Summary of time:
· Time to Relax
· Go for walks around downtown Vancouver
· Hop on/off Bus
· Granville Island
· Enjoy the sunshine at the beach, and watch the sunset over the bay
· Walk around Stanley Park, see the Totems
· Grouse Mountain
· Gastown
Handy hints –
§ Get a map of the city, and take the hop on/off to help get bearings, or talk to other people for ideas.
§ Good camera for the views
§ Take time to stop and enjoy the places where you are
Wanting to get my money’s worth out of the hop on/off bus, i headed back to Robson Street to catch one of the first buses of the day, from which i would do the last third of the trip and the first third again to be able to get to Granville Island. There was a still bit to learn about the city:
The Public Library – it is quite an unusual piece of architecture; the main building has many columns, but slightly apart around about half the building is a “wall” that reminded me of the Roman Coliseum’s
BC Regiment Drill Hall – this is designed to look like a castle
BC Place Stadium – this is the home of the BC Lions Canadian Football team. It has a great BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, if that is your fancy.
Chinatown – this is an impressive Gate into Chinatown which was designed and built to celebrate the Millennium. It is the 3rd largest Chinatown in North America, and has a rich historic neighbourhood, although people do warn of keeping to certain roads in the area. Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is the only full-scale classical Chinese Garden outside of China, where you learn about the Taoist symbolism behind the placing of trees, paths and limestone formations.
Granville Island – this was once an industrial peninsular beneath Granville Bridge and it is not actually an island. It was redeveloped in the 1970’s to host a myriad of restaurants, theatres, buskers, artisan businesses and boutique shops. It also has a great Public Market with a host of deli’s, speciality meats, fish, cheese, bakeries, as well as an international food court.
It was interesting walking around the Island and seeing all the different things, it’s always great walking around a food market, but wasn’t buying. Lunch was great fish and chips sat overlooking false creek, with some birds waiting to share lunch!
It was then back on the bus. This bus tour was different to all others i had done, as the info was given by disc, but this driver was great, he kept stopping it and giving us extra information. I took the bus all the way back to the beginning, and went for a wander around the old buildings in Gastown, and stopping to watch the Steam Clock, which is supposed powered by steam from underground, it chimes on the quarter hour.
Next day the temperatures were rising, i thought about going for a walk and finding a place to stop and read my book for a bit. I headed down hill, and walked along the seawall passed Sunset Beach – there are logs on the beach for you to sit on and watch the sun set – and round to English Bay Beach. I intended to stop only an hour or so, but ended up stopping till the end of the afternoon!
I walked back up to Davie Street and found a great little Greek restaurant, who did BIG baklavas for pudding – took it back to the hostel and it lasted 2 days. Then a roommate and i walk back to English Bay beach to watch the sunset over the bay.
Dad was coming in a couple of days and i still hadn’t sorted out the details for going up Grouse Mountain, so visited Tourist information, very helpful and they could even give discounts on the entry price. The sun was shining again today, so i decided i would go for a walk in Stanley Park, so i took the sea wall route.
Stanley Park is 1,000 acres, one of the largest city parks in North America with sculptured gardens, pristine forest, lakes, wilderness trails, playing greens – crown green bowls, picnic areas, the aquarium, miniature train, a children’s zoo, artist corners, first nation totems, hollow trees, and beaches. It was named after Governor General Lord Stanley who dedicated the park “to the use and enjoyment of people of all colours, creeds and customs for all time.”
I stopped at the teahouse for lunch, and to avoid the hottest part of the day, before following the path all the way around Stanley Park, stopping at the various places to take some photos. There are the totem poles, which in the height of summer you would have to fight your way through all the tourists, as i left a bus of Japanese were arriving. Other sites of interest are the 9 o’clock gun, girl in wetsuit – at different tide levels she is partially or uncovered, and a water park for the kids – which includes a kids drying machine!
The path takes you underneath the Lions Gate Bridge which spans the city harbour’s First Narrow and links the downtown peninsula with the North Shore communities. It is a cable-stayed suspension bridge, which is nearly 6,000 feet long and a 200 ft clearance from the water at mid-span to allow the large vessels to pass under it. The causeway through Stanley Park has lion sculptures along it, with the Lions Peaks in the mountains as its backdrop. The bridge was built in 1938, financed by British investors, and in 2000-01 a huge engineering feat was undertaken to replace the entire bridge deck, section by section, and keep the bridge fully operational most of the time, which it achieved.
It was a great day to walk around the sea wall because the sea was calm – at the weekend the wind picked up and the waves were crashing over onto the path!
