Vancouver Layover

---

It's been at least 6 yrs since I've been to this beautiful city and when I saw this on my schedule I already started thinking of things to do. This YVR layover is 24 hrs at the end of a 4 day trip (which I DO NOT PREFER), but I was so anxious to come back I couldn't drop it. On the van ride from the airport to the hotel everyone asked what the other was going to do while in Vancouver. I had already decided to go rent a bike and ride the Seawall up to Stanely Park and back. The others liked the idea also so they decided to join me, except for Angela, one of the FA's that was too tired to go riding. So after arriving at our hotel, The Inn at False Creek (not as nice as the last one I stayed at here), I inquired where to rent bikes and was directed to Reckless-The Bike Store, about a 10 minute walk down to the water. We decided to meet in 30 minutes in the lobby to begin our excurtion.

So we walked down to the bike shop, stopping for a slice of pizza to take the edge off. We did some wheeling and dealing w/ the bike shop owner and struck a deal for $30 (Canadian) to rent the bikes until the next morning at 9am. Off we went on our casual ride on the Sea Wall. We made it to Stanely Park and turned around so we would have time to go over to Granville Island Market and grab a beer and something to eat. After getting over the Burrard St. bridge to Granville Island we had a few beers and walked through the market. At this point we were running short on time and decided to get on the ferry back over to Vancouver to return the bikes by 7pm (I planned on keeping mine for the night). After getting back to the bike shop the girls decided they too wanted to keep their bikes until the morning so they could take a morning ride before going back to the airport. So, Mike(FO) turned in his bike and the girls kept theirs and we were off in search of a place to eat dinner. We found Hamilton St. where the city refurbished a warehouse district and added a reastaurant row. We settled on the Marketplace Grill. The food was good and it was a nice end to a wonderful day in Vancouver.

In the morning we had a little bit to eat at the free continental breakfast, which was truely a "Continental" breakfast, as it was jus for Continental crews. We then headed out for another ride along the Sea Wall, only this time I rode out in front to get the old ticker a workout. I made it through Stanely Park to the other side of the city where it's just a beautiful ride along the water w/ marina's filled w/ sailboats and the mountains in the background.

So, that's was my Vancouver layover, I can't wait to return!

---