Canada 2011 - Vancouver

Canada 2011
We'd always promised ourselves that we'd go back to Canada but it took us until now to get there. Our first holiday together was in Vancouver and on the Island - this time we started in Vancouver but then ventured further north. As seems to be usual these days, the pages needs to be split so the three sections are: Vancouver Prince Rupert Great Bear II Please click on the above to visit the pages
		We travelled with British Airways and used all our airmiles so enjoyed first class. Very comfortable! Our first treat as far as photos goes was to fly over Greenland when it was clear and sunny - the views were spectacular.
	We'd never seen glaciers like this before so it was wonderful to have a birds' eye view.

We also had a really good view of the mountains as we approached Vancouver and then a glimpse (or two) of Vancouver itself as we got closer.
We stayed at The West End Guest House in Vancouver - a lovely place and very central. Really nice rooms and Evan and Ron were very friendly and welcoming. Boots (the cat) and Persia and Friday (the dogs) were really friendly as well which is always a bonus for animal lovers like us.
	Persia is on the left and Friday the right.

		For our first evening, we went to find Zefferelli's, an Italian restaurant that Jonathon remembered from our last visit. It was just as good as remembered. Then, in an attempt to keep ourselves awake we strolled around the harbour (no cameras!). We somehow ended up listening to a pop concert with Benny Ibarra, a famous Mexican pop singer. Strange the things you get up to on holiday!
With such beautful weather (yes!, 28C and sunny in Vancouver - much better than we'd hoped for let alone expected), we enjoyed a long walk in Stanley Park for our second day, following the sea wall from the sea plane harbour right around the park.		There were lots of art works around the City. The one on the left was part of a circle of these men called "Meeting" by Wang Shugang. All the men looked the same but the way the sun lit them up also made them look different from each other. Really eye catching.
	This figurehead is a replica of the one from the Empress of Japan 1891-1922. It was created by a cast from the original carving. The girl on the left is not Lorelei but "Girl in Wetsuit" and was a gift to the City from sculptor Elek Imredy
There was one track for bikes and rollerbladers and one for walking around the park's perimeter. There were lots of different views as we walked around
		The yacht was huge - call Ethereal, it's a super yacht. We watched to see how it managed to get under the Lions Gate Bridge. There wasn't a lot of headroom!
		The pile of stones on the left was one of several. They are temporary art (when the tide comes in they are knocked over). They are not stuck, glued or pinned together but just precariously balanced. Quite amazing really.
In one part of the park there are a load of totem poles. We aren't clever enough to read them but they are pretty fearsome and each tell a tale. The bird in the centre was perched on the "ears" of one of the totem poles, surveying all the tourists. Perhaps he was enjoying the German tour guide who was standing near us telling her group all about the totems.

		The lagoon was where we found a few wild fowl (hardly surprising). We had seen some geese earlier on in the sea (seemed appropriate to see Canada Geese in Canada somehow!)



Perhaps more surprising was finding these little critters - they started one one side of the stream and some swam across. Not sure if they are used to people feeding them but they didn't seem particularly shy if we stayed still and quiet.

	The black squirrel was scampering up a tree but Jonathon managed to get a photo of it - my photo (or attempt at one) was a furry black mass that could have been anything.
The dragonflies were pretty big and flitting around really quickly. Every now and then one landed so we took advantage!

All too soon we were back at the harbour and the skyscrapers.

The panorama thingy on Jonathon's new camera seemed to work pretty well!
Art and Jan came to collect us at 5 p.m. and we enjoyed a quick trip up to Queen Elizabeth Gardens before a lovely dinner at the Poor Italian and then ....

	.... a special treat at La Casa Gelato. I didn't even know there were 218 flavours of ice cream! We didn't try them all but those we had were yummy.
Monday and another lovely day, weather-wise. We wandered over to Granville Island as our starting point. To get there we hopped on the Aquabus (ferry) - a very short ride across False Creek.
	The best thing about Granville Island is the market. We enjoyed a coffee (Jonathon) and a smoothie (me) before wandering around a bit then strolling over to Vanier Park, keeping the sea on our right. There were quite a few sculptures around - the one on the right is "The Gate to the North West Passage" by Chung Hung. The one below didn't seem to have a name but you can see it was pretty huge.

We were going to go to the Space Centre and got as far as the door but it was dinner time and there was no cafe there. By the time we'd wandered off and found somewhere to eat, we decided to walk a bit further rather than spend time inside. So off we went back to Granville Island to buy some yummy fruit salad for our tea.		This sculpture was outside the front of the Space Centre and the Museum of Vancouver. It's called "The Crab" and was made by George Morris. Underneath there is a time capsule that is to be opened on Canada's bicentennial - 1 July 2067.
Having landed back where we started, we strolled up to Inukshuk, another sculpture. The info that was with it stated that "This ancient symbol of the Inuit culture is traditionally used as a landmark and navigational aid and also represents northern hospitality and friendship. Constructed of grey granite by Alvin Kanak of Rankin Inlet, this monument was commissioned by The Government of the Northwest Territories for its Pavillion at EXPO-86 and later given to the City of Vancouver." We then enjoyed the view of English Bay Beach and admired a few more balanced stone sculptures before wandering back to our guest house and relaxing for the rest of the day.


Tuesday was still dry but cooler - still more than OK for walking around. We took ourselves off to China Town for a mooch around and then wandered over to Gastown, the older part of the city.

	The Chinese year symbols were in the ground just outside the park. From memory I was born in the year of the rat and Jonathon the year of the tiger but we could be wrong.


	The pictures immediately before this are of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park, whereas the following two are of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. There are various differences - who designed them, the materials use etc. The difference that amused us most was: If it rains in the Park - you get very wet If it rains in the Garden - you enjoy tea under the covered walkways and pavillions.

The walk from China Town to Gastown was not what you'd call salubrious but we made it through without incident! John Deighton, aka Gassy Jack, was the founding of Vancouver. He was born in Hull in 1830 and best known for his "Gassy" stories, hence the name.
	One of the most famous sights in Gastown is the Gastown Steam Clock. It was designed and built by Raymond L. Saunders and "chimes" every quarter of an hour.
Another highlight for us was finding Trees Organic Coffee Co. A newspaper article claimed they made the best cheesecakes in Vancouver. Having tried them, we can see why they thought that. We shared a piece of blueberry cheesecake and it was delicious. A slow stroll round the Convention Centre part of the sea front and lots of interesting info boards later took us to lunch time. The sculpture below right is called "The Drop" - it was huge. Can't remember who made it other than they were four German artists.


	This butterfly obviously thought my lunch looked nice - he sat on my sleeve for quite a while while I munched my salmon and rice etc. To be fair, lunch was delicious (Earls on Robson Street) so he must have good taste. We then had to say goodbye to Evan and Ron and make our way back to the airport to go to Prince Rupert.
When we set off the pilot told us the weather in Prince Rupert was 18C and clear - great news and much warmer than we were expecting. The flight was only two hours long but by that time the fog had descended and we landed at Terrace instead. Not what we had expected or hoped for! After a long wait in the airport followed by an hour and a half drive we finally arrived in Prince Rupert ready for the next bit of our holiday.
On to Prince Rupert	Back to Holiday index	Back to main index