Thursday and dad was coming, so i walked down to the waterfront to get our tickets for Grouse Mountain, and then caught the sky train to the train and bus station – if you are doing several trips on bus/sky train/sea bus, ie more than 4, then it is worth getting the all day pass. You can transfer between any bus/sky train/sea bus as long that it is within 90mins of ticket purchase. Whilst waiting for dad i managed to get my ticket to get to Seattle on the greyhound on Monday – that is the day after my existing visa will run out, so hopefully i should have no problems getting another 3 month visa for the USA.
Dad’s train was slightly late, and he still had to pass through immigration and customs, the queue moved fairly quickly. We caught the bathtub-sized ferry that operates in False Bay, from Science World to the Aquatic Centre, which is at the bottom of the hill from the hostel. Once dad had got his stuff sorted in his room, we walked down to the Waterfront station to catch the sea bus, grabbing a bite to eat along the way. We didn’t have too long to wait for the Sea bus, and then at the other side we caught a bus to the Grouse Mountain Hotel and Cable Car stop.
The cheap way to get up Grouse Mountain, is to do the Grouse Grind, which is a steep 2.9km hike on a wilderness trail, which takes most people around 90 mins, and for locals is a way to test your fitness. The world record time for getting up is 27 mins. If you choose this option it is then only C$5 to return to the bottom by cable car – you are not allowed to descend by this route. We took the more expensive option of doing the cable car both ways, neither of us was up for the effort.
At the top you can get great views of the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, and even Vancouver Island on a clear day, which today was. They have 5 ziplines for you to explore the area around the top. As well as seeing a couple of Grizzly bears and grey wolves in the Refuge for Endangered Wildlife, Birds in Motion show (Summer time only), Lumberjack show (summertime only) which even has a climb up a 50/60 ft pole – amazing to see, or take the chairlift to the top. You can also take a Tandem Paraglide, expensive, but it worth doing somewhere – i did it off the top of a small mountain in Slovenia, across the edge of Bohinji Lake for a much cheaper price.
We took the chair lift up – the first one i ever remember going on – and saw some of the construction of the new wind turbine they were building. It will produce a large amount of electricity with it huge blades. But the part of the construction that i saw was after the tower was up, and before they put the blades on, they put a “bubble” on. This bubble would give great views across the city, and mountains, and was big enough for a rectangle dining table for 8, this would only be available for those who got the money! A couple of days later, whilst stop in front of the Convention Centre, i could see the new turbine!!!
It was very impressive to see the construction, but also the paraglider’s setting off. We saw the Grizzly bears, and caught the end of the show. Dad had a coffee overlooking the city, before we headed back down.
Our last meal together would be at the White Spot restaurant that dad and mum had been to when they landed in Vancouver, dad just needed to get his bearings and find the place – it had been nearly 5 weeks. He got us there without us having to do detours, but there were moments he was a bit unsure, as it was slightly further than he thought.
We had a really nice meal, and then strolled back to the hostel. Back at the hostel, i got a bit upset; i wouldn’t now see any of my family till i get home in just over 8 months (well after i saw dad off at the airport). I would be seeing friends in some places, but not family – not unless someone decides they can afford the money and time for the holiday to meet me somewhere, which you never know.
Friday, and dad was leaving, but I had also arranged to meet up with friends from Manchester for lunch, they had arrived in Vancouver the previous afternoon, on their 7 month world tour.
I caught the Sky train with dad to the airport, and waited with him in line till I was getting close to the end of the time that I could use my transfer ticket for. There were no tears; I had something else to focus on meeting Andy and Ruth.
The sky train does not have a driver, and getting a seat 3 row from the front, with a big window to look through was great. The train runs on a track over ground for about half the journey, and then it dives underground, it was strange to see the track going down at such a steep angle, and then to see it go up and down till we got to our destination.
I was slightly early so I grabbed a coffee and sat watching the world pass by, till it was time to meet at Canada Place. We had lunch nr Gastown, and we chatted for ages. It was great to catch up, share news of friends back home – who was now pregnant, and who had their babies recently or were due to have their baby shortly. Also sharing experiences of our travels so far, where were our best experiences or favourite moments.
Time flew and it was fast approaching 4pm, we walked down into Gastown. Andy and Ruth had to check in with their hosts about plans, and then stopped on for a while longer…. We walked along the sea wall to Stanley Park and Lost Lagoon, before heading to English Bay Beach. Our conversation turned to the future and things we might be involved in when we get back, interesting our things come about.
We sat on the beach, watching the sun set, and also watching the head of a seal that was swimming up and down the beach. We ended our evening together with dinner, which I didn’t managed to eat much off, but I took away for another night’s dinner.
Thank you Andy and Ruth.
