Spectacular Fireworks!

Last night I attended one of the most amazing fireworks shows of my entire life! It was the second of four events in the annual Vancouver Celebration of Light.

I bicycled down to my friends' West End apartment around 3:30pm. After gulping down several bottles of water to recover from the ride, I met their delightful friends, most of whom had driven up from Seattle. Around 4:30pm they and their friends and I strolled down to the beach where we claimed a spot near the water, laying down a series of blankets surrounding 2 hibachis. When we first arrived, the beach was crowded, though not packed. I had great fun playing with the young nephew of my friend. A game quickly evolved that had me making sand castles with a bucket so that he could immediately mash each one. I thought I could tire him out by building several at once, on both sides of him, but alas it was yours truly that got exhausted first!

By 8:30pm the beach was getting quite full, though our territorial blanket idea served its purpose well. At 10:00pm sharp the fireworks show started. This event was put on by a pyrotechnics group from Sweden. It was truly spectacular! There was some music that seemed to be specifically written for the show but there was also a sampling of ABBA music as well - hey, they're from Sweden so it was most apropos!

I bicycled home about 45 minutes after the show ended. The streets of downtown Vancouver were still packed ... even a great distance away from the show. But on my bicycle I was able to easily negotiate past the traffic and get home in no time flat. What a great evening!