Vancouver – braysabroad

Final morning in Vancouver

While Matt ran, we visited the David Milne exhibition Vancouver Art Gallery

Milne preferred isolation and moved, with his wife Poppy, into the middle of nowhere. One sign says he was released from his unhappy marriage in 1936 – I bet Poppy breathed a huge sigh of relief too!

Cabin Fever – brilliant exhibition charting the development of Cabin living around the world. Kim is tempted to sell up, buy a piece of land and build one room cabins for each of us.

Finally, the acoustic exhibition. Apparently, the artist claims you can hear different sounds in your favourite records, and invites you to take in your own vinyl to play. Kim was particularly taken with the wall buffers made out of off cuts from kitchen cabinet makers

We debated whether we’d prefer to live in Sydney or Vancouver. John and Kim opted for Vancouver – quieter, smaller and cooler in summer. Matt sensibly suggested that he might need to re-visit Sydney before making a decision.

Granville Island

We were hoping to borrow bikes from the hotel to help us get out to Granville Island by ferry. However, no one had told the other guests and all the bikes were loaned out!

Not to worry, the concierge said it was only a 20 minute walk. All we can say is he must run faster than Matt. It was uphill most of the way and our feet complained – we’ve managed to walk at least eight miles each day and we’re not used to it!

It was a relief to catch the aquabus, taking us across to the island in a couple of minutes

Granville Island started life as a sandbar in False Creek and, in 1915, became the focus of a land reclamation project to create an industrial area of corrugated tin factories. In the 70s and 80s investment in the island created a large public market, artisan shops and thriving arts community.

John was particularly taken with colourful displays of fruit

Matt identified the restaurant for dinner, a recommended pizza place back in Gastown – another blooming long walk!

We’ve seen a lot of homeless people in Vancouver, congregating on the coast where the weather is milder, mainly on the streets as a result of a government policy to close mental health institutions. Sound familiar? Each day we’ve been approached several times but tonight’s walk was an experience. We saw so many more people living life very differently to us. We’ve almost become immune to the smell of cannabis but it was shocking to see those sitting on the pavement openly injecting.

The pizza restaurant was bright and shiny and we had a lovely meal, a real contrast to what was going on outside.

Our final walk took us back past the Steam Clock which was working tonight. We were treated to the steam whistles blowing out a Westminster chime. There are some people you can’t please – Kim could only grumble that it had chimed half past and not quarter to!

The evening finished with ice cream from Perverted. Matt had found it on the first afternoon and it seemed a fitting way to (almost) end our visit to Vancouver.

We’re off to Vancouver Island tomorrow, for one night in Victoria, before heading to Seattle

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park

Our day started with a wander for breakfast, passing this on our way.

That man gets everywhere!

Then it was time to see even more temperate rain forest!

We took the free shuttle bus up to the privately owned park, set in 6000 acres on either side of the Capilano River. The land was originally purchased by George Mackay in 1888 and he erected the original suspension bridge in 1889.

It was a popular destination for his friends. The next owners built a Tea House and it continued to develop as a tourist attraction.

Despite its popularity, once we’d crossed the bridge, the different boardwalks and suspended trails emitted a sense of peace. As we’ve come to expect, the development has been very respectful of the Old Growth Forest – if you’re really lucky we’ll explain Old Growth vs New Growth to you at some time!

The Cliff Walk was quite something, suspended on sheer granite cliffs.

Robert Louis Stevenson summed it up beautifully …..

On the way back, we were the only people on the shuttle (a 40-seat coach) driven by a man originally from Liverpool. After 40 years here, he’s aiming to retire to Portugal for warmer winters.

A day in Vancouver…

Started with Breakfast in 49th Parallel on Thurlow Street and it was yummy. John had to be stopped from having peanut butter jelly donuts for breakfast however our poached eggs on toast were cooked to perfection.

It’s Labor Day here and Vancouver didn’t come to life until 11am. Matt, having run 8 miles around the City, was ready for breakfast just as we were having lunch. We’ve never seen a toasted cheese sandwich like it. As to the lemon meringue donut that went with it…

Matt chose to mooch around the city while John and Kim went on a cycle tour. We cheated and booked eBikes!

Our tour took in the harbour and the iconic cityscape

We had a few stops in Stanley Park. First being at the totem poles. These were carved by First Nations craftsmen. They replace original poles which have been returned to the First Nations from where they had been taken. Each one tells a story and the most important figure carved is always the one at the bottom.

At Beaver Lake we could see the work of the resident Beaver Family.

There was a photo opportunity at Lowdens Lookout, the highest point in Stanley Park (thank goodness for the eBike!).

On the way down, we stopped by one of the largest Douglas Firs where a pair of Bald Eagles are nesting, no sign of them today but we did get a chance to see how the forest makes use of fallen trees

We returned via English Beach, Olympic Village, and Gas Town. The large boats in the picture are ‘parked’ out at sea. Once they dock it costs them $10,000 a day to berth so they delay as long as possible. A shame as this is the best vantage point to watch sunsets from.

Our adventure for this evening was the Richmond Night Market, the nearest thing Vancouver has to Asian Street Food. We took the Sky Train out, queued for tickets and wandered round.

There are hundreds of stalls selling everything from socks to mobile phones and of course lots of street food.

We are not really a Street food, or night market, family – we prefer our food on a plate with cutlery rather than wooden sticks, however in the interests of cultural research we gave it a try.

Whistler to Vancouver

Our hotel was a very different place this morning. It’s Labor Day weekend and the Hotel is full. There were long queues at breakfast and we were eating from paper plates.

The number of people wearing pyjamas or bathrobes, and with dogs, was most surprising. Even Kim, who has been known to drop Matt at the station in her pyjamas, was shocked!

Canadian newspapers are a far more sensible shape than our UK papers. Nice and light to hold, without sagging or falling apart.

We had a leisurely drive along the ‘Sea to Sky Highway’ stopping at Brandywine Falls on the way.

We thought Whistler was busy but the queues of traffic heading out of Vancouver would not have looked out of place on the M25!

Matt was abandoned at the hotel, with our luggage, while we returned our hire car to Vancouver Airport. We’ve tried hard but still don’t understand the rules at traffic lights where a red light doesn’t necessarily mean stop. This didn’t matter in quiet towns, it was very different in busy Vancouver.

For a hotel in a city, our views aren’t bad, but we are missing the crisp, clean mountain air.

We explored the harbour front and headed out to Gastown for dinner. There was a quick stop to admire its famous steam clock.

The restaurant had stacks of games and we thought we’d improve our knowledge of Canada with Canadian Trivial Pursuit.

The evening finished with a walk up to the Victory Square Block Party. We arrived to hear the last minutes of a punk band before it finished, no loud music after 9pm!