· Time to Relax
· Go for walks around downtown Vancouver
· Hop on/off Bus
· Granville Island
· Enjoy the sunshine at the beach, and watch the sunset over the bay
· Walk around Stanley Park, see the Totems
· Grouse Mountain
· Gastown
Handy hints –
§ Get a map of the city, and take the hop on/off to help get bearings, or talk to other people for ideas.
§ Good camera for the views
§ Take time to stop and enjoy the places where you are
Wanting to get my money’s worth out of the hop on/off bus, i headed back to Robson Street to catch one of the first buses of the day, from which i would do the last third of the trip and the first third again to be able to get to Granville Island. There was a still bit to learn about the city:
The Public Library – it is quite an unusual piece of architecture; the main building has many columns, but slightly apart around about half the building is a “wall” that reminded me of the Roman Coliseum’s
BC Regiment Drill Hall – this is designed to look like a castle
BC Place Stadium – this is the home of the BC Lions Canadian Football team. It has a great BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, if that is your fancy.
Chinatown – this is an impressive Gate into Chinatown which was designed and built to celebrate the Millennium. It is the 3rd largest Chinatown in North America, and has a rich historic neighbourhood, although people do warn of keeping to certain roads in the area. Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is the only full-scale classical Chinese Garden outside of China, where you learn about the Taoist symbolism behind the placing of trees, paths and limestone formations.
Granville Island – this was once an industrial peninsular beneath Granville Bridge and it is not actually an island. It was redeveloped in the 1970’s to host a myriad of restaurants, theatres, buskers, artisan businesses and boutique shops. It also has a great Public Market with a host of deli’s, speciality meats, fish, cheese, bakeries, as well as an international food court.
It was interesting walking around the Island and seeing all the different things, it’s always great walking around a food market, but wasn’t buying. Lunch was great fish and chips sat overlooking false creek, with some birds waiting to share lunch!
It was then back on the bus. This bus tour was different to all others i had done, as the info was given by disc, but this driver was great, he kept stopping it and giving us extra information. I took the bus all the way back to the beginning, and went for a wander around the old buildings in Gastown, and stopping to watch the Steam Clock, which is supposed powered by steam from underground, it chimes on the quarter hour.
Next day the temperatures were rising, i thought about going for a walk and finding a place to stop and read my book for a bit. I headed down hill, and walked along the seawall passed Sunset Beach – there are logs on the beach for you to sit on and watch the sun set – and round to English Bay Beach. I intended to stop only an hour or so, but ended up stopping till the end of the afternoon!
I walked back up to Davie Street and found a great little Greek restaurant, who did BIG baklavas for pudding – took it back to the hostel and it lasted 2 days. Then a roommate and i walk back to English Bay beach to watch the sunset over the bay.
Dad was coming in a couple of days and i still hadn’t sorted out the details for going up Grouse Mountain, so visited Tourist information, very helpful and they could even give discounts on the entry price. The sun was shining again today, so i decided i would go for a walk in Stanley Park, so i took the sea wall route.
Stanley Park is 1,000 acres, one of the largest city parks in North America with sculptured gardens, pristine forest, lakes, wilderness trails, playing greens – crown green bowls, picnic areas, the aquarium, miniature train, a children’s zoo, artist corners, first nation totems, hollow trees, and beaches. It was named after Governor General Lord Stanley who dedicated the park “to the use and enjoyment of people of all colours, creeds and customs for all time.”
I stopped at the teahouse for lunch, and to avoid the hottest part of the day, before following the path all the way around Stanley Park, stopping at the various places to take some photos. There are the totem poles, which in the height of summer you would have to fight your way through all the tourists, as i left a bus of Japanese were arriving. Other sites of interest are the 9 o’clock gun, girl in wetsuit – at different tide levels she is partially or uncovered, and a water park for the kids – which includes a kids drying machine!
The path takes you underneath the Lions Gate Bridge which spans the city harbour’s First Narrow and links the downtown peninsula with the North Shore communities. It is a cable-stayed suspension bridge, which is nearly 6,000 feet long and a 200 ft clearance from the water at mid-span to allow the large vessels to pass under it. The causeway through Stanley Park has lion sculptures along it, with the Lions Peaks in the mountains as its backdrop. The bridge was built in 1938, financed by British investors, and in 2000-01 a huge engineering feat was undertaken to replace the entire bridge deck, section by section, and keep the bridge fully operational most of the time, which it achieved.
It was a great day to walk around the sea wall because the sea was calm – at the weekend the wind picked up and the waves were crashing over onto the path!
