Hopping around Vancouver

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Good thing we went to Whistler already yesterday. We had a downpour in the morning and I decided to wait it out in the hotel. Starbucks in the morning was a necessity though and I was so glad that Starbucks was located inside the hotel lobby. There was no need to walk outside and get soaked.

When the big storm finally passed, I went to pick up my sister and my niece, Priscilla, again. I had the responsibility of taking everyone to the graduation ceremony the next morning and I would like to familiarize myself with the route. After all, I was not traveling with a GPS. Again, Priscilla was my guide and we traveled west on W. 10th Avenue that eventually turned into University Blvd..

Once we entered past the gate for University of British Columbia (UBC), I noticed there was a golf course on my right hand side. The street was shaded with mature trees on both sides. It was like entering a resort, instead of a university campus. When the trees cleared out, the campus buildings and the commercial area became visible. There were not a lot of activities and traffic was minimal. Final exams were over and summer school had not started yet. I turned right at Westbrook Mall, drove several blocks and turned left at Chancellor Boulevard. Yes, I was paying close attention - I didn’t want to get lost tomorrow.

Chancellor Boulevard turned into NW Marine Drive after an intersection and Priscilla pointed out the circular auditorium to my left. That wouldn’t be that hard to find. There was another graduation ceremony going on and there were signs all over the area to direct visitors to the public parking garage. Easy enough to find! We found a parking space a few blocks away and decided to have a quick tour of the campus. The rain stopped already and it was a very cool late morning.

We walked along Main Mall and saw the setup where the students and visitors would get together after the graduation ceremony. Hopefully the weather would be more cooperative tomorrow for Priscilla's graduation. A tall flag pole dominated this area. Then we walked towards the main library building, The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre , where there was some sort of construction project going on. Priscilla was certainly proud of her UBC as we entered the library building and walked up to the second floor. She pointed out the older part of the library with its tall ceilings. It was a good blend of old and new. There were a number of students there but in general, the building was pretty empty.

It was already past noon. My sister wanted to visit the Student Union building to look for some gifts. Priscilla and I headed back to our parking space. We then picked up my sister on the way out - and back to the girls’ apartment to pick up my brother-in-law for lunch. By now, the dark clouds had moved out and the threat of rain had diminished.

We had a quick lunch at Jang Mo Jib, a small Korean restaurant close to my hotel. Yes, we all love Korean food - spicy and soupy. Priscilla did all the ordering. It was pretty obvious that she was a regular customer and knew exactly what to order - without looking at the menu. I could find Korean restaurants in Texas also but the menu didn’t have the same variety as the one in Vancouver. There were not that many tables but the restaurant was packed. And everyone seems to be repeat customers.

After lunch, Priscilla suggested that we walked around Granville Island. I had never been there before even though I had driven over it several times already. Granville Island is situated right below the Granville Street Bridge, across from downtown Vancouver’s peninsula. As usual, Priscilla gave me directions and I drove - following her directions. It was only a 10-15 minutes drive to Granville Island but I spent the same amount of time - or more - looking for a parking space. Apparently, Granville Island was a popular destination and parking space was a premium. We had to drive away from the main market area to finally locate a space.

Granville Island was once an industrial manufacturing area. We walked past a cement plant en route to the main market. The main market was this Granville Island Public Market, located along the water, and was everyone’s main destination. Small shops, displaying arts and crafts (saw a small Inukshuk on display), and a glass blowing studio lined the streets that we walked on before reaching the market. We didn’t enter the market though. Instead, we walked along the pier in front of the market and checked out the scenery. Granville Street Bridge was above us - to our right and Burrard Bridge was to the left. There were a lot of people sitting on the available benches, drinking coffee, enjoying the American Indian free musical performance and watching yachts slowly going by. Seagulls were all over too, watching and waiting for food from those unsuspecting visitors.

I took a few pictures and then decided to hop on an Aquabus with Priscilla while my sister and brother-in-law walked around the market. Aquabus was this rainbow colored small ferry that traveled in False Creek (the small inlet along the southern border of downtown Vancouver). We had to walk down a very steep ramp to reach the dock. This Aquabus could seat about 8-10 people max with a seemingly flexible schedule. Our Aquabus took us along the edge of Granville Island to Science World and Yaletown before returning back to Granville Island. It was a short, yet scenic, 20 minute ride.

Back on Granville Island, we went into Granville Public Market to find the rest of the family. This market was a delight for any food lovers. Fresh organic produce, berries, chocolate, cheese and local arts and craft filled the large market place. It was pretty packed on a cool Tuesday afternoon as visitors browsed and sampled some of the delicacies. I got myself a fresh fruit smoothie and joined others at a table overlooking the pier. This was definitely a unique experience - one that I could not find in Texas.

I took everybody back to the apartment as the afternoon turned into early evening. Back at the hotel, I decided to walk along the water again - enjoying the sunny afternoon with the cool breeze from the water. There were several groups on kayaks … they were practicing for some race. Their meeting point seemed to be directly across from the hotel. A little bit later, my sister and Brigette came to the hotel by bus to take me to Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is a 1,000 acre urban park bordering downtown Vancouver that was opened in 1888 by Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor-General of Canada. An 8.8 kilometers seawall path that took 60 years to build, circles the park and is used by cyclist, pedestrians and in-line skaters. The entrance to the park was located about two blocks away from the hotel and it was a good spot to see a Canadian sunset. My sister and niece were nice enough to keep me company. So camera in hand, we set off for an evening in the park.

We took a leisurely stroll along the seawall, across the water from the western part of downtown Vancouver. It was past 7:00pm and there were a number of cyclist and in-line skaters along the path. I had to make sure I paid attention to them as I continued to take pictures of Vancouver and the surrounding water. We walked past the prominent statue of Olympic runner Harry Jerome. As the sun started coming down behind us, we had a magnificent view of downtown Vancouver. Reflections on the water and from the high rise windows added a yellowish streak of light. The three of us, each with our own camera, got busy snapping pictures after pictures. That rainy and cloudy morning had turned into a beautiful evening.

Our tour of Stanley Park ended at Brockton Point with the white and red Brockton Point Lighthouse in the middle. The sun was setting behind the hill and we had a nice view of Lion’s Gate Bridge to the right of the setting sun. We only stopped long enough for me to snap a few shots. It was a great ending to our short tour of Stanley Park.

A quick drive around Stanley Park and I took a short cut towards the exit. It was slowly getting dark and Brigette suggested that we had dinner at English Bay. English Bay was situated on the southwestern end of Vancouver, with a beach that was a popular destination. I found a parking space and it was getting cooler without the sun. We had dinner at Milestones - a corner table with the view of English Bay. We were all pretty tired and I took my sister and niece back to their apartment before retiring for the day.

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Photos

Campus of University of British Columbia
With the library building behind

Granville Island
With downtown Vancouver across False Creek

An Aquabus
Convenient way to travel from Granville Island

Granville Public Market
All sorts of culinary delight at Granville Public Market

Kayaking
Multiple groups training for a race

Seawall walking path
Sunset at Stanley Park

Statue of Harry Jerome
Olympic runner Harry Jerome and downtown Vancouver

Stanley Park
Brother and sister enjoying the view of Vancouver

Vancouver sunset
Over the western part of downtown Vancouver