This day, the last of our trip, I took a smattering of pictures. The day roughly mirrored day one in reverse: Lake Padden, Pike Place, and flying.
Di Yin also took pictures. The link goes to her first picture from this day (picture #187), the last day of our trip. If you're in slideshow mode and see a picture of the large Pike Place Market sign, you've cycled back to the beginning of the album--day one of our trip--and are seeing pictures I already linked to.
First, we drove south from Vancouver/Richmond and went through customs (easy this time). Once in Washington state, although we'd planned to picnic by Lake Padden, we didn't see the highway exit for it. (We guessed the exit must've been only on the other side of the highway.) Instead we pulled over by Lake Samish and ate. After eating, we still had the time for and desire to walk around Lake Padden so we attempted to find it by getting back on the highway and driving north. (We didn't consider walking near Lake Samish--it's huge and mostly developed and therefore less pleasant.)
Lake Padden turned out to be the next northbound exit! (It's actually the same exit as for north Lake Samish.)
Because it was a cool day, we changed into warm clothes and hiked the 2.5 miles around the lake.
From Lake Padden, we went to Pike Place Market in Seattle, where we had lunch, bought snacks, and bought supplies for dinner. I purchased some overpriced dried cantaloupe, in the process taste testing dried apples, figs, and more. I also again tasted and contemplated buying the good balsamic vinegar I spotted on our last visit. As part of lunch, I was in the mood for raspberries, but I couldn't find any organically grown raspberries at the market. (This was especially important to me because I didn't have a place to wash them.) I guess the organic movement hasn't hit Seattle as much as the bay area.
Getting to the airport and home from Pike Place was dicey. We couldn't figure out how to get to the highway we wanted. (We forgot the rental car company gave us a map of the area.) Eventually, we made it to the airport, was about to return the car, then realized we forgot to refill the gas tank. We left the airport, filled the tank, and returned. Returning was made more complicated due to some minor damage to the vehicle. As I dealt with it, Di Yin went ahead as a precaution (just like our trip to Seattle) and checked our bag. Once we landed in the bay area, we learned our bag had been misdirected to southern California. It would be delivered the following day. I was quite concerned because my apartment keys were in my luggage. Happily, Di Yin had my backups in her carry-on, so everything worked out. Plus, she got $25 to spend on emergency clothes and toiletries to compensate for the day without the luggage. So, yes, getting home from Seattle involved a number of unusual occurrences.
Vancouver, et al.: Day 8: Lake Padden and Pike Place Market (again)
Vancouver, et al.: Day 7: Lots of Nature
This day Di Yin and I had different priorities, so we split up. On my own, I took a ton of pictures.
First, I went to VanDusen Botanical Garden and wandered around for two and a half hours. It's lovely, as you can see from the pictures. I also liked the garden's many educational plaques and its hedge maze.
For lunch, I headed to the Richmond Public Market. Unlike the malls throughout Richmond, this really was a market: the lower level contained produce stands, butchers, fishmongers, a Chinese bakery, a frozen dim sum place, as well as places like art shops and clothing retailers. The art store had many very good paintings, none of which I photographed because I feel weird taking pictures of paintings for sale. Upstairs was a large food court. Many places sold steam-table stuff--I avoided those and ended up having an okay (though freshly made) lunch at Tian Jing Northern Cuisine.
I grabbed a drink and drove to Granville Island to attempt again to pick up a bottle of sake for a friend, and to pick up some bagels for Di Yin and I for the following morning. (I now knew what type of sake he wanted.) I, however, was foiled--the store was closed. I did get the bagels and got some buffalo pepperoni while I was at the market. I also took a moment to stick my head in a glass art store and spotted a fish swimming in a bag of water. The fish was glass; the water was glass; the bag was glass. It's quite a feat getting all those types of glass fused together without cracking and while making it look realistic.
I headed back south through way too much traffic and construction to the Bloedel Floral Conservatory. Due to the dense, indoor, cozy nature of the domed conservatory and the sounds (and sight) of its birds, it was much more atmospheric than the botanical garden. (See the pictures.) Because it's smaller, I saw and read everything in an hour.
As the conservatory is in Queen Elizabeth Park, I decided to explore it as well. The park's vistas were pretty, though not like the vistas of water and skyscrapers one gets from False Creek or Stanley Park. The park is similar to the morning's botanical garden, just with additional open fields, as well as picnic areas and a small golf course. It would be a nice place to run. (Yes, Stanley park would be a nice, albeit different, place to run, too.)
I met Di Yin for dinner at Chen's Shanghai Kitchen. It was terrific! The dumplings and buns I had were uniformly better than anything I've had elsewhere, bay area or otherwise. In addition to my pictures, Di Yin took one at dinner (pictures #186).
Vancouver, et al.: Day 6: Sidney by the Sea and Heading Back to Richmond
These pictures provide a more vivid representation of the day than the brief text below. Di Yin also took pictures. The latter link goes to her first picture from this day (pictures #154). When you see a picture of fried tofu (picture #175), you're done with her pictures for the day. I'll link to the next day's pictures in the following post.
In the morning, I hung out on the University of Victoria's campus and in its library, relaxing, while Di Yin participated in her conference.
Once she was done, we headed north to Sidney by the Sea, a town near the ferry back to Vancouver. The town reminded me of Monterey, complete with fun little stores, artwork such as statues and murals, and, not surprisingly, the smell of the sea. By little stores, in this case I mean bookstores, including one specializing in historical maps and old stuff in general.
After wandering through town and eating a good lunch, we headed to the ferry. We were delayed leaving town because we were distracted by some seals. Luckily, we narrowly made the ferry we wanted--we were one of the last cars to get on the ferry. That's saying a lot, as these ferries are huge! There are three levels of cars, trucks, tour buses, RVS, ... Thus, given their tremendous weight, it's even more surprising that they travel at a nice clip. Incidentally, the ferries are smartly designed: sliding doors between the parking levels and the stairways seal the vehicle exhaust from the interior cabins.
Once in Richmond, we wandered around trying to choose where to eat, grabbing snacks on the way. Eventually (after too long) we settled on Delicious Cuisine (urbanspoon) and had a delightful meal of, as Di Yin says, hakka-style Taiwanese food. Di Yin talked with the waiter, a delightful old man and apparently the father of the chef. The waiter admits his son is demanding, even mean: a perfectionist. As an example, he'd taste dishes before they were to be delivered to customers and, if they weren't up to par, throw them away and do them again. Perfectionism isn't necessarily a bad trait for a chef.
Vancouver, et al.: Day 5: Vancouver Island
On this day, a Saturday, we did a wide assortment of activities in the rural areas of Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful sunny day, a great day to head into nature. The activities are well documented by these pictures. Di Yin also took photos. The latter link goes to her first picture from this day (pictures #106). When you see a picture of a truck full of flowers (picture #150), you're done with her pictures for the day. I'll link to the next day's pictures in the following post.
