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Published: August 24th 2021
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Early Morning tour - English Bay
English Bay is the body of water where the shores of Vancouver meet the Pacific Ocean and that is where Patrick’s tour ‘Guide’s Choice’ commenced. It was 7am and very few people about but plenty of gulls on the pebbly beach.
The Stanley Park Seawall, a popular running and biking route, runs along the east side of the beach.
The Silvia Hotel is an ideal place to enjoy a cocktail & watch the sunset. Virginia creeper is the ivy-like plant that covers more than half of the property. The plant is a trademark feature of the hotel and a well known landmark in the city. In 1975 the City designated the Sylvia a heritage building, ensuring its survival for many years to come.
We saw an amusing sculpture ‘A-maze-ing Laughter’
Several bronze sculptures by Yue Minjun. 14 statues portray the artist's own image "in a state of hysterical laughter". What a joyful thing to see.
As we wandered along the streets the architecture was a mix of old and new, one apartment block even had a tree growing on it’s roof.
Our tour ended overlooking Lost Lagoon, originally
a tidal mud flat. The tide used to come and go from this area. In the past, there have been years when Lost Lagoon froze over and people were able to skate on it.
morning tour
Stanley Park
The site of today’s Lumberman’s Arch was an Indigenous village that lasted around 3,000 years until the late 19th century. It was called X̱wáýx̱way (pronounced Whoi Whoi) after a dance ceremony involving a sacred mask.
In the 1880s surveyors and road builders knocked the homes down to create the Park Drive perimeter road.
The nine totem poles at Brockton Point are BC's most visited tourist attraction.
The collection started at Lumberman's Arch in the 1920s.
The Skedans Mortuary Pole is a replica as the original was returned home to Haida Gwaii. In the late 1980s, the remaining totem poles were sent to various museums for preservation and the Park Board commissioned and loaned replacement totems.
The ninth and most recent totem pole, carved by Robert Yelton of the Squamish Nation, was added to Brockton Point in 2009.
Many of the walking trails are currently closed due to coyote activity
in the park so our walk today was along the sea wall, passing the 9 o’clock gun and the lighthouse all with the backdrop of downtown Vancouver across the water with sea planes and helicopters overhead.
As we continued along the sea wall a typical sight came into view, a Murder of Crows. The thousands of crows take their daily commute between here and their Burnaby roost.
It was low tide and the shoreline showed interesting rocks and algae, we also enjoyed watching a black squirrel as it leapt high into one of the trees.
It was a lovely relaxing tour in this beautiful bustling city.
Afternoon tour - Canada Place
Robson Square in Downtown Vancouver was the start of our tour today, designed by the renowned Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson.
A memorial on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery honouring the 215 Indigenous children whose unmarked graves were found.
The memorial, consisting of 215 pairs of shoes, was created by the Vancouver-based Haida artist Tamara Bell
We took a stroll and came to Canada Place - The five
white sails have been a Canadian icon, a recognizable landmark around the world since 1986, that identifies the Vancouver waterfront and Canada. The 90 foot sails are made of Teflon coated fibreglass.
Taken from the plaque - Canada Place was the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Pier B-C ocean liner terminal in the 1920s. In 1982, the Government of Canada redeveloped it as the Canadian Pavilion for The Expo 86 World Fair and dedicated it as a legacy for the Canadian people. Home to the cruise ship terminal, convention centre, a hotel and business centre, Canada Place with its iconic white sails is a defining image of the City of Vancouver.
The Drop - The slender, elongated sculpture balances as if a huge raindrop were on the verge of landing on the sea walk.
The Cauldron - The Vancouver Olympic Cauldron was built to commemorate the city's 2010 hosting of the Winter Olympic Games.
At the end of the tour were able to watch the seaplanes as they took off for Vancouver Island.
Evening tour - Kitsikano
Another enjoyable walk in Vancouver.
We crossed the
Burrard Bridge, completed in 1932 of Art Deco style, it spans False Creek, connecting the city’s downtown with Kitsilano, one of the most coveted neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Kitsilano. Our tour had just started and what stunning views of the city & north shore mountains.
As we walked towards the shore along tree lined streets Patrick couldn’t resist picking some blackberries which looked delicious and judging my the expression tasted delicious too.
We passed The Vancouver Maritime Museum in Vanier Park, the museum opened in 1959. The wood-shingled and glass A-frame building was added to the museum in 1966, and houses the museum’s main exhibit: the 1928 RCMP Arctic explorer vessel, the St. Roch, which is a National Historic Site.
We reached the shoreline with more wonderful views & even spotted some Jade on the beach.
Patrick’s time in Vancouver is coming to an end but as always we have seen so much of this city over the past few days.
Last day - Yaletown - Once considered the city’s warehouse district, Yaletown is now considered a revitalized, “trendy” place to live, work.
Yaletown was once the Western terminus
for the Canadian Pacific Railway, but the area’s more recent reinvention dates back to 1986 when the waterfront along the north of False Creek was host to many of the venues when Vancouver hosted the World’s Fair.
Engine 374, pulled the first transcontinental passenger train into the city in 1887, it is on display at the Roundhouse Community Centre.
The walk along the water’s edge was very pleasant with low rise buildings across the water and high rise modern blocks behind.
A stainless steel art piece is a larger-than-life-size depiction of two panda bears – a baby bear strolling with its mother & is roughly five metres long, three metres high, and four metres wide.
Chinese artist Zhang Huan, the designer of the art piece, is well known for using stainless steel as a primary material for his statue designs.
Once again Patrick has shown us a part of Vancouver that maybe tourists do not always have the opportunity to visit.
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