# Easy to go to Olympics!



## Bill4728 (Feb 21, 2010)

{edited to add  This info is for Whistler}

For a long time the people running the winter Olympics made it seem that it would be difficult to go to the winter Olympics. That doesn't seem to be true.We have been planning on going for some time. Now more people want to join us. Here is what we found out this week:

Getting rooms via www.alluradirect.com was easy and cheap (~$300/nt)  
Getting tickets was easy (not cheap) 
Getting thru the border is the fastest in 10 years. 
Getting a pass so you can drive to Whistler between 6 am & 6 pm was a pain but now super easy ( they are selling a day parking place and pass for $20)

So if you are able to travel last minute and want to see the Olympics in Whistler GO!!


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## asp (Feb 21, 2010)

*Olympic rooms*

Some rooms at Aviawest in Vancouver (in Rosedale on Robson hotel), 1 BR with part kitchen around $450.  May be some same day specials for cancellations. 

Ticket scalping is legal in BC - although not on the street - but they are overlooking that.  So, shop around, tickets are out there.

Tickets generally available on street for medal awards- Victory celebrations - almost every night - includes on hour of entertainment - we saw Barenaked Ladies and some others - tonight is Trooper/Loverboy - all for face value of $26 a ticket.  

Every night different bands perform in free celebration sites - but expect to get in early for the better known entertainers.

Parking is expensive - but not needed.  Food - some is marked up, some smaller portions.  Temporary street food in many locations.  Plus, because downtown Vancouver is mixed residential & commercial, there are many full grocery stores in the downtown core - lots of prepackaged meals and salads.

tickets to Olympics give you free transit pass for that day, anywhere in Vancouver - North Van, Richmond.  High speed transit, many articulated buses  - Many streets in downtown closed or one lane,  to enable more pedestrians to walk easily

Lots of free things to do, and lots of people watching - warm weather  - about 10 degrees Centigrade everday (around 50 Degrees Fahrenheit), cold at night, about 2 C below (around 28 F)  Catch the Spirit!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver  If you live locally "you gotta be there"


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## pianodinosaur (Feb 22, 2010)

Bill:

How is everything going at CI Whistler?  I am so glad you are having a good time.  We have been watching the Olympics at home.  I just love that Canadian Women's Curling Team and Canadian Men's Hockey Team.


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## Pita (Feb 23, 2010)

*Curling??*

Out of curiiosity, how does someone from Texas enjoy watching curling?

Unless you play the game or enjoy chess, most people think watching paint dry is more intersting than watching curling.  I know the curlers have been just thrilled with the number of people from other sports actually following the game  ( even a couple of NFL'ers....yes, football and some NHL'ers also ).

I curl and the Ladies team is from the club that I curl out of so it's great to see fans from other areas appreciate their abilities.


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## DeniseM (Feb 23, 2010)

Bill - thanks for the invite!  Can we come stay at your house?


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## BevL (Feb 23, 2010)

Pita said:


> Out of curiiosity, how does someone from Texas enjoy watching curling?
> 
> Unless you play the game or enjoy chess, most people think watching paint dry is more intersting than watching curling.  I know the curlers have been just thrilled with the number of people from other sports actually following the game  ( even a couple of NFL'ers....yes, football and some NHL'ers also ).
> 
> I curl and the Ladies team is from the club that I curl out of so it's great to see fans from other areas appreciate their abilities.



I tried curling as part of phys-ed in high school.  It's tougher than it looks and while I'm not an avid fan, I have a lot of respect for people who are good at it.

It's kind of like golf - the really good players only make it look easy.


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## Sandy VDH (Feb 23, 2010)

I enjoy curling, since I never get to see it otherwise.  As a Canadian living in Texas, it is often hard enough to even get hockey on TV and there are even NHL teams nearby.  Often Dallas Stars games that are scheduled for coverage are pre-empted by High School Football games.  Forget about finding anyone who know about curling.

I do like it though.


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## ricoba (Feb 24, 2010)

BevL said:


> I tried curling as part of phys-ed in high school.  It's tougher than it looks and while I'm not an avid fan, I have a lot of respect for people who are good at it.
> 
> It's kind of like golf - the really good players only make it look easy.



Did you grow up in BC?  

I just remember that curling was a lot more popular on the prairies than in BC...at least when I lived there.  I curled in SK, (and sucked at it - but it was fun  ) but I never curled in BC and never really even remembering if and where folks in BC curled (though I am sure they did)  I just don't remember any curling stuff occurring on the Lower Mainland during my tenure there (all through the 1980's into the early 90's).