After a brief excursion to UVic (where I easily found the bunnies), we experienced a beautiful drive north as the highway cut between rocks. On the way, we stopped twice for views. Incidentally, even though we only passed through the outskirt of Victoria, I was surprised to see many pedestrian bridges.
The first item on our itinerary was the Blue Grouse vineyard, the winery that produces the wine I drank last night and enjoyed. While I tasted wines and bought the bottle I wanted, Di Yin made friends with the winery's cat.
As we left the winery, we stopped by a field of wildflowers we saw on the way in and by a tunnel of trees we passed through. We decided, however, that some things look better from the car.
The next item on our plan-as-we-go itinerary was downtown Duncan, where we saw a sign for a market. Duncan's a small town. Probably due to the climate, the market didn't have many fresh vegetables and lacked fruit entirely; instead, we saw vendors selling jams, jellies, honey, fudge, and, interestingly, rhubarb pie. The only vegetables we spotted were peppers, tomatoes, and salad greens.
We moved on to Merridale Cidery. It was lunchtime, and we decided to eat al fresco at the restaurant, La Pommeraie Bistro, attached to the cidery. We had a terrific meal in a lovely setting.
After lunch, we picked up a map and walked the grounds, stopping to read the signs, finally finishing our tour in the distillery. We learned about the cidery's many types of apples, how they grow them organically, and how they process them into cider.
Finally, we returned to the main building to taste ciders, which was our main purpose in coming here. We got to sample seven of their eight ciders, all of which are 7-15% alcohol. I'm not going to post my tasting notes here because we received a pamphlet describing each cider in detail and I only wrote down my observations that weren't already printed on that sheet. As that sheet doesn't appear to be online, I'm not going to bother typing everything up. Nevertheless, I can reveal my final conclusion: as Merridale is a respected producer of English ciders, I guess I just don't like English apple ciders. The more ciders departed from the traditional normandie, the more they appealed to me. The only one I would go out of my way to drink again was the cyser, and it appealed to me because it reminded me of good quality honey wine. Not only did it taste like it, it felt silky and yeasty and rested on the back of my tongue like honey wine. I tried to buy a bottle, at which time we were surprised to observe that the ciders are sold in plastic bottles. Di Yin, however, recalled that the ciders required refrigeration and reasoned that it'd be impossible for me to keep something refrigerated for a day during this vacation, let alone all the way home. I made a note to check when I returned home how I could acquire some cyser. It turns out it's impossible to buy or ship outside of British Columbia. Ah, well. (I had high hopes, as I don't know where to get good quality honey wine--or anything that tastes like it--, and there's so much bad stuff out there.)
Next, after a bit of searching, came Cowichan Bay, a tiny town with a few artisanal vendors that my research suggested we visit.
Our final major stop was the town of Chemainus. Chemainus is a small town with a cute downtown, much nicer than Duncan's. My guidebook commends it for its Victorian homes and many murals. The Victorian houses, small and boring, weren't even worth driving past. The murals, however, were cool, and there were an astounding number of them. I ran around town trying to take pictures of every one. I must admit my attempt to be comprehensive was a bit crazy, but look at the pictures and you'll appreciate my efforts.
Over the course of the day, we picked up some food for a picnic. As we drove south back to the apartment where we were staying, we stopped by a grocery store to round out our selection, then stopped in a park at twilight and ate in the car.
Vancouver, et al.: Day 4: Travel to Vancouver Island and Sooke Harbour House
One nice thing about staying in someone's house instead of a hotel is that, at least in this case, it's in a residential part of town and therefore a nicer area in which to run. Thus, this morning we got up and went running.
Then we checked out, briefly stopped by a mall so I could buy a memory card for my brand new camera, tried to go to a particular dim sum joint which turned out to be closed, and ended up having brunch at #9 Restaurant. We'd eaten there before and I stand by my conclusion from last time: it really is a diner.
Speaking of pictures, the smattering of pictures I took this day are from my new camera. Di Yin took a few pictures too. The latter link goes to her first picture from this day (pictures #85). When you see a picture of a painted rock doorstop (picture #105), you're done with her pictures for the day. I'll link to the next day's pictures in the following post.
After lunch, we drove aboard the ferry to Vancouver Island. On the way, we stopped by the quay adjacent to the ferry landing. There's a gelato stand inside with some artistically sculpted tins of gelato. (See Di Yin's pictures when I link to them.)
The day was sunny and pretty and thus the ferry ride, first passing through open water then dodging islands as we neared Vancouver Island, was pleasant. We had a picnic lunch on-board.
When we drove off the ferry, after passing many ugly, tacky billboards, we got to see Vancouver Island proper. It's very green, with lots of tall trees and tons of wildflowers. We checked in the home where we were staying for the next few nights. Then we went to the University of Victoria so Di Yin could check into her conference, and I wrote in my notes beneath "very green" that "UVic even more so." When she returned, she told me stories about the bunnies on campus and showed me some great pictures. I hadn't seen any bunnies on campus, but I went looking for them the next day and didn't have to look far to get some pictures of my own.
Finally, we drove to our dinner destination. We missed the final turn into the restaurant/hotel and ended up at a very nice park on the water. As with all the rest of the day's commentary, refer to the pictures.
For dinner, I took Di Yin to Sooke Harbour House, a famous restaurant that emphasizes fresh, local, sustainable ingredients. They grow many of their own herbs in their garden. The setting was stunning, and, although the first few dishes didn't stand out, the meal got better as it went along and ended fairly well overall.
My dessert, a huge chocolate and cream sculpture, combined with the chocolate after-dinner treats was enough chocolate to keep me awake the whole ride home. Indeed, it was too much chocolate; even the next morning, I simply didn't want to think about eating chocolate for at least a week.
On the ride home, we passed many hitchhikers. I guess that's one way teenagers get into town (Victoria, the only reasonably large town anywhere nearby) for a night out.
Vancouver, et al.: Day 3: Stanley Park, Museums, and Food
I took a smattering of pictures this day. They accompany the narrative, but there's a lot that happened that I didn't photograph. Di Yin took more pictures. The latter link goes to her first picture from this day (pictures #54). When you see a picture of Di Yin at the Museum of Anthropology (picture #73), you're done with the pictures she took while I was with her. (She and I split up for part of the day.)
In the morning, we brought to Stanley Park some food we'd bought at Granville Island, had breakfast, and explored the park. Because we'd both been there before, we decided to go off the beaten perimeter path and ended up walking by Beaver Lake, in the process spotting many types of flora and fauna:
- birds: crows, ducks (both adults and babies), mandarin ducks, a black bird with a large stripe on its wings that was only visible when it was flying, herons, robins, and seagulls.
- rodents: black squirrels, and regular baby squirrels.
