Obamania in Vancouver

..watching the parade for four long hours, celebrating the inauguration day in a pub at night, listening to the now world famous inauguration speech again and again - I and Vancouver were in Obama-fever this Tuesday. What an event, what a symbol, what a cute president :) Compare Stephen Harper and there is something missing...

Hiking in winterwonderland

I mentioned the snow chaos before. But although all the Canadians around me freaked out, the stores ran out of snow tires, snow shovels, salt, snow chains, although half of the newspapers were full of articles about unshovelled and icy sidewalks, although they got superterribly furious about unplowed sidestreets, frozen and exploded water pipes and the mayor had to cut short his vacation in Mexico and hurry back to Winter-Vancouver...I LOVED IT! I borrowed some snowshoes and went hiking on Grouse Mountain. And while it was pouring rain in the city I walked through a winterwonderland I've never seen before! Unbelievable! Tons of snow! Oh, was it great...! So listen to Mireille Mathieu and enjoy...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uymETvDdjuU (Thanks Anke..!)

Swimming like a polar bear...

...try almost 2000 Vancouverites each year on New Year's Day. Let's say it's a kind of "fresh start" into the brand new year. Some of the people there seemed to have partied through the night and then cooled down in the ice-cold Pacific. The water had six!!! degrees...The Polar Bear Club of Vancouver is one of the oldest in the world - the first freaks took the plunge into the ocean in 1920. Rabea and I decided to watch the spectacle and join the club in 2010 ;)

More pictures of the event: http://picasaweb.google.com/anjasailer/PolarBearSwimming1109