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## pianodinosaur (Feb 24, 2010)

The women's ski cross event was amazing. The men's giant slalom was also very exciting.


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## John Cummings (Feb 24, 2010)

Sandy Lovell said:


> I enjoy curling, since I never get to see it otherwise.  As a Canadian living in Texas, it is often hard enough to even get hockey on TV and there are even NHL teams nearby.  Often Dallas Stars games that are scheduled for coverage are pre-empted by High School Football games.  Forget about finding anyone who know about curling.
> 
> I do like it though.



I am able to watch several NHL games per week here in Southern California. Not all the games are the Ducks and Kings. I also get the "Hockey Night in Canada" games. We have Verizon FIOS cable TV with no premium packages nor channels.

My wife and I enjoy the curling very much though we have been very disappointed with the US teams. My wife is a bigger fan than I and she is Mexican. We would much rather watch curling than some of the ski events.


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## John Cummings (Feb 24, 2010)

ricoba said:


> Did you grow up in BC?
> 
> I just remember that curling was a lot more popular on the prairies than in BC...at least when I lived there.  I curled in SK, (and sucked at it - but it was fun  ) but I never curled in BC and never really even remembering if and where folks in BC curled (though I am sure they did)  I just don't remember any curling stuff occurring on the Lower Mainland during my tenure there (all through the 1980's into the early 90's).



I grew up in BC. When I lived in Victoria, there was a curling rink there. There was also one in Invermere, BC when I lived in that area. I just checked on-line and the curling clubs and rinks in both Victoria and Invermere are still alive and well.


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## BevL (Feb 24, 2010)

ricoba said:


> Did you grow up in BC?
> 
> I just remember that curling was a lot more popular on the prairies than in BC...at least when I lived there.  I curled in SK, (and sucked at it - but it was fun  ) but I never curled in BC and never really even remembering if and where folks in BC curled (though I am sure they did)  I just don't remember any curling stuff occurring on the Lower Mainland during my tenure there (all through the 1980's into the early 90's).



Nope, I'm a transplanted Albertan - that explains it, eh?


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## ricoba (Feb 24, 2010)

BevL said:


> Nope, I'm a transplanted Albertan - that explains it, eh?



Yep, that prairie transplant thing would explain it.  

While John says he knows of rinks in Victoria and Invermere, I really don't remember any curling rinks or even talk about curling when I lived in the Lower Mainland.

I am probably wrong, but I sure don't recall any rinks back then.


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## Twinkstarr (Feb 25, 2010)

Sandy Lovell said:


> I enjoy curling, since I never get to see it otherwise.  As a Canadian living in Texas, it is often hard enough to even get hockey on TV and there are even NHL teams nearby.  Often Dallas Stars games that are scheduled for coverage are pre-empted by High School Football games.  Forget about finding anyone who know about curling.
> 
> I do like it though.



Sandy, you need to live up by me! I don't think there is a Detroit Red Wing game that is not on Fox Detroit(or their 2nd network when Pistons/Tigers are playing). 

Also our cablesystem has had CBC out of Windsor since day 1. HNIC   and of course the major curling events! 

For those of you in Canada, how's CTV doing with the Olympics? I'm bummed CBC didn't get the contract, because I preferred their coverage over NBC. 

Actually CBC would have better Olympic ratings in the Detroit market than NBC.


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## Ironwood (Feb 25, 2010)

Twinkstarr said:


> For those of you in Canada, how's CTV doing with the Olympics? I'm bummed CBC didn't get the contract, because I preferred their coverage over NBC. Actually CBC would have better Olympic ratings in the Detroit market than NBC.


I would have preferred CBC broadcasting the Olympics, but CTV has done a good job.* In Canada we have the benefit of CTV coverage of all events, four sports net channels broadcasting each event in it's entirety without commentary, NBC of course, and some other specialty channel I have surfed only briefly.* The Canada/US hockey game earlier in the week was the most watched sporting event ever in Canada.  Canada's thrashing of Russia last night might top it.....and if the final on Sunday afternoon is a Canada/US rematch....and that's where it is headed....you might as well shut the country down for three hours!  NBC has been delivering better coverage than other olympics I have watched, but they still time shift events.  CTV runs most coverage live and whenever I flip over to NBC, I'm watching an event already run on CTV.  But at least they haven't resorted to nonsense the US networks have done in the past by cutting and pasting the order of competitors, to show americans competing last supposedly going for the gold, when other coverage showed they have already run and were out of the medals!  Shamefully holding the viewing audience.  Yes, this has happened in past olympic coverage.  They wouldn't dare succumb to such chicanery in this day and age as most viewers would be wise to it.


