Vancouver Olympics Games, 2010 travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

Vancouver, British Columbia is a host city for the next Olympics Games, 2010. Despite of the fact that it is only 35 miles north of the U.S. border, Vancouver feels and looks different from any other big city in the United States or, for that matter, Canada. With its glass-and-steel towers, Vancouver could be in Asia.

There has been a lot of construction going on in Vancouver in preparation for the Games — and beyond. After the Winter Games, the 16-building Olympic Village, which will house about 2,800 athletes, is to be converted into a 730-unit luxury condominium complex called Millennium Water. About half the units have already been sold.

Most of the part of the peninsula is surrounded by a sea wall, which is ideal for walking, biking and jogging.

There are no freeways through the city. Those who want to head north to Whistler, where the Olympic skiing events will be held, can use the Lions Gate bridge, which spans the first narrows of the Burrard Inlet.

A statue of runner Harry Jerome stands against the Vancouver skyline.

No one knows for sure what Vancouver will be like after the Games!