Vancouver Through a Car Window

Peter: 24th Jul 2006 - 14:43 GMT

whats that silver sphere? i love all the overhead catenary wires, too... are those for electric busses or trolleys (im guessing trolleys)?

aer suzuki: 25th Jul 2006 - 10:00 GMT

Wasn't sure what that silver thing was when I posted, but just did a quick search and found these links:

http://www.vancouverplus.ca/alcan_omnimax_theatre/398855
http://www.vancouverinfocenter.com/merchant2.php/list2/250/Alcan+Omnimax+Theatre

As for the wires, my guess is they're for electric busses. They had trolleys up there but like Seattle those seemed limited to the touristy area. The shot you're talkin' about was taken in an area where I'd imagine busses would be more useful (bigger, stronger, faster...if less personality) and they look like our wires:

well it's hard to tell from that but they do...The short answer is : 'I'm not sure, Peter, bus wires I think.'

aer suzuki: 25th Jul 2006 - 10:03 GMT

Gah. Forgot to bracket the links. Copy and paste time I guess, sorry.

Canadian Guy: 3rd Sep 2006 - 16:57 GMT

The silver sphere is the science center. Vancouver has a huge fleet of trolley buses that run on those overhead wires.

WhereAmI?: 14th Mar 2007 - 10:50 GMT

In the picture W7, you're looking north over the Cambie Street Bridge at the Downtown core. The big white bubble on the far right is BC Place Stadium, where the BC Lions football team plays. The building immediately above it that looks like the top of the Space Needle is Harbour Centre, which houses a revolving restaurant and the control tower for all the floatplane traffic that occurs in the harbour.
Yes, the Cirque du Soliel show "Quidam" was in town for several weeks, hence the yellow and blue tents. The silver sphere (AKA the Golfball, more recently known as the Telus-sphere, after the telecommunications company) houses an Omnimax movie screen, and the building it sits on is Science World, a science museum of sorts with a number of interactive exhibits.
The overhead wires supply power to a large fleet of trolly buses that run throughout Vancouver; a bane to some residents, who believe the crisscross of wires at intersections is an eyesore.