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Cliff had offered an early start on our last official CN Olympic Day. 6:30 am came pretty quickly but I was pumped to get started on our touristy day. By the end of today we will have been to two must-see attractions and watched two deal-breaking hockey games.

I got quite the grumpies in the van. Guadagnins are not naturally early risers! But the Vancouver Aquarium is in our path and by the time Cliff has us through Stanley Park and to the Aquarium door... we are cheering! What a spectacular time! First we checked out the Giant fishes of the Amazon, walked through the Rainforest Region and took a million pictures of the giant turtle and sharks. The Dolphins had a show on next... I've never seen these west coast dolphins with white stripes down the length of their bodies! They did their jumping and splashing but we didn't notice the wetness since it was raining steadily by that point. After the show, we asked some questions then went on to stare at the belugas. Wow! So huge and yet so fluid! I loved hearing their clicks and clacks as they talked to their babies. There are two moms and two calves swimmming around this fairly huge enclosure. You can see them at the surface or go below to the underwater area. The displays use modern technology and are very well done. We watched short videos on the Arctic way of life and listened to recordings of the many different beluga communication sounds. We were in the area, so stayed for the beluga show. Some good information but the best part was the beluga spraying the spectators. I learned that this behaviour is used for hunting in the wild but only served to add to the sogginess today.

We watched the otters swimming for a bit before returning indoors for the frog feeding. The displays are pretty boring (frogs don't really do that much) except for the tadpole display you can stick your head into to look for the little swimmers in different stages of metamorphosis. The frog feeding was already in progress: the guide was faking out the frogs by sticking her thumb into the top of the cage causing the frogs to all jump at it and not out the tank. She then dumped a tupperware of live crickets into the tank, all over the frogs. These huge bullfrogs started jumping all over the rocks, into the water, on top of each other... to get the frantic crickets. Jesse had a front row spot and was laughing so hard! One bullfrog in particular must have been extrememly hungry... so hilarious.

Next on the schedule was a 4D movie about Ocean Animals. We've never been to one before but were handed a paper warning us of frightening scenes. How frightening could it be? I didn't take it too seriously. Just a standard warning I thought. Well, I was wrong! All of us were laughing, screaming and jumping out of our seats reacting to the well-timed and choreographed effects. Well done! I read later that there is a 4D movie all about Ontario at the Ontario Pavillion. We'll have to check it out! Out of the movie we toured our last display on the BC shoreline. The variety of the jellyfish amazed us all! and the colours! I loved watching Jesse with the magnifying glass looking at 3 week old plankton-type creatures in a display tank. Gabe couldn't leave the underwater snake tank, waiting to watch one eat the unsuspecting goldfish (dinner!). Marina loved the anemones so we took her by the beach to see if the tide was out, nope, another day. Julianna kept ducking into the fluorescent fish cubicle! I just stared at those intricate jellies while Rugge loved the interactive BC coast salmon tracking monitor. We left the Aquarium in awe of God's creation: so unimaginably varied and creative! Created in intricate balance with one another and to the finest detail. Loved it.

We'd spent 4 hours at the Aquarium by now and were getting a little hungry so we jumped back in the VANOC truck to find a Wendy's. There hasn't been any fast food yet this trip so it was a treat we all agreed on. Cliff guided us to the nearest one over the Lions Gate bridge and waited while we filled up on jr bacon cheeseburgers and frostys.

Off to our downtown stop at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Leonardo DaVinci is featured in a free exhibit during the Olympics: The Mechanics of the Human Body. His drawings from his notebooks are displayed along with quotations, inspiriational, on the walls. I just loved it. I've been a Leonardo fan for a long time so to see his originals was just breath-taking. It was a quick stop but worth it to see this man's impact on science and art. On the way out I exclaimed, "I really enjoyed that!" to which Gabe replied, "You always enjoy this stuff mom so it's no surprise". So I'm predictable! That's ok.

Our drivers had switched out by the 3:30 pick up. We were all sad to say good-bye to Cliff our morning driver, it was probably the last time we would see him, but glad to see our afternoon driver, Csaba, again. I know, it is tough living the rock star lifestyle! They both have been kind to us and we've gotten quite close. As volunteers who live in the city, their knowledge is a huge asset to our trip and their confidence in the routes is a stres-reliever. Without them, our vacation would not have been the same! They definitely went above and beyond their volunteer call of duty!

Csaba drove us to Tsawwassen in time for us all to join the Seiberts for the hockey game. While supper was prepped by the women (mostly Jo!) with Tim floating in and out, the hockey fans raged, cried and cheered along with Canada as the men took their victory over the Russians. We were glad to be heading into town for our last Olympic event with CN, the Sweden and Slovakia game, but it would have been unbelievable to be at the Canada Russia game. With Csaba back behind the wheel, we headed into Canada Place for our 9 pm game. The streets were still packed with Canadian fans, red and white the only clothing colour choice available on a night like this!

There we met Jamie, Rugge's high-school buddy, and made our way along the concourse to our front row seats (with a quick 'hi' to lead guitarist Dave from 5440!). Unbelievably, our tickets are for the 3rd row from the ice, directly beside the Sweden bench! It was like they were playing at our Wellington Duke Dome we were sitting so close! The hockey players are huge! During warm-ups, I got some great close-up shots of the Swedish players including Alfredsson and the Sedins, although we are secretly cheering for the Slovakian team thinking it'll be a easier win for Canada for the gold medal! Game's on and the play is fast and hard. Some fun moments when the puck gets close or a player gets checked - the whole plexiglass sways back and forth from the force of impact! Wow. Such a tense ending but the Swedish team can't pull off the win. Chara did a great job leading his line! It was interesting watching all the dynamics at the bench without the commentary to fill you in!

Rugge is off now to spend a couple days with Jamie so we say good-bye. Gabe and I hop over to McD's for a on-the-way-home snack. Csaba is quickly losing his voice so it was a quiet ride back to the Seiberts' home, we're tired and our driver is voice-less.

Another amazing day. As Gabe and I chatted, we realized it was a day of 2s: 2 attrations, 2 fast food restaurants, 2 hockey games and 2 of our favourite drivers to whom we say "Come to PEC and we'll return the favour!".

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