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Published: August 7th 2007
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We decided to have breakfast at the Elbow Room, which the guidebook told us is “a Vancouver institution.” We were not sure what to expect given that the primary description of the place is that it has abusive waiters. It turned out to be a great choice. The food was delicious and our waiter was only surly once, when Michael attempted to pour coffee from the staff-only pot. (One of the restaurant’s rules, which are humorously outlined throughout the menu, is that if you want a refill on coffee, get up and get it yourself.)
During breakfast, we plotted our day. We did not want to drive nor did we want to pay for the expensive tourist buses, so we planned to navigate the city’s public transportation system. After a quick stop at 7-11 for a transit map, we set out for the ferry to take us to Granville Island.
On route to the ferry, we passed two naked bicyclists. Yes, it looked painful. We found out later that these two were riding into town a few days early for the upcoming, nude bicycle protest to promote fuel-efficient transportation. “Less Gas, More Ass,” was their message and a slogan
that soon rivaled Michael’s “Taco Time is my Favorite Time” and my “Keepin’ it Real in B-ham.”
Well, it turned out that, despite our careful planning, the ferry was not part of the public system. We forked over the money to the private operator and took the scenic trip across False Creek to Granville Island. The ferry ride provided a pretty view of the all-glass, greenish-gray skyline of downtown Vancouver. We also saw floating houses.
Granville Island is home to great public market full of fresh fruit vendors, bakeries, cheese counters, butchers, florists, and all sorts of crafts. We walked most every inch of the market, had some fresh-squeezed juice, and went into some of the nearby shops. We then stocked up on picnic supplies and headed out to conquer the public buses.
About an hour later we rolled into Stanley Park. The park is awesome. The seawall walkway runs along the circumference of the park (about six or seven miles) and provides great views of the downtown skyline and marinas. There are other trails that wind throughout the park’s forests and past various tourist sites, including the totem poles, the Hollow Tree, and various sculptures.
While in Stanley Park, we ate the bread, cheese, and fruit that we bought at Granville Island. Now, Michael was still talking about the peaches we had on the ferry to Bainbridge as being the best snack of the trip, but I have to say that the strawberries and blackberries from Granville Island are at the least a close second.
One of the sights identified in the guidebook, but not found on the map of Stanley Park, is the “National Geographic Tree,” a red cedar tree nearly 100 feet around. Now, the tree is supposedly one of the largest in the world and so you wouldn’t think it’d be that hard to locate. But the forests of Stanley Park are so full of enormous, photograph-worthy cedars that it took us awhile to decide which of the trees must have gained the National Geographic title. (We have since confirmed via the Internet that our guess was correct.)
After a full day and having walked about six miles during our visit to Stanley Park, we decided that we would have an early, relaxing dinner. We had been told that Vancouver has great Chinese food and decided that would be nice
way to end the day. We made the crazy assumption that Chinatown would be the best place to get Chinese food. From our maps, Chinatown looked to be only blocks from our hotel and so we headed out for dinner. Nearly three hours later we were still walking and hungry. It turns out that Chinatown completely shuts down in the evenings. Not only did we not find a restaurant, but the streets were entirely empty and all of the businesses closed. At first we thought it might be a Chinese holiday or that we had misjudged where the center of Chinatown was located. But the more we walked and became disoriented, the more we realized that we were the only people out that did not live on the street. We were happy for the late sunset that night. The next day, on the Seabus ride to North Vancouver, the conductor gave us what he called his most important piece of advice for tourists in Vancouver: never go to Chinatown. Apparently it is home to the longest skid row in all of Canada.
Exhausted, we found a random microbrewery near our hotel and got some average food. We were just
pleased to be sitting down.
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