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Published: June 28th 2010
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YOW
Julia and I - 6:00 AM at the airport. We are on our way! Waking up a teenager at 4:30 am is never fun EXCEPT when it is to catch a plane! Julia and I were up early and at the airport by 6 am to catch our flight. Unfortunately the airline ‘gods’ were not on our side and our flight was delayed by an hour. No biggie but that extra hour sleep would have been welcome by all. By 8:00 am we were in the air and on our way. A turbulent flight was announced and felt for the first hour and a bit but then things settled down and smooth air was ours. I loved witnessing Julia’s excitement as the first mountains came into view. Photos from 34 thousand feet were taken and that is when it really hit us that we were actually going to get up close and personal with some of these beauties!
My friend Shaye picked us up at YVR and then we headed straight to the place we would call ‘home’ for the first three days. A good friend of mine from high school arranged for us to stay in a ‘guest suite’ in the condo where his girlfriend lives. We were most appreciative and it saved
Downtown Vancouver
Just off the bus - we begin our exploration of downtown Vancouver us buckets of money on hotels. The room was comfy enough - a bed, a bathroom and couch but there was no internet, tv or any kitchen amenities. No coffee maker, microwave, fridge, kettle - not even a glass for water. All I could think of was how the heck was I going to wake myself up in the morning!!
After a much needed nap, Julia and I braved the public transit system and headed downtown. We loved that the bus stop had a sign that showed the amount of time till the next bus. More than that however, we adored the view down Main Street. Mountains baby! Big beautiful mountains! We felt like we were in a movie.
We traveled through a number of neighbourhoods on our way downtown and managed to get a look at skid row - not a place we would want to hang out. Hopped off the bus near the Vancouver Lookout tower and decided it was worth the money to go to the top and get a birds eye view. I am NOT a fan of the elevators that travel up the outside of towers but have found that if you just
Me NOT looking down
Going up the elevator outside the tower. Yikes don't look down the ride is not too bad. (hah- I was scared skinny). The view from the top was spectacular and it helped us to get our bearings.
Once we were back on the ground we checked out Canada Place and then went for a walk through Gastown. It was a perfect day for walking and we worked up quite an appetite. Had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown. The BEST was her expression when she had the spumoni ice cream. According to her it is the 'happiest taste EVER'! Pure bliss.
Finding the bus back to our temporary home was a challenge but after many, many blocks that took us through Chinatown, we finally found the bus back😊 After a short visit with my friends we then 'retired' to our room and slept like babies.
A great first day....
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