The House of Switzerland opened on Friday, exactly one week before the Opening Ceremonies. Located in Bridges Restaurant on Granville Island, the two-storey yellow structure will be adorned with the red and white colours of Switzerland until February 28th (sorry Paralympians).

Opening night saw a constant stream of curious individuals poking around the building, participating in culinary revelry, enjoying traditional folk music, collecting Swiss pins, kissing the Swiss mascot Globi (a blue parrot with a beret) and taking photos with the red metal ibex (Swiss mountain goat) fixed at the front entrance.

To locals, the place still looks like Bridges restaurant, albeit with several decorative Swiss crosses and life-size icons of their athletes outside and a typical winter mountain scene inside. Thank goodness someone has snow.

With barely enough room to navigate the expanse of the restaurant, visitors were given a sneak preview of the crowds likely to be found at venues throughout the city over the next month. And for the record, I had no idea there were so many Swiss in our city.

Guests and onlookers can enter to win a $10,000 trip for two to St. Moritz to stay in the five-star Hotel Kempinski or Hotel Badrutt's Palace. I am not sure what the odds will look like by the time everyone and their dog enters, but it should be better than the lottery.

Anticipating 20,000 visitors over the next three weeks, the official Swiss guest centre will be open from 8am to midnight every day. The restaurant menu will be incorporating Swiss cheeses into the menu in the form of raclette, fondue and macaroni. Expect complementary treats in the form of Lindt chocolates and Ricola cough candies. The House of Switzerland has been a Winter Olympic staple since the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.

For more information about the House of Switzerland you can visit their site or follow them on Facebook and Twitter. The Swiss have a second home in Whistler located in the Mountain Club in Whistler Town Plaza.

The next international Olympic House to open today at noon, located at Roundhouse Community Centre in Yaletown.

The rest of the international houses open as follows:

• Feb 9th - Irish House at Doolin's Irish Pub, downtown Vancouver
• Feb 11th (4pm) - Heineken (Holland) House at Minoru Arenas in Richmond
• Feb 11th - Sochi (Russia) House at Science World, Vancouver
• Feb 12th - Germany Saxony House at the Vancouver Rowing Club in Stanley Park
• Feb 12th - Scandinavia House - Scandiniavian Community Centre in Burnaby
• Feb 12th - Ukraine House at the Ukraine Catholic Centre, 3150 Ash Street, Vancouver
• Feb 13th - Korea House at the Hyatt Regency Hotel

Visit City Caucus for more details on the international venues.

Photos by DaveRobinson2010, Miss604 and Tourism BC on Flickr