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## John Cummings (Feb 25, 2010)

ricoba said:


> Yep, that prairie transplant thing would explain it.
> 
> While John says he knows of rinks in Victoria and Invermere, I really don't remember any curling rinks or even talk about curling when I lived in the Lower Mainland.
> 
> I am probably wrong, but I sure don't recall any rinks back then.



The following links will prove me right:

http://victoriacurlingclub.com/

http://www.curlingrink.ca/club.php?id=437

These have been going strong since the 1950's.

This link shows that there are lots of curling clubs all over British Columbia:

http://www.curlingrink.ca/curling-region.php?province=british columbia


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## Twinkstarr (Feb 25, 2010)

Ironwood said:


> I would have preferred CBC broadcasting the Olympics, but CTV has done a good job.* In Canada we have the benefit of CTV coverage of all events, four sports net channels broadcasting each event in it's entirety without commentary, NBC of course, and some other specialty channel I have surfed only briefly.* The Canada/US hockey game earlier in the week was the most watched sporting event ever in Canada.  Canada's thrashing of Russia last night might top it.....and if the final on Sunday afternoon is a Canada/US rematch....and that's where it is headed....you might as well shut the country down for three hours!  NBC has been delivering better coverage than other olympics I have watched, but they still time shift events.  CTV runs most coverage live and whenever I flip over to NBC, I'm watching an event already run on CTV.  But at least they haven't resorted to nonsense the US networks have done in the past by cutting and pasting the order of competitors, to show americans competing last supposedly going for the gold, when other coverage showed they have already run and were out of the medals!  Shamefully holding the viewing audience.  Yes, this has happened in past olympic coverage.  They wouldn't dare succumb to such chicanery in this day and age as most viewers would be wise to it.




That's one reason we preferred CBC for the Olympics, full coverage of an event.

Hey I turned on one coverage and it was of the GB-Sweden men's curling from yesterday(which I had already seen).


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## John Cummings (Feb 25, 2010)

Personally, I think the NBC coverage is horrific. They choose to show the events in prime time to maximize their advertising revenue. That results in seeing the events several hours after they take place. Not only that, their coverage goes to midnight which is much too late for many folks.

At least they are going to televise the men's hockey semifinals live tomorrow.


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## Bill4728 (Feb 25, 2010)

So far the events in Whistler have been great. 

About CI  I'm having problem with the parking  we have never been hassled by CI about how many cars we have in Whistler but they were telling us  the 6 of us could only have 1 car   ARE THEY KIDDDING??   after the first night we got more parking but they made is seem like they  were doing us a favor even though the lot is 1/3 empty.


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## pianodinosaur (Feb 26, 2010)

Bill4728:

I am glad you are having a good time in Whistler.  I am sorry about the parking hassles.  It would not be in CI's best interest to alienate a loyal member. We are considering a CI exchange to either Mt. Tremblant or Zihautanejo for 2011 or 2012.  We just loved CI Whistler in the summer.


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## Bill4728 (Feb 27, 2010)

It is almost over.

Canada will win more gold medals than any other team in history if they can win the gold on Sunday.

And the US will win more medals than they have ever won in a winter olympics.

We saw three events and saw the US win two gold medals during our 5 days in Whistler.


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## Pita (Feb 28, 2010)

*Border Crossing Times*

Bill,
I would be very interested in your experience crossing the border.

According to the internet, the Border wait times have been almost non-existent...ie, less than 10-15 minutes in both directions.  I was almost an hour last May long weekend ( In Canada) even in the Nexus line on the return to Canada. 

The Canadian Border ( on the Canadian side ) was so bad that even the US Government expressed concerns with it when the Olympics arrive.

Hope what I saw on the internet was really the case now.


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## Bill4728 (Feb 28, 2010)

Over the last two weeks the border crossing has been less than 5 minutes ( if that)  When we crossed at 12 noon on Wednesday there were 10 lanes opened and 6 where empty. So there was no wait at all. 

Not sure what it is going to be in the future.


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## Dave*H (Mar 2, 2010)

Bill4728 said:


> Getting a pass so you can drive to Whistler between 6 am & 6 pm was a pain but now super easy ( they are selling a day parking place and pass for $20)


Wish I would have known about this.  We ended up taking Greyhound.  By the time you drive to the station, wait for the bus to load up and leave, ride up to Whistler, and return it made for a looonnngg day with little flexibility.  Still had a great time though!!!


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