Countdown: 2 weeks before the Olympics

I bought some Olympics tickets from the official Olympics ticket site a while ago and opted to have them delivered. Well, if you're not at home when Purolator delivers them (which is often the case - they only deliver during work hours), you have to pick them up by a certain date at their Pender Street office. The Purolator office closes at 5pm, and considering that I get home from work at 4pm, I had a narrow window to get there, flash my ID, and pick up my tickets.

So this past Friday I took the Canada Line to the City Centre station, picked up the tickets, and then meandered my way back home taking pictures of downtown Vancouver as it was prepping for the Olympics in 2 weeks time. Here's a taste of a city 2 weeks before the chaos ensues.

Olympic countdown clock at the Vancouver Art Gallery:

I remember in 2007 when I worked around the corner, it was at 1000 days and the Olympics seemed forever away. On Friday it was down to 14 days!

I walked to the other side of the Vancouver Art Gallery to Robson Street...

Upon snapping photos at the corner of Robson and Howe, I was approached by a local woman who asked if I had been to Granville Street yet. We had a nice little discussion about the upcoming Olympics, the road closures, the changing face of Vancouver, local politics, and how, despite it all, we were secretly looking forward to the chaos of upcoming games. We wished each other a happy weekend and then I continued on to Granville Street which is closed to traffic between Georgia and Robson.

Having had my fill of the art displays on Granville, I wandered back to Robson and continued east toward Homer Street...

I walked south down Homer Street and thought about just going straight home. That would have been too easy though. It was still a bit light out and I liked the way the lights were reflecting off the pavement, so I decided to detour along Mainland Street and Hamilton Street - the core blocks of Yaletown's boutiques and restaurants. I snapped a few photos around Yaletown right before the Friday night crowds overtook it.

By the time I got home, Josh had called me letting me know of that night's plans. Apparently we had dinner reservations at a local Japanese restaurant for 7pm. I jumped in the shower, quickly got ready and ran back out into the Yaletown streets. First stop was Section 3, then dinner at Bistro Sakana with a group of our good friends. We finished the night off at George Lounge.

Needless to say, it was a fun night. Sure, wine and sake make for dangerous nights, but isn't that what Fridays are for? But I'm now very curious to see what our Friday night will look like in 2 weeks! 2 weeks?! Ack!!!