- plants: daisies (including one with a violet fringe), roses, and berries (orange/tan--we couldn't figure out what these were).
The Police Museum is by the main police station in an appropriately seedy part of town near Gastown and Chinatown. On the way there, I passed a few shelters, a detox facility, the salvation army, and a courthouse.
The museum is small, taking me only fourty minutes (yes, I intentionally spell it that way) to explore at a slow pace. Although the science/forensics exhibits didn't have anything I didn't already know, there were a few exhibits I kind of liked (see the pictures). I also liked one t-shirt they sold in the gift shop: "Cops: The World's Largest Street Gang."
Next, I drove over to the Vancouver Art Gallery. It's like a museum with no permanent exhibit. I skipped it on my last trip because I didn't like the descriptions of any of its then-current exhibits. This year one exhibit sounded interesting enough, KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art, that it enticed me to pay the high entrance fee to explore the gallery. The gallery, housed in a former courthouse, has a nice interior and central dome.
I liked the exhibit I came for. It was a comprehensive look at comics, anime, manga, cartoons, and video games, and how these media evolved over time. As I explored, I built a list of comics, cartoons, and anime that I should read/watch.
In the comics section, I found interesting the display about how comics can be used as a revealing personal essay. Examples included Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary by Justin Green and One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry. This section also had some great New Yorker covers.
The anime section had some great discussions on themes in groundbreaking anime (e.g., Patlabor 2, Paprika -- these immediately went on my list of movies to watch).
In the cartoon section, I liked the layout showing the process of making a computer-animated film: focus control, camera placement, color selection, etc. They used Over The Hedge as the example. They also had some Wallace & Gromit sketches, using that film and television episodes as examples as well.
The video game section was especially extravagant, with many screens, projectors, televisions, and video game systems that were actually available to play. I thought it was particularly interesting to read about what games the curators thought were groundbreaking and why. They chose Pac-Man, Civilization, Super Mario World, The Sims, The Legend of Zelda (Wind Walker), Grand Theft Auto, Quake, and Spore (not yet released). Most of these I've played, and agree with their arguments regarding their importance.
The special exhibit also had minor displays that entertained me: cosplayers (people who dress up as anime/manga/etc. characters), and onomatopoeia (e.g., how comics use words like BLAM, SHTOOM, VISHH that sounds like what they're supposed to mean).
Finally, somewhere in this exhibit, I saw a quote which amused me greatly. It reflects, at an intellectual level, the frustration I feel with museums (including this gallery) which prohibit photography:
The museum can only confirm the primacy of its images when it denies the legitimacy of all other images.
I also visited the gallery's other exhibits.
- Zhang Huan has coordinated some strange events. For instance, he brought some (naked) people to the top of a mountain, had them lay in a mound, and claimed he raised the height of the mountain, at least temporarily. He also paid many immigrants to stand in a pool, enough to significantly raise of level of water. (I forget what he claimed it signified.) Furthermore, he's photographed himself wearing a bloody pig's ribcage, and he's built things out of ash.
- Rebecca Belmore makes experimental work that's just not for me (even more not for me in general than Huan's).
- Canadian Women Modernists: The Dialogue with Emily Carr reminded me that "modernists" does not mean modern art. This exhibit basically showed Emily Carr and other female Canadian artists who painted in a wide variety of modern styles including pointillism and impressionism. (In this context, modernism seems to be anything that's not strictly representational.)
Vancouver, et al.: Day 2: Granville Island and More
Given that both Di Yin and I are huge fans of Granville Island, it's no surprise we spent much of the day there and it dominates the day's photos. Di Yin also took pictures. The latter link goes to her first picture from this day (picture #26). When you see a picture of the insde of Agros Cafe (picture #53), you're done with her pictures for the day.
To start the day, we grabbed for breakfast a light snack at a local Asian mall and food court (Parker Place in Richmond). Then we caught a bus to Granville Island to browse the countless shops and markets. We mostly spent our time in the food market, assembling a complex and tasty lunch. Granville Island is as cool as I remembered. Incidentally, on the north end of the island, I spotted countless residential towers--recall that Vancouver has many modern skyscraper apartment buildings--overlooking the market and was jealous of all the people living a short walk/boat ride away.
On a friend's request, I visited a sake producer to pick up a bottle for him. However, they were out of what I thought he wanted--the premium blue label (Junmai Nama Nigori)--so I didn't buy him anything. While there, I tried the red label sake (Junmai Nama); its taste changed over time and ended with an unpleasant vodka-like finish. While I tasted, the woman at the counter complained about the number of licenses they needed to open the distillery on the island and provide tastings to customers. They have a stack of licenses framed on the wall.
I spent some of the afternoon browsing the Model Train and Ships Museum, a museum that I was sad I didn't have time to visit during my previous trip to Vancouver. It was decent, with one remarkably large model train layout, but nowhere near as impressive as my memory of the massive model train setup I saw years ago in Victoria.
After I went to the museum, Di Yin and I met up again, sat and snacked in a cafe for a while, then decided to go downtown to kill some time before dinner. We walked across the bridge to Vancouver proper and found a cool Korean mall with a large Korean grocery store (H-Mart). From there, we headed west down Robson through downtown's main shopping street. Finally, we returned along Granville Street, walking past clubs, bars, xxx places, and joints selling food for drunk people. Granville Street had more beggars than Robson Street.
As we headed back to a bus stop, we peeked inside a restaurant advertising "Hedonistic Nocturnal Feasting" and "Foodgasms til 1:30am."
Once back where we parked our rental car in Richmond, we went to Seto, a reasonably good Japanese restaurant. The decor was unusual for a Japanese restaurant (at least judging by the states), having many secluded booths with high walls.
We intentionally ate a small dinner so we could head to No 9 Restaurant, a brightly-lit, 24-hour Chinese diner that Di Yin likes. There, I had a reasonably good bowl of won ton soup.
Vancouver, et al.: Day 1: Traveling and Pike Place Market
Getting to my flight to Seattle was confusing. Though Di Yin and I took the bus I always take straight to the airport, we had trouble finding my flight. Apparently my domestic Virgin America flight was to depart from the international terminal! By the time we figured this out, it was too late for me to check our baggage; instead, Di Yin checked our bags for us. (She flew on a different flight which left slightly later.)
This was the first time I flew Virgin America. I enjoyed watching their safety announcement, done in the form of a wry cartoon. The flight itself was comfortable: the seats were leather; we each had a row to ourselves; every seat had a personal video screen.
Once Di Yin and I landed in Seattle and picked up our luggage and rental car, we drove to Pike Place Market. Seattle was overcast. On the way to the market, we got views of downtown. Also, we passed a harbor with many cranes that reminded me of hobby-horses and a literally countless number of shipping containers.
