In Vancouver’s Stanley Park, a much slower pace
The streets of this city are teeming with people from around the globe proudly displaying pride for their countries during the 2010 Olympic Games. Some are decked out head-to-toe in the colors of their nations and some wear flags draped across their shoulders. At any given time, chants of “Go (insert name of your favorite country here), go” break out.
Everywhere you turn, there’s evidence of the Olympic fever that has gripped the city.
Unless you turn toward Stanley Park.
Acting as a 1,000-acre oasis from the international madness that has overtaken downtown and the surrounding area, Stanley Park is steps from the hustle and bustle of the Games and ordinary urban life.
A walk along the 13.7-mile-long sea wall means encountering joggers, swimmers, inline skaters, dogs playing in the surf, men feeding bread to sea gulls, artists displaying their wares and an overall feeling of relaxation. It all comes with a stunning backdrop of barges slowly making their way through the calm water with mountains on one side and, often, downtown sprawl on the other.
It’s where Ray Stratton and his family, including wife Kelly and 10-year-old daughter Alexa, stroll along the walking path on a 50-degree day as the sun breaks through the clouds, making one of its first appearances since the Games began.
“This is lovely,” said Stratton, 53, a car dealer from Victoria, Canada. “It’s pretty active along here, especially on a beautiful day like today. You want to get out and see it.”
The Strattons were hoping to attend some Olympic events, but they had no concrete plans and didn’t have a sense of urgency about obtaining tickets or trading commemorative pins or wearing garish hats with a maple leaf on them.
A walk in Stanley Park will do that to you. There’s nothing urgent about it.
Farther down the path around the park, which also is home to the Vancouver Aquarium, yacht clubs, restaurants, swimming pools, tennis courts and a pitch-and-putt golf course, is Anja Kapp. She is sitting on a bench writing postcards.
The 38-year-old has traveled by herself from Berlin to attend her first Olympic Games, and the postcards are to let her family and friends know that she is OK.
“All people in my hometown were afraid that I was here and they want to get a postcard,” said Kapp, who is in hearing-aid manufacturing in Germany. “It’s a dream of my childhood to be at the Olympic Winter Games. Canada is the best place for Olympic Games in the winter, so I decided to come here.”
Kapp, who planned to be in Vancouver for 10 days, attended the opening ceremony but managed to obtain a ticket to only one competition: curling. In the meantime, she planned to tour Vancouver, and one of her first stops was Stanley Park.
“The sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day,” she said. “I will look and go around the park. I’m open for seeing what comes.”
Unbeknownst to Kapp, a countrywoman is seated on a bench just around the bend having lunch and soaking up the sun. Juliane Banner, a 27-year-old from Schwerin, also is attending her first Olympics and is taken with the scenery both downtown and in the park.
“Downtown it’s crowded and you know something is going on,” said Banner, who works for the tourism board in Schwerin (pop. 100,000). “You really feel most of the people are happy they have the Olympics. There’s a good atmosphere. When I get into the park I feel the high quality of life in Vancouver. To be close to nature and the sea and have good air and just a few-minute walk from downtown, this is what it’s all about.”