Vancouver pt 2

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If you recall our plan was to go to Victoria once in Vancouver instead of while we were on the cruise ship well that was a bad decision, once we started looking at the cost of getting there we realised we probably should have gone while we had the opportunity, so unfortunately we had to give it a miss. For the last two days we decided to take advantage of one of the trolley tours available, essentially the one we chose drove all over central Vancouver picking people up from their hotels (the popular ones anyway, we had a little walk to get to a stop) and then it made several stops across the city at various tourist destinations, the good thing about the ticket was it was valid for two days which meant there was no need for us to rush around.

Over the next two days we used the trolley tour to see as much of Vancouver as we could, this included Gastown, Chinatown, Granville Island and we spent some more time in Stanley Park. Gastown was our first stop it was a small shopping strip which was named after Gassy Jack, who was the first person to build a bar in Vancouver (apparently). Gassy Jack got his name because he was known to tell tall tales, which at the time was referred to as being Gassy. His bar was built buy locals, to cut costs he offered any man who helped build his bar free whiskey. The bar was built in no time! There is a bar in Gastown that has a monument out front in honour of this great man that brought alcohol to the people of Vancouver. After visiting Gastown we decided to take a stroll back to Chinatown as there was a traditional Chinese garden there that we thought would be interesting to see. The garden was called ‘Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden’ it was built in 1986 in memory of Dr. Yat-Sen. The gardens were absolutely beautiful so much effort was put into every detail, the entire place was built by a team of specialist builders from China who use traditional methods of building (essentially no power tools and a lot of hard work). The idea of the garden is a place of serenity in a world of chaos. When built in China, unlike our normal homes where the backyard is an addition, the garden is the centre piece and the house is built around it. The whole place is balanced by ying and yang for example for everything black there is something white and for everything rough there is something smooth. Hopefully some of the photos we will add will give you an idea as the beauty we were privilege to experience.

After visiting the Chinese gardens we decided to jump back on the trolley to see what else there was to see in Vancouver. We decided to get off at Granville Island to have a stroll around there and soon found out that it is like a giant market place. There are lots of shops surrounding the main market and there I managed to find my new bag! And at 50% off Owen could not complain. So I walked away with my new bag AND a matching purse hehe. Once we got into the markets we decided to have something small for lunch and managed to find homemade sausage rolls , they were very, very nice and Owen made us trek around the markets to get another one before we left. They also had lots of cherries which was great for me as I managed to leave with a bag full of them and some grapes as well before jumping on the trolley to head back to the hostel.

The following day we went to pick up our tickets for Whistler, Owen can be a pain he wanted to make sure he knew where we had to go for the bus even though we could have found this out the following day. After that we headed back to Stanley Park on the trolley to see the parts of the park we missed previously, we went to a place called ‘Prospect Point’ it allowed us to have this magnificent view of northern Vancouver and the Lions Gate bridge, it was really pretty and it was a shame there was no cruise ships moving through because you’re that high up you can look down on them.

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Photos

Gastown
Statue of Gassy Jack

Chinese Gardens pt 2
Some of these photos are worth framing, the sky behind really added to the picture

Feeding of the Koi
They ring a gong and all the Koi come to get there dinner it was pretty cool

Some very friendly baby Swans
Everytime Soph pulled her hand out of her pocket they were sure she had food for them.