the energy was the real difference and reason anyone would come to a host city during the Olympics. Patricia described it best. “The energy in the city is absolutely amazing,” she said. “Everyone loves Canada. Normally in a big city, it’s not like in St. John’s, people don’t talk to you randomly and pat you on the back and give you a high five when Canada scores. But last night at the bar, people loved everyone-”

Then Jeff added, “I think I high-fived like ten Asians after one goal.”

So more energy, trains where holes used to be, and high-fiving Asians. That’s what the Olympics are all about.

We finished our drinks and headed back in the opposite direction on the Olympic Line as around us talk of scores and medals broke the ice between passengers.