Once in Pike Place, I started taking pictures. Di Yin did too. The latter link goes to her first picture from this trip. When you see a picture of Di Yin with Hainanese chicken (picture #26), you're done with her pictures for the day. I'll link to the next day's pictures in the following post.
Pike Place itself was pretty impressive and similar to, though much larger than, I remembered. I like the plaques with old pictures of the market. I'd forgotten there were many additional stores underground. Admittedly, most of them sold clothing, or non-artisan and non-food products, so they interested me less than the part above ground. Incidentally, the area where we parked off a highway near the waterfront wasn't pleasant, but Pike Place is fairly insulated from the highway.
The fish-throwing stand was still there, exactly as I remembered. I spotted a variety of other neat items for sale at the market such as unusual vegetables like morel mushrooms and rhubarb. I also tried a variety of very good balsamic vinegars and vinegar-and-oil mixes from a place in Napa. Although I didn't buy any, partially because Di Yin thought the vinegars were too sweet and partially because I didn't want to buy a bottle of already mixed olive oil and vinegar, it got me in the mood to try more vinegars.
Done with Pike Place, we drove north on highway 5, heading to Canada. Highway 5 was often beautiful, driving between massive walls of pine trees. Because the area was so beautiful, we said, "we should find somewhere to stop and enjoy the sights." After the next bend in the road, we saw a sign for the Lake Padden recreation area and exited. It was nice. We walked around a bit. (See the pictures.)
Given the vast acres of forest we passed, I'm not sure what I think about the timber logging camps we saw at times on the drive.
The sun came out like blazes when we were a mile from the Canadian border. :) How's that for symbolism?
Once in Canada, we checked into our hotel, which was a traditional bed and breakfast (without breakfast). Located in a residential neighborhood, we stayed in a family's house (in their guest room) and paid in cash. Throughout the trip we always stayed in places like this. Not only was it cheaper than a regular hotel, we also had the added privilege of being able to use the fridge and utensils, handy for preparing for picnics.
We then had a pretty good dinner in Richmond at Top Shanghai Cuisine Restaurant, a restaurant I never heard mentioned during my previous reading about Vancouver. We were hungry.
Vancouver, Richmond, Seattle, and Vancouver Island
A friend of mine, Di Yin, was to present at a conference in Victoria. Always looking for an excuse for a trip, I joined her for the excursion, which lasted from June 10, 2008, to June 17, 2008. We mainly spent time in four places:
- Vancouver. I still really like Vancouver and think it's a well designed city. I entirely agree with my previous impressions (second paragraph). While in Vancouver, I took the opportunity to see a few of the places I didn't see during my last trip, and returned to some places I really liked, such as the Granville Island market.
- Richmond (the suburb just south of Vancouver). I ate a ton of great Chinese food! I'm told and believe that Richmond has the highest density of good Chinese restaurants of anywhere in the world. (Yes, a greater density than even cities in China! Richmond's populated by people who had the money and resources to leave China, meaning the standard of living is much higher than China's. Thus, Richmond doesn't have all the eateries China has that are just there to provide calories to the poor.) We stayed in Richmond for much of the trip.
- Vancouver Island (which includes Victoria). We spent two days there, allowing me to briefly explore beautiful nature, eat very fresh fish, and observe the lack of non-white people. Di Yin remarked that she likes Vancouver Island more than Vancouver. Regardless, as I didn't see downtown Victoria, Vancouver Island deserves another trip.
- Seattle. We visited Seattle briefly at each end of the trip, reminding me how cool Pike Place Market is.
Di Yin also took pictures during this trip.
Vancouver Day 5: Chinatown and Gastown
I'd reserved my last (part of a) day in Vancouver for Chinatown and Gastown, two districts that would keep me in close proximity to the bus that would take me back to the airport. As Gastown, the preserved historic district, is probably the most touristy destination in Vancouver, I think it's funny that it's the last thing I explored during my trip.
These photos accompany my narrative for the day. Many events described in picture captions I won't bother mentioning this post. Also, I apologize but I don't have a route map for the day.
After a quick breakfast of toast (once again), I headed out to explore Chinatown. En route, I passed what appeared to be a small theater district. It was surprisingly non-ornate compared to other towns'. I also passed some homeless people, which made me a little uncomfortable because it was still early enough in the day that there were few other people on the street. As I entered and moved east through Chinatown, homeless people disappeared -- this could be because it got later in the day but also buildings got nicer.
Chinatown
I explored Chinatown by following the walking tour printed in a Chinatown brochure I'd acquired. It was fun, leading me to many interesting plaques. Although Vancouver's Chinatown is supposedly one of the largest in North America, it didn't seem that big to me. It is sizable, just not huge. But then, maybe I didn't walk far enough east into it. Or maybe Vancouver, like San Francisco, has its Chinatown spread into different parts of the city. For instance, Richmond, the borough with the night market, had a large Chinese community as well.
I spent a good fraction of my time in Chinatown in gardens, of which it has two adjacent ones. One was free and casual. The other had an entry fee and tour. It was the latter, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, because of the detail the builders and designers put into everything, where I spent the majority of my time. The garden was built with traditional materials: no power tools, screws, or nails. The tour guide was great because she knew lots. The virtual tour and other online exhibits includes some of this information.
The third park I visited, Andy Livingstone Park, is a block south of the other two. It's a reasonably nice urban park, certainly not as ugly as those plain square block parks in San Jose.
Sometime while in Chinatown, I happened upon the 7th Annual Vancouver Chinatown Festival. I'm glad I didn't know it was happening, else I would've planned part of my trip around it. But this festival was small, perhaps one of the smallest to which I've gone, and pretty boring and thus certainly not worth planning around.
There was a place at which I wanted to eat before I left Vancouver but I wasn't sure if it was open on Sunday. It didn't answer its phone when I called (and had no recording!), leading me to believe it was closed. Instead, I grabbed lunch in a packed steam table joint in Chinatown. On the quality versus quantity scale, it was clearly on the far right. I threw most of it away.
Gastown
Gastown is Vancouver's historic district. It started in the 1860s when "Gassy Jack" arrived with a barrel of whiskey and told people if they built him a saloon, he'd served them alcohol. It was built within twenty-four hours. Gastown grew until the depression, at which point it became Vancouver's skid row. By the 1960s it was blighted and parts were scheduled for demolition. But some people rallied to save it and had it renovated to make it the tourist destination it is today. As I walked around, I could feel its skid row nature hadn't entirely disappeared. Indeed, most of the housing in Gastown is subsidized.
Although I didn't have time for a full walking tour of Gastown, soon after I arrived I spotted a tour already in progress and tagged along. I didn't feel bad about joining without paying, knowing I was entering late and would be leaving before it was finished. I learned later the Gastown tours are free.
