Vancouver

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Well what can I say, Wednesday was a miserable day weather wise and I couldn't do much in the constant rain. Went to Wal-mart to buy more socks, more water and an umbrella. Those that know me know that I have not owned an umbrella for more than 15 years but I had no choice if I wanted to get out of the hotel yesterday in Vancouver. I ended up catching up on sleep, watching NBA at the pub across the road and having a few drinks. That's about it.

This morning dawned nice and dry, so after my morning coffee I jumped in the car and was at Capilano Suspension Bridge before 10am. There were already plenty of tourists there and the entry fee was about $33 + another $5 for parking which I think is a rort. It is definitely a quintessential Vancouver tourist experience. The suspension bridge is about 130m long across 2 cliffs with a fast flowing river underneath. The bridge definitely swayed and bucked but nothing too major once you learnt to bend your knees. The other side was a forest with a tree top adventure which are suspension bridges between trees quite a few metres in the air. There were plenty of natural photo opportunities and plenty to see. Once I was done there, I drove up to Grouse mountain which has a gondola to the top which costs $40 to ride! As it was starting to rain and visibility was poor I declined and drove back to town where it was well and truly raining now. 30 minutes later, and it was hailing before clearing up with blue skies again - strange! For lunch I had Ramen at Noodle City on Robson Street which is an eatery specialising in stir fried and soup noodles. Soup was perfect after spending all morning out in the elements.

I had arranged to meet an old mate at 3pm who we call Squeak. He is now living in Vancouver and was happy to meet up and we made our way down to Granville Island which he hadn't been to either. Nothing really much to see there so after a quick walk around, we headed back into downtown where we chilled at a legalised marijuana lounge. You can't buy marijuana there but apparently you can bring in and apparently you can hang out, smoke up and relax in a spacious lounge environment.

Next we found a pub that was showing the NBA game between Chicago and Atlanta. We left when it looked like Chicago had the game comfortably in the bag. Squeak had a recommendation from a friend to head south of downtown to a burger bar called Romer's which was said to have great burgers. So we jumped on a bus then walked a hell of a distance to this place which is situated in a suburb that was peaceful and probably a little more upmarket. The burgers were spectacular as were the fabulous garlic fries. Definitely decadent but hey, when you're on holidays you don't care. After dinner we were planning on catching the bus back downtown but didn't spot for 5 minutes so decided to walk and about half an hour later we were back in downtown where I bid farewell to Squeak as I need to sleep early tonight as I have the 10 hour drive to Banff tomorrow!

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