September, at least as I recall it (I'm writing this in January 2010) was beautiful in Vancouver, we didn't really get fall weather til well into October. This update is composed of a single walk that Russ and I took with Murphy from the neighbourhood of Fairview to the new 2010 Winter Olympics Athletes Village. So, prepare for pictures of beautiful False Creek, and a few of one of our Olympic sites!

Above we have Murphy tugging Russ along what must be 7th Ave (approximately). There are beautiful old homes and newer condos all along this area. As you can see Russ is slowly getting used to Murphy, and Murphy is loving every moment of this walk!

Next we have Russ taking a peek at the view from Fairview's Choklit Park towards Yaletown, in downtown Vancouver. I really had no idea how awesome the views are from this area of town til Russ started taking me on walks in his neighbourhood.

Ok, for all you out of towners I thought I'd take a picture of a map posted in Charleson park, near where we started. This park is the little patch of green in the centre bottom of the map, just to the bottom right of the words "Granville Island":

We walked from his apartment to Charleson Park, then along the seawall (that's the pink line on the map) eastward, all the way down to Science World, and back again. I think it took us about 2 hours, with a rest break. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, Charleson Park:

This section of it, above, is an off leash dog park. It's actually quite secluded from the major road to the south, and bounded by the seawall to the north, as you can see in the following picture:

Russ really enjoys this park, and I'm sure I don't have to explain why! Below you can see Russ and Murphy taking in the view towards the Granville Bridge, with Burrard Bridge and the Pacific Ocean (really, the Burrard Inlet) in the background:

On the other side of them was this little pond:

I'm mixing photos from both directions of our walk, which is why the light is slightly different here, but since we stopped at the same pond on our way out and our way back, I thought it would be less confusing to include them all at one point here in the update. That explanation was probably very unnecessary! At any rate, it was a very picturesque little pond:

With lots of wildlife, who didn't seem too bothered by a cocker spaniel investigating their home:

Here's a closeup of some of the birds that were hanging out:

There was also a turtle, but my picture of him didn't do him justice, so I haven't included it here!

After the pond the walkway opens up to the seawall. This walkway, as you might have surmised from the map I posted above, goes on for miles and miles, all the way around Stanley Park and downtown. Murphy loves the view:

Here's your first view of an Olympic venue - that's BC Place Stadium behind Russ, with the big white dome. That's where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are going to be held:

But Murphy was pretty indifferent to the Olympic sights, he was more interested in the "wildlife":

Russ insisted on taking a few pictures of me, so here's Murphy being coaxed down from his favourite way to walk the seawall - on top of it!

Above you can also see some of the condos that have been built up over the last several decades all around the seawall. And of course, various boats and yachts moored in False Creek (which is an inlet off the Burrard inlet, which is an inlet off the Georgia Straight, which is the section of the Pacific Ocean that runs between Vancouver Island and the BC Mainland, where Vancouver is located - a bit of a geography lesson here too!).

And here's one of my favourite pictures from that day, Murphy on the seawall, with Yaletown behind him:

Yaletown has all been built up since the last major international event Vancouver hosted, Expo 86. Before that, Yaletown was just an industrial area with warehouses. Now it's one of the coolest (read: expensive) places for young professionals to live and work.

Below you can see a few other leftovers from Expo 86. To the left of Murphy and Russ is the BC Pavilion (the green glass building with the mountains behind it) and to the far right of the picture is Science World (the silver "golfball"). As you can tell by the area where Russ and Murphy are posed, there are still areas along the seawall that are undeveloped:

But not for long! Because, here comes the Athlete's Village:

What you see behind the two guys is just the tip of the iceberg, this village is huge! After the games the plan is for this to become a neighbourhood with 5000 families, housing in the region of 12 000 people, complete with schools, businesses etc. Below you can see a map of the village:

Now, you might not be able to get a sense of scale here, so I'm repeating the map that I used at the beginning of the update. The village goes from the Cambie Bridge to Science World along the southern shore of False Creek:

Living here through the construction of the Olympic sites you kind of got numb to all of it, but when the three of us actually walked alongside the village I really got a sense of what a huge undertaking it was to build an entire neighbourhood (not to mention all the actual competition venues). They've put in some cool design features, which Murphy navigated with great bravery:

As I said, after the games the athletes accommodations are being sold off as condos. They are already marketing them as such:

I believe most of the units are already sold, though we have a massive reselling market in condos in Vancouver. Below you can see the view of the village from Science World (the silver golfball). I was unable to get all the village in one shot, it continues in both directions:

Science World, to both our surprise, houses a takeout window for White Spot, a BC burger institution:

So of course this was the perfect spot to rest after our walk east. We all took time to take in the view and wet our whistles:

Again, you can see to the left (half of) BC Place, and more towards the centre of the shot you can see another white dome which is GM Place. It's being renamed "Canada Hockey Place" for the games. I'm guessing that's because GM isn't a major sponsor of the games! Both these venues have been here for years, since before we were awarded the games. BC Place is where our (American style) football team, The BC Lions play, and GM Place is where our hockey team, The Canucks, play.

But neither of these caught Murphy's attention. That was devoted to a smart little pigeon, who knew he was out of Murphy's reach:

Before we wrap up this walk, one more feature of this area - the False Creek ferries! They go along False Creek, stopping at Science World, Granville Island and the Aquatic Centre (all of which you can see on the main map I posted at the top of this update). I've seen dogs getting off it, so I'll have to take Murphy for a ride soon.

In the above photo you can also see the grey track of our "Skytrain", Vancouver's version of a subway. Again, that was built for Expo 86, though it's been massively expanded over the years, now going out to various suburbs. The Skytrain, buses and ferries will be our main way of getting around during the Olympics as there are going to be major road closures for a month (there's a much larger ferry than the one featured above that takes thousands of people a day from North Vancouver to downtown Vancouver, which runs every 15 minutes). In fact, you can't drive to any event even if you wanted to - there is no public parking at any venue. Luckily for Russ, he's within walking distance of our work. Me? I'm going to be getting up before 5:00 to catch a bus, the ferry and the Skytrain (in that order). VERY luckily for Murphy, he's a dog and therefore doesn't have to worry about any of this!

Lastly, we have Murphy telling Russ very clearly that he doesn't care to walk any further. He was eventually convinced that he had to walk the couple of kilometers back to Russ'!

So that's our introduction to the Olympics here in Vancouver! Hope you enjoyed it!

Email me!

Meghan

Here's the link to the next update: October 2009
Here's the link to the previous update: August 2009

Home | Latest news | From the beginning | Origins | What kind of dog is that? | Colours of cockers | Cocker links