The tour guide was great! (That's two good tour guides in one day!) She shared many fun facts, some of which are available online at gastown.org and seegastown.com. The former has the text of all plaques in Gastown, the first time I've seen a city/neighborhood do that. I liked reading the downtown plaques but they're much less exciting online because the online versions don't have pictures of the nearby buildings. They only have the plaque text. The latter web site links to a walking tour with many details online, likely the one I took. (It also has walking tours for other neighborhoods -- too bad I didn't find the site until after I returned from Vancouver.)
I learned cool facts, such as:
- Water Street was so named because the north side used to be next to water. People would row up in canoes to load and unload groceries. Land filled in over time, just as it did in Manhattan and many other cities, and the shoreline is now several hundred feet away, enough room for buildings and train tracks.
- In the 1800s, in the middle of a land speculation boom, a fire spread, burning all Vancouver within 45 minutes. (I wonder what it did to real estate prices?) Then, of course, they rebuilt with brick.
- Vancouver's skid row was so named originally because it was on a slope that mills used to roll logs down to the water.
- I saw the first Old Spaghetti Factory (Canadian company). The building looked apropos for the name.
Heading Home
After Gastown, I stuck my head in the Pacific Center Mall. It was much like the International Building Mall, described in the photos, but much more happening. Then I picked up my luggage from my hotel and caught my bus back to the airport. The bus was slightly delayed due to having to go slowly around the gay pride parade. While watching Vancouver pass by the window on the way to the airport, I noshed on a taro bun cake I picked up in Chinatown. mmmmmm...
Vancouver Day 4: North Vancouver, Lonsdale Quay, Lynn Canyon, Grouse Mountain, and Fireworks Competition
Alternative title: Exploring nature near Vancouver on the cheap
I could've taken driving tours of North Vancouver. I could've gone to the expensive touristy sites instead of the likely equally good though less well known hikes, canyons, bridges, and parks. These touristy options would've cost something like C$100. Rather, I felt cheap, perhaps as a result of paying so much for dinner at West Restaurant a few nights ago, and so I planned my own routes and hikes and saw great sights yet only ended up paying around C$15 for all my adventures for the day.
This map shows my route for the day. Nearly all those lines are from buses and ferries, not walking. (i.e., I didn't walk 36 miles.)
These pictures also accompany the day's narrative.
I started by walking through downtown to the ferry terminal (near Canada Place, an area I mostly already explored) and took the ferry (seabus) across Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver. Sadly, the ferry was entirely enclosed. Although I did take one photo through the window (which turned out well), I couldn't go on deck to get a truly unobstructed panoramic view.
Lonsdale Quay
The ferry ends in North Vancouver at a market called the Lonsdale Quay. Londsdale Quay is like a shopping mall with a quite large food court, selling both prepared foods and raw ingredients. (Regarding prepared foods, I saw many Asian places and a few Mexican ones. The latter is surprising because I didn't see many Mexican places in Vancouver. I wonder if Northern Vancouver has a larger Mexican population.) Being Saturday morning, the quay happened to have a tiny -less than a dozen booths- farmers market. Although the quay wasn't anywhere near as impressive as the Granville Island Market, it was still substantial, probably matching San Francisco's ferry building (ignoring its farmers market) in size.
Some booths in the food court, likely not directly affiliated with the farmers market, sold vegetables, meat, and gourmet foods. (One shop had an impressive amount of chocolates.) A few did something I consider brilliant: they chopped and sliced fruits and created make-your-own-fruit-salad buffets. As the fruit tasted so fresh, they must have gotten much of it from the farmers market people. I don't understand why no one does this at farmers markets anywhere else? Individual farmers can't do it because they don't have the variety of fruits needed. But all you need is a knife, a scale, and a goodly amount of foot traffic and you can make people happy with a fresh fruit salad made from fruit picked at its peak of sweetness.
As seen in the pictures, my brunch was a fruit salad and a meat pie. I sat at a pleasant spot on the dock and enjoyed the day.
Lynn Canyon
After brunch, I tried to decide where to go next. In Northern Vancouver, there are two parks known for having high suspension bridges over ravines: Capilano Suspension Bridge and Lynn Canyon. The former, privately owned, costs around $30 to cross. The latter, a public park, is free. However, it's not quite as high (170 feet versus 230 feet). While walking through Vancouver, I saw many advertisements for the costly one plastered on the sides of buses. (Obviously, the ads don't mention the cost or the alternative.) The touristy one also had the advantage of having a new attraction, Treetops Adventure, which includes cable bridges suspended among trees. Of course, they charge even more to visit that. Perhaps it was such a tourist destination for good reason -- some subtle feature that made it cooler. My instincts, aside from treetops adventures, said to go to the more secret option. But the situation was further complicated by the fact that they were on different bus routes and the expensive one was more on the way to another destination I had planned for the day.
After all this internal debate, I eventually decided to go to whichever one happened to have the bus arrive first. To commemorate this decision, I wrote in my notes "bus (mis-? pro-?) adventure," denoting my uncertainty in whether the outcome would be positive or negative.
And so I found myself heading toward the cheaper (actually free) option. The bus took me past a nice downtown park.
As for Lynn Canyon itself, it was nice. (See the pictures.) I tried to take some pictures from the bridge but mostly failed; the swinging of the bridge blurred many of them too much to bother saving. Beside crossing the bridge, I hiked a short loop in the park.
Some parts of the Lynn Canyon Park are steep. I witnessed a kid, not paying enough attention, fall down a short segment of a hill before, luckily, someone caught him. He really did almost kill himself.
On the way out of the park, I stopped by the Ecology Center and saw some exhibits about the park and temperate rain forests.
Grouse Mountain
Since there was no direct bus from Lynn Canyon to Grouse Mountain, I decided to connect through Lonsdale Quay. (I could connect elsewhere but was worried it'd be easy to screw something up and end up lost and stranded. Maybe I was a little worried due to my trouble with getting to the Richmond Night Market the previous evening.)
Grouse Mountain is much like the resorts in Tahoe: snow sports in the winter and hiking, biking, and the like in the summer.
To continue my pattern of frugalness, I spurned buying a (~C$30) ticket to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain, instead deciding I was in good enough shape and had time to climb it. Besides, I imagined correctly that I'd enjoy the climb through the woods much more than the likely barren mountain top.
Although the mountain looked tall, I didn't realize quite how tall. It turned out the trail was two miles long and gained nearly three thousand feet in elevation. Yes, that meant I climbed up and up, along with countless Japanese tourists who also didn't realize quite what an undertaking it was.
When I was about halfway up (though I didn't realize it at the time) and sitting on a rock to rest, I saw one such tourist, a male around twenty, finish drinking his bottle of water, put it down, and continue upward. I stopped him, saying, "Hey, you forgot your water." He replied to the effect that he doesn't have the energy to carry it anymore. That pissed me off. First, he was littering, and littering with something that wouldn't decompose or disappear in a couple of months. And second, how much does an empty water bottle weigh? Probably four ounces. Good grief. I picked up the bottle, shoved it in my backpack, and dumped it in a recycling bin at the top.
