Polish Four Man Bobsled Team
This week’s “Guest Nomad” is Amy Pflughaupt. Amy grew up in St. Louis and travels as much as she can in her free time. On her trips, she loves finding the best local coffee and spending time near the ocean. Amy recently returned from a visit to Vancouver to check out the 2010 Winter Olympics. Here is a small recap of her trip.
The Olympics are a grand gathering centered around sports. But as travelers we should appreciate it as a nation’s opportunity to show us everything it has to offer and to teach us about what makes it unique. By doing so it might give us a reason to visit it one day.
Canada definitely took advantage of those opportunities. After spending five days there for the Winter Games late last month, I know I’ll be back again soon.
The public transportation in Vancouver is impressive. It was clean, on-time, and was well-lit with lots of security and volunteers to help you find your way. This was a critical part of making the Olympics the success they were for the Canadians, as it made it easy for spectators to get around in a timely manner and it kept more cars off the roads which cut down on gridlock and pollution.
In between attending Olympic events at Cypress Mountain, Whistler, and BC Place, we relaxed at a couple of excellent Vancouver eateries. First, we tried Lift Bar and Grill near Stanley Park. Even for lunch, it had a great wine list and a great menu. I had the salmon and capped it with a delicious glass of ice wine, the dessert drink Canada has made famous.
Later in the week, we took the advice of a local and ate dinner at the InterContinental restaurant on West Cordova, a place with great ambiance, huge televisions, and excellent sweet potato fries.
And finally, after arriving early at Whistler for the last alpine event, we stumbled upon the Southside Diner. It was a tiny place, but they’ll make one of their famous egg scrambles however you’d like it and their coffee hit the spot on a bleary-eyed morning,
Coffee is something that Vancouver takes seriously and every cup we tried at every restaurant was excellent, especially as we were running around the city, taking in the sights and trying to soak up the Olympic atmosphere as much as we could.
Commercial Drive is especially famous for its countless cafes and coffeehouses. After our last day at Whistler, we tried as many of the coffee places as we could in an hour. We were able to get to seven, a couple of the Italian places and a couple of the free trade cafes. J. J. Bean had great atmosphere and great coffee, but it was Café Calabria that had the most robust and unique tasting espresso I’ve ever tried.
After spending four years planning this trip to the Olympic Games in Vancouver, our short time there lived up to all of my expectations. The city and its people did an amazing job and welcomed all of its visitors with enthusiastic hospitality that we’ll always remember.
If anyone is thinking of planning a trip to a future Olympics and would like help in doing so, feel free to email me, it’s a bigger task than it may look! You can also follow me on Twitter!