Thursday and dad was coming, so i walked down to the waterfront to get our tickets for Grouse Mountain, and then caught the sky train to the train and bus station – if you are doing several trips on bus/sky train/sea bus, ie more than 4, then it is worth getting the all day pass. You can transfer between any bus/sky train/sea bus as long that it is within 90mins of ticket purchase. Whilst waiting for dad i managed to get my ticket to get to Seattle on the greyhound on Monday – that is the day after my existing visa will run out, so hopefully i should have no problems getting another 3 month visa for the USA.
Dad’s train was slightly late, and he still had to pass through immigration and customs, the queue moved fairly quickly. We caught the bathtub-sized ferry that operates in False Bay, from Science World to the Aquatic Centre, which is at the bottom of the hill from the hostel. Once dad had got his stuff sorted in his room, we walked down to the Waterfront station to catch the sea bus, grabbing a bite to eat along the way. We didn’t have too long to wait for the Sea bus, and then at the other side we caught a bus to the Grouse Mountain Hotel and Cable Car stop.
The cheap way to get up Grouse Mountain, is to do the Grouse Grind, which is a steep 2.9km hike on a wilderness trail, which takes most people around 90 mins, and for locals is a way to test your fitness. The world record time for getting up is 27 mins. If you choose this option it is then only C$5 to return to the bottom by cable car – you are not allowed to descend by this route. We took the more expensive option of doing the cable car both ways, neither of us was up for the effort.
At the top you can get great views of the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, and even Vancouver Island on a clear day, which today was. They have 5 ziplines for you to explore the area around the top. As well as seeing a couple of Grizzly bears and grey wolves in the Refuge for Endangered Wildlife, Birds in Motion show (Summer time only), Lumberjack show (summertime only) which even has a climb up a 50/60 ft pole – amazing to see, or take the chairlift to the top. You can also take a Tandem Paraglide, expensive, but it worth doing somewhere – i did it off the top of a small mountain in Slovenia, across the edge of Bohinji Lake for a much cheaper price.
We took the chair lift up – the first one i ever remember going on – and saw some of the construction of the new wind turbine they were building. It will produce a large amount of electricity with it huge blades. But the part of the construction that i saw was after the tower was up, and before they put the blades on, they put a “bubble” on. This bubble would give great views across the city, and mountains, and was big enough for a rectangle dining table for 8, this would only be available for those who got the money! A couple of days later, whilst stop in front of the Convention Centre, i could see the new turbine!!!
It was very impressive to see the construction, but also the paraglider’s setting off. We saw the Grizzly bears, and caught the end of the show. Dad had a coffee overlooking the city, before we headed back down.
Our last meal together would be at the White Spot restaurant that dad and mum had been to when they landed in Vancouver, dad just needed to get his bearings and find the place – it had been nearly 5 weeks. He got us there without us having to do detours, but there were moments he was a bit unsure, as it was slightly further than he thought.
We had a really nice meal, and then strolled back to the hostel. Back at the hostel, i got a bit upset; i wouldn’t now see any of my family till i get home in just over 8 months (well after i saw dad off at the airport). I would be seeing friends in some places, but not family – not unless someone decides they can afford the money and time for the holiday to meet me somewhere, which you never know.
Friday, and dad was leaving, but I had also arranged to meet up with friends from Manchester for lunch, they had arrived in Vancouver the previous afternoon, on their 7 month world tour.
I caught the Sky train with dad to the airport, and waited with him in line till I was getting close to the end of the time that I could use my transfer ticket for. There were no tears; I had something else to focus on meeting Andy and Ruth.
The sky train does not have a driver, and getting a seat 3 row from the front, with a big window to look through was great. The train runs on a track over ground for about half the journey, and then it dives underground, it was strange to see the track going down at such a steep angle, and then to see it go up and down till we got to our destination.
I was slightly early so I grabbed a coffee and sat watching the world pass by, till it was time to meet at Canada Place. We had lunch nr Gastown, and we chatted for ages. It was great to catch up, share news of friends back home – who was now pregnant, and who had their babies recently or were due to have their baby shortly. Also sharing experiences of our travels so far, where were our best experiences or favourite moments.
Time flew and it was fast approaching 4pm, we walked down into Gastown. Andy and Ruth had to check in with their hosts about plans, and then stopped on for a while longer…. We walked along the sea wall to Stanley Park and Lost Lagoon, before heading to English Bay Beach. Our conversation turned to the future and things we might be involved in when we get back, interesting our things come about.
We sat on the beach, watching the sun set, and also watching the head of a seal that was swimming up and down the beach. We ended our evening together with dinner, which I didn’t managed to eat much off, but I took away for another night’s dinner.
Thank you Andy and Ruth.
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