During the climb, I occasionally noticed people hiking in sandals. I must respect their ability to do it without reasonable footwear. But I also must respect the wearers' stupidity. Even if the strenuousness of the hike isn't well advertised, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that the mountain is tall and climbing it in sandals isn't going to be pleasant.
Incidentally, there's a club for people who run the trail. Impressive.
At the top of the mountain, I wandered around a little before getting in the long line to take the gondola down. (There's not much exciting stuff at the top of the mountain. I wonder how people that pay good money to ride to the top feel.) The ride down is a relatively cheap C$5. I'm glad I did, not only because, despite the over half an hour long line, it saved me time it turned out I needed but also because I saw some nice views after the gondola passed some supporting towers and the ground dropped away. I didn't take many pictures on the way down because I found it hard to focus my camera through the glass.
Back in Vancouver
Once on the ground, I took a bus back to the quay, a ferry across the inlet, an express bus (leaving every two minutes!) to South Granville, and a short walk to get my name on the ninety minute waiting list for Vij's, the Indian fusion restaurant where I wanted to eat. (The long wait was because it was a Saturday night and I lacked reservations.) I went to a Chapters, a decent Canadian bookstore chain, and browsed for an hour before returning to wait by the restaurant itself. Happily, even with that length of a wait, I knew I'd be able to eat in time for the fireworks show. Here's my review of Vij's.
Although I could have easily walked to the same place from which I watched the fireworks on Wednesday, I decided to take a short bus ride so, for variety's sake, I could watch the show from a different angle and so I could see a different part of Vancouver.
This fireworks show, provided by Mexico, was awesome, definitely better than the Czech Republic's one. I learned later Mexico won the contest. The photographs don't do the fireworks justice. I saw explosions that looked like angels and flowers. All the fireworks exploded with a sense of power/assertiveness.
I previously mentioned how impressed I've been with Vancouver's public transportation system. Walking home after these fireworks, I was similarly impressed with how Vancouver controlled the crowd. Every intersection with cars had at least two people directing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. I also saw a parade of motorcycle cops clearing a path for an array of trucks, possibly street sweepers or garbage trucks. (I couldn't tell from the distance.) In addition, one person launched a firework from the roof a building. Within minutes, there was a chopper with a searchlight scanning area.
The crowd control, however, couldn't be perfect, of course. The area of downtown through which I walked was packed with twenty-somethings. I passed one person who had been stabbed. He was bloody but it clearly wasn't life-threatening. Police questioned nearby witnesses. All signs said it was personal, not random or a mugging. Later, I checked the news and crime statistics. Vancouver's generally a pretty safe city, both that night and most. As hundreds of thousands of people attend these shows, it usually has a few incidents of the type I saw.
Vancouver Day 3: Granville Island, UBC, Museum of Anthropology, Japanese Garden, and Richmond Night Market
My route for this day took me far south and west of downtown Vancouver. Don't worry -- I didn't walk those 39 miles it lists; I took a lot of public transportation.
As the photos I took demonstrate, I started the day with a walk through Yaletown to catch a ferry to my first major destination.
Granville Island Market
It would be hard to use too many superlatives to describe the scale and diversity of the Granville Island Market. Instead, let me give a recipe: take a farmers market; mix in a few heaping spoonful of the small artisans and craftspeople that usually show their wares at street fairs; add a block of fish market, meat market, specialty food shops like cheese, chocolate, and bread; sprinkle on a few clothing boutiques and a hefty portion of art galleries from areas as diverse as painting, ceramics, and furniture; drop in a selection of restaurants and casual counter joints; adorn with a handful of specialty machine shops / industrial art studios that can perform tasks like rebinding old books or creating a scale model of anything; finally, grab many cultural institutions from the metropolitan area and transplant them here, being sure to include at least half a dozen theater companies, a musical group or two, and a couple small museums. Then place the conglomerate somewhere with a 270-degree view of the water (and the associated docks for yachts, places selling yachts, and marine recreation shops in general), add a park with a water playground for kids, and connect the whole area to miles of walking trails leading in every direction.
If that description didn't give you an idea of how big the market is, maybe this list of items I liked seeing will:
- Hamantashen
- Salmon jerky
- Turkey figs
- Pirogis
- Stained glass place mats (functional and art!)
- A bookstore that only sells cooking/food books
- A coffee shop on a wooden pier that sticks out in the water
Incidentally, the museum I spotted, the Model Trains Museum, looked cool. Sadly, I didn't have time to enter. It's on my list of things to do in Vancouver if/when I return.
Lunch
Wandering around Granville Island and seeing all the food on sale at the market made me hungry. (Could you tell from my list of interesting things? :> ) But I resisted enough to make it to my planned lunch destination, Go Fish, a seafood shack on the nearby coast. Here's my review.
Heading to UBC
Stuffed, I left the waterfront and walked through Kitsilano / South Granville, one of the neighborhoods I'd previously visited and been impressed by, to catch a bus westward. En route, I spotted the only Mexican restaurant I'd see on the trip that actually looked authentic.
The bus ride to the University of British Columbia was nice. The bus soon left the density of Vancouver proper to pass green spaces and parks, heading through a more suburban landscape. Sorry, I couldn't take any pictures as the bus was moving.
Museum of Anthropology
My reason for going to UBC was to see its Museum of Anthropology, devoted to what Canadians call the "first nations" / "first peoples," our equivalent of Native Americans. While at the museum, I got to hear a kentongan, a nice sounding Indonesian instrument. I also spotted a fairly hidden ceramics gallery that contained a wide variety of European ceramics from the past five centuries. Although a bit out of place compared to the rest of the museum, it was notable because it felt so comprehensive, showing the breadth of European ceramics and how they've changed over time. The gallery was too dark to photograph. Other than those few pictureless comments, my experience at the museum is well documented by the pictures I took and their captions.
Nitobe Garden
With extra time after the museum before my evening plans, I wandered around UBC. I ducked into the library to use a computer to check a bus route map. (Glad I could enter without a student id!) I also spent time at a traditional Japanese garden, Nitobe Garden. It wasn't quite as tranquil as it was probably meant to be, as one could still hear street noises in places. To explore the garden, the front desk lent me a surprisingly detailed guide map. It's impressive how much thought and symbolism went into every little decision when planning and building the garden. You can get a sense of it from browsing the "For the Scholar" section of the web site, especially the sections on symbols, religious imagery (especially the last paragraph of each section), and lanterns.
Bus (Mis)Adventures
I found my way back to the main UBC bus station at the perfect time to get on the bus back east. Once in downtown Vancouver, I transferred to a southbound line and disembarked when it turned onto the road on which I knew the Richmond Night Market was located. Since that bus only runs along the road for a quarter of a mile, I figured I'd get off and walk until I found the address.
