Friday Special Feature
Olympic Special Feature
The Sails of Canada Place


Like five ballerinas in blue tutus surrounded by a twinkling corp of a thousand, the skyline of Vancouver is lit up for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The light show of the accompanying Cultural Olympiad is being shown on the Sails of Canada Place. The office buildings of downtown Vancouver furnish their own light show behind it. The normally white sails shine with other colors than blue as in the photo above. When you watch the YouTube Link below you will see: the green, red, yellow, blue and white colors of the Olympic Rings; scenes of the athletes and their venues in the lime green, blue and white colors of the Winter Games banners; and stars, stripes and flowers on green and blue backgrounds.

Construction on 999 Canada Place started in 1983. The sails were up by October 1984, and the Prince Charles officially opened the building as a part of Expo '86 in May of that year. Canada Place juts out into the salt water of Burrard Inlet like a magnificent sailing ship. The building houses the Cruise Ship Terminal, the original Convention and Exhibition Center, and the first Vancouver IMAX Theater. The Pan Pacific Hotel is on the land adjacent to this "ship". In 2001 a third berth was added to the Cruise Ship Terminal. The site of Canada Place is the old CPR Pier B-C. This was the western terminus of the sea to sea transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway.

Today is the opening day of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games. From March 12th to the 21st 600 athletes from more than 40 countries will be competing in Vancouver and Whistler. Their events included: Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Cross-County Skiing, Ice Sledge Hockey, and Wheelchair Curling. This, the Xth Paralympic Winter Games will be welcomed by its own Olympic Flame.

Photo: Taken February 2010 by SW.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4TG6CYlFmk
Link: http://www.canadaplace.ca/Our_Story/Our_History