Vancouver gives a reporter gaper’s block
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VANCOUVER -- Doggone, Vancouver, if you weren’t so all-fire beautiful, I would get a lot more work done.
It takes me at least 15 minutes to make the five-minute trip from the entrance of the Main Press Center to the Tribune Co. office at the far end because the walkway runs along a wall of windows overlooking the Burrard Inlet and North Vancouver.
The accompanying photo from my BlackBerry camera doesn’t even begin to capture the stunning views that force me to stop and gape several times during the walk.
The view in that direction was even more spectacular early Tuesday morning from a restaurant at the adjoining Pan Pacific Hotel, where a group of reporters had breakfast with the top officials of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC).
The sun had come up just enough to limn the tops of the nearby mountains in gold, a striking contrast to the dark green slopes (yes, not enough snow to look wintry) and the deep blue of the inlet below. The light caught the wing tips of commuter seaplanes leaving for Victoria.
One of the summits was that of Cypress Mountain, where the warmest January in 100 years has forced Olympic organizers to truck in snow for the freestyle skiing and snowboard venues there.
That is why VANOC Chief Executive John Furlong found the prettiest sight the one he saw in the 4:30 a.m. darkness at his home.
‘I looked at the thermometer and the temperature was zero (32 Fahrenheit), so I thought, ‘God has stopped playing chicken with us as it relates to Cypress,’ ‘’ Furlong said.
Alas, the temperature was up to 46 by midafternoon...one degree above the average high for this date.
Made Vancouver seem even more attractive.
Back to work.
After just five more minutes of gaping.
-- Philip Hersh
Photo: View from the Vancouver Olympic Main Press Center in mid-afternoon sunlight Tuesday. Photo credit: Philip Hersh