Boy was that a mistake. Richmond is suburban. The blocks, if you can call them such, are far apart and the house numbers increase very slowly. I was a bit worried about hopping on another bus because I wouldn't easily be able to tell when to get off.
After probably forty minutes (three miles?) of hiking in the sun, I gave up and waited for a bus. It was easy to know when to get off because mostly everyone on the bus was going to the market and got off at the same stop. I followed them. And it's a good thing I grabbed the bus, as I think I was only halfway from where I got off my first bus to where the market was. Still, the experience gave me the opportunity to burn some of the excess calories I consumed at lunch.
Richmond Night Market
The Richmond Night Market is located in the back parking lot of a big box retailer. The retailer isn't even directly on the main street on which I walked in Richmond. Thus, getting there gave me the feeling of being in on a secret.
Most booths sold amazingly cheap, mass-produced, possibly knock-off goods like sunglasses, dvds, cds, clothes, and even printer ink cartridges. There were a few unusual ones such as one selling an "ultra light magic bra" and another offering hand sewn portraits.
The market was fairly crowded, especially the space between rows of food booths. Standing room only, I think it took me half an hour to push my way, eyeing the selection, from one end to other.
I noshed the whole time (several hours) I was there. I ate a variety of unusual items (see pictures): a BBQ duck wrap, a pork bun, some takoyaki (Japanese octopus dumplings), a Korean pancake, some barbecued squid, a shrimp dumpling, some spicy fish balls, some shu mai, a baked curry puff, some hot and sour soup, and a fried pork bun. I also had but didn't photograph a pineapple smoothie. There were more items that tempted me but, as one can guess, I think I had enough to eat. These items included a Japanese seafood pizza, fondue (yes, at an Asian market!), and shaved ice.
Regarding entertainment at the market -as if seeing all the stuff for sale wasn't enough-, after much bad adolescent karaoke, some guy with a great voice came on stage to sing some Elton John. That was nice to listen to.
In the amusing t-shirt category, someone wore one that said "I'm out of my mind (be back in five minutes)".
I returned to my hotel without difficulty, stuffed and a bit tired by my hiking in the sun. (I followed people back to the bus stop, and caught a bus that ran straight to downtown Vancouver.)
Vancouver Day 2: Stanley Park, the West End, and Downtown
Thursday started off on the right foot with some complimentary orange juice and tasty (whole grain?) toast served in my hotel.
Or, I suppose I could focus on the negative: that the hotel's computer with internet was occupied throughout the time I was awake and so I couldn't look up the addresses I desired. This didn't turn out to be a serious problem then or throughout the rest of the trip. Indeed, I found the lack of internet on the whole trip quite refreshing; the inconvenience caused by not knowing some addresses, hours of operations, or phone numbers caused only minor alterations in my plans and no problems so memorable that I can recall them now.
After breakfast I explored a small unremarkable underground mall near my hotel, then headed off to Stanley Park. I thought I'd wander through downtown as I walked to the park but quickly realized if I was going to spend hours walking around the park itself, it'd be easier to hop a bus. And so I did.
This route map shows my combined walking and bus route for the day.
These pictures also accompany the day's tales. In fact, they're the primary source of my observations -- the rest of this blog entry is simply a motley assortment of high level observations along with niggling remarks on unphotographable items.
Stanley Park is Vancouver's answer to big city parks like Golden Gate Park or Central Park. As the photographs demonstrate, it's a huge peninsular park with verdant greenery inland and many miles of beautiful shoreline and beaches. It has a nice free park bus that drives the perimeter (where nearly everything interesting is). After briefly wandering around the inside of the park (see route map), I hiked the six mile perimeter counter-clockwise, occasionally grabbing the bus when the distance between sights I wanted to see was large.
It was a nice peaceful hike, especially when I left the main trail and all the people behind and hiked through a deep forest along the coast on the way to Siwash Rock on the west side of the park. It was just me, crashing waves, and my ipod, carrying intellectual public radio discussion programs.
After hiking past many nice beaches, I managed to leave the park in time for a late lunch. I wandered briefly up and down Denman Street and was greatly impressed by its diversity of restaurants, further supporting my similar reaction from a different part of Vancouver on the previous day. Within six blocks I counted: two Ukrainian places, two Irish ones, four Greek ones, a Russian one, a Mongolian BBQ joint, four gelato places, and an African fusion place, not to mention many standard cuisines like Japanese and Italian. (The only notable lack was Mexican. This street only had one place: Canada's Original Steamed Burrito. I'd see this chain later elsewhere in Vancouver but still generally observed a dearth of Mexican food.) And again, a few steps from these dense commercial areas were leafy residential streets.
In fact, as it was nearly two pm, I didn't ponder the restaurant selection problem for long and instead chose one with a name I recognized from my research: a sushi place called Yoshi's. Here's my review.
After lunch I took a winding route through the West End, the part of Vancouver I was in. I spotted many rainbow flags along Davie, giving me an additional idea of what kind of district it is. Heading north on Jervis, I found many single family homes, a surprise appearance in the heart of a city.
Nearby, I explored Barclay Heritage Square and picked up a wonderfully detailed pamphlet describing the history of each of the more than a dozen century-old houses there. After much work (no thanks to Google), I found Barclay Heritage Square's official web page, which has a broken link that ought to lead to the brochure I acquired. Other than that, the best I can offer is this web page which merely has pictures of some of houses but no history.
In downtown proper, I have a few comments that don't appear in picture captions.
* Robson Street has lots of Asian stuff (clothing stores, boutiques, etc.). It also has everything you'd want, from timeless fashion to trendy: Banana Republic, Armani Exchange, Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, ... . They were all having big sales; I wonder if it's because of all the tourists in town for the fireworks.
* The Vancouver Art Museum has a gourmet restaurant with a lovely outdoor balcony. It would have been very pleasant to dine there.
* I was amused to see many full-sized statues of bears in costumes throughout downtown (e.g., "darth bear"). After seeing a few, none of which I photographed, I regretted my choice, thinking it be really nice to have a gallery of all the bears I spotted. Happily, the bears in the city exhibit, apparently a combo tourist attraction, art showcase, and auction for charity, has an online gallery displaying every bear. There's a lot! I must've only seen a fraction.
* Somewhere in downtown I was handed a free sample bag of Chris & Larry's Cookies and Clods. It was good enough that I'm mentioning it here.
Cananda Place, a combined cruise ship terminal and convention center, had many interesting plaques about Vancouver's history. Two I found worth writing down:
* One plaque discussed the history of the cannon in Stanley Park (that I took photo of) that is now fired to indicate 9:00pm. It noted that one should use the flash, not the sound, of the cannon to set one's clock. This actually made a difference (30 seconds) to ships far away.
