Wandering around Vancouver

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This morning when we woke, after having our night in two sleep shifts - good old jet lag - my brilliant husband suggested I ring the 24 hour phone number for the fraud branch and sort out my card while the rest of Australia was soundly sleeping. It worked! No waiting time. And yes, it was the dodgy Spanish transaction done in haste at 5 am in Sydney airport that raised their suspicions and put the locks on my card. The nice little man took the block off my card and then checked with Tom, to ensure they hadn’t locked his. So all is well, and we now have an expensive 5 year visa for Canada instead of the cheaper 1 year visa, but hey, I’m not at my best at 5am with the threat of our trip falling off the rails. And it did the job in double quick time.

When we checked in yesterday we were unexpectedly told we had a free breakfast included with our room, so we made our way down to the basement. This fine meal consisted of cold pastries, apple juice and coffee. Very similar to the breakfasts we had with the girls in a cheap motel at Anaheim; the cheap hotel our first time in Paris; the cheap hotel in Paddington, London - yes, right up there with all the lame breakfasts! Still, it’s free and it’s only another 2 mornings.

After brekky we found a drugstore for a couple of things we forgot to pack (Tom was horrified that we’d forgotten anything, but hey, that’s what these shops are for, right?) and then we walked down to Canada Place to join our 2hr city tour, which was a really good way to orientate ourselves. We then made our way back to Stanley Park and the miniature railway ride which ran through the old forests in the park. We spent some time exploring the parts of the Park we hadn’t seen before, and then caught a bus to Gastown where we had an early dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. It wasn‘t like the one we used to have in Sydney, but it served a great Clam Chowder and a wonderful spaghetti with Clam Sauce. I had a wonderful glass of Canadian Pinot Gris with mine, Tom had a pint of Cobblestone lager with his roasted garlic chicken on linguine. Last night he had a Canadian beer called Trash Panda! I had a Wiser and coke (Canadian whisky).

After our delicious meal we caught the bus back to Canada Place where we watched two of the three big ships pull out, and checked out the location of tomorrow‘s main adventure. Then we walked back to our hotel and rested.

Hey girls, Rosedale on Robson is still there!! Remember how much you loved our suite all those years ago?

So, our world is basically fine. I can fix Opal cards when we return home. Onward we go!

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Photos

Copy of Denmark’s Little Mermaid.
Usually surrounded by water - the tide was out

Lions Gate Bridge
Built by the Guinness family so they could access their home