* Two mountains were renamed after a judge said they looked like lions. How odd. Here's a brief explanation of the story (search for "Coast Mountains").
Eventually I wandered to Chambar, a Belgian beer and food joint. Here's my review.
After dinner, I returned to my hotel. It had been a nice day with lots of walking. I must've walked for about eight hours, judging by how many radio programs that I'd downloaded to my ipod I devoured during the day. The walking must've made me tired, as I slept ten hours that night.
Vancouver Day 1: Yaletown, False Creek, South Granville, and Fireworks Competition
I took a five day vacation to Vancouver from Wednesday, August 2nd 2006 to Sunday, August 6th 2006. Why? Partially I went to generally get away and explore somewhere new. Why those dates in particular? Vancouver runs an international fireworks competition called the HSBC Celebration of Light in late July and early August. The fireworks are synchronized with music broadcast simultaneously on the radio during the show. Each year four countries compete, one each Wednesday and Saturday evening. I figured if I was going to make a trip, I might as well squeeze in two shows. Hence, I arrived on a Wednesday.
Let me take a moment now to record my general impressions of Vancouver. It's a clean city, very diverse (including both ethnicities and cuisines), very safe, very walkable, and with a tremendous park. It's a very new city with countless skyscrapers, for both apartments and offices. It felt like everywhere I went I found myself by a body of water with a fantastic panoramic view of the city and water. And the transportation grid is awesome. I never thought I could like a public transportation network without subways. I was wrong. Unlike many systems, the network is designed with a few primary lines that run extremely often (every three minutes at times); once these deliver you to the vicinity of where you want to be, you transfer to a more local secondary line. The bus system and the quantity of vertical housing lead to a nice city design with dense retail along main arteries and very quiet leafy side-streets everywhere else. A few steps away from the arteries and suddenly you forget you're in the middle of a busy city.
The remainder of this and the next few blog posts will describe in detail in a daily fashion what I saw, what I ate, what I did, what I thought, and what gave me the impressions I have about the city.
Flying to Vancouver (direct) was pretty uneventful. (This was before the British terrorist scare.) Lunch was a bagel bought from Noah's that was handed to me in a Izzy's bag. The bagel was very good, so I think it's likely that it was Izzy's. How odd.
I spent most of the train ride to the airport and the flight reading my guidebook (previously bought after a long time at the bookstore examining books and deciding which was the best) to decide what to do when I arrived. I'd arrive in mid-afternoon and wanted something I could comfortably fit in within the few hours before the fireworks competition.
When I arrived, I had my camera charged and ready and began taking pictures. These photographs accompany my narrative for the day. In fact, I'm trying to use the pictures and the captions to elaborate on my experiences in Vancouver and thereby make this blog entry less verbose. I've also uploaded my rough walking route. It starts from my hotel.
With that in mind, all I have to say is Vancouver airport is cool. See my pictures for more. Some signs were in French, a fact that somewhat surprised me given the largest non-English language spoken in Vancouver is certainly some form of Chinese. (At the time I hadn't yet thought about Quebec.) Customs was amazingly smooth and efficient.
I took a private airport bus from the airport to my hotel. Riding it went through suburbia and then a nice downtown that wasn't even in Vancouver proper. I didn't realize at the time that I'd actually be walking that part of Vancouver (South Granville) later in the day. While going over the bridge into Vancouver proper I saw nice mountains in the distance but wasn't quick enough with my camera to capture them.
Once at my hotel, I checked in. I stayed at the Kingston Hotel for the whole trip. It was a great choice: conveniently located downtown, clean, and surprisingly cheap for the peak of the holiday season (~US$50/night). The hotel probably had less demand for rooms because the bathroom/shower was down the hall, not within most rooms. The bathrooms were private and were available every time I needed them, so this wasn't a problem. My room itself was small, reminding me of my college dorm rooms. The only serious point of disappointment was the only form of internet connectivity was one computer, which was seemingly always in use. Over the course of the trip I figured out how to do things and plan without the internet. I think it was good for me and after two days I barely missed it.
After settling into the hotel, I headed out to explore Yaletown. Yaletown isn't near the top of any list of things to do in Vancouver (nor should it be), but I knew I wanted to walk through it at some point and it was a convenient start for a route given the amount of time I had and where I wanted to be around dinnertime.
Although Yaletown was supposed to be a hip, fashionable neighborhood, I found it thoroughly disappointing. Aside from a few blocks of a main commercial street which frankly didn't look cool (see pic), everything was residential. Happily, every other downtown-ish place I found throughout the trip was cool and certainly better than Yaletown.
From Yaletown and as I circled False Creek (see route), I saw many fairly tall high rise residential buildings, more than I've seen elsewhere. (New York has many also, but there are many office buildings to go with them. Vancouver has its office buildings mostly in a part of town I couldn't see from my walk today.)
I very much enjoyed the route circling False Creek, and not simply because it was a stunningly perfect day as my pictures clearly show. It's also that the path is well designed for cycling and pedestrians. In addition, the path passes many parks and residential buildings of widely varying architectural styles, ranging from apartment towers to cottages to mediterranean villas.
After False Creek, I headed south down Granville Street. It's a nice street, filled with many hip clothing stores, boutiques, chocolate stores (yes, stores that only sell chocolate), art galleries, and, of course, it being Vancouver, countless coffee shops.
At 6:30pm -an early time for dinner- I found myself as planned (but reservation-less) at a fancy Vancouver restaurant called West. I got seating and spent the next couple hours eating; here's my review.
It was still light outside when I left West Restaurant around 9:15pm. I love being in northern latitudes during the summer! As I headed to the beach for the fireworks show, I walked down 4th Avenue, a street densely packed with a diverse selection of restaurants and shops. Since it was still twilight and such a pleasant day, some restaurant patios were overflowing. And as I turned onto a side street, I was pleasantly surprised how quickly the atmosphere became a clean, green, and comfortable residential neighborhood.
The beaches were packed with people ready to watch the Czech Republic's entry to the fireworks competition. I found a grassy spot and settled down, ready to watch, to photograph, and to record videos (available from the photos link). The show itself was decent though certainly not particularly special. Personally, I enjoyed the music selection, including pieces like the Pink Panther theme, Rhapsody in Blue, and other jazz selections, much more than the fireworks. But if this show were the only reason I'd visited Vancouver, I'd certainly be disappointed.
After the show, watching the lights of hundreds (maybe thousands) of boats head back to their moorings in False Creek was pretty amazing.
The walk home, past dark beaches, over the bridge to Vancouver proper, and down Granville Street (not the section I'd previously walked which was outside Vancouver proper), was quite pleasant. This part of Granville has many clubs and theaters and was clearly the place to go for that kind of nightlife. Although the walk home took me a bit over an hour, the city still felt small and walkable as I was constantly passing through clean, safe, active, and interesting retail districts and parks.
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