Vancouver

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After spending many days lazing around, doing not too much (lots of shopping of course!) we decided to spend the day out in the city looking around. We caught the Skytrain into the City and got off at Granville where we headed down to Waterfront Station and caught the Seabus to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. We wandered around the markets looking at the yummy foodstuffs before buying lunch. I had a boccocini baguette from a Greek shop which was delicious. I also sampled maple syrup fudge, which is very addictive. We climbed the viewing tower to take in the view of Vancouver across the bay. After catching the Seabus back to the city, Pippi and I walked to Gastown which is an historic part of Vancouver, but is also a very seedy part. We got there in time to see the old steam clock going off, which I of course photographed! Next we headed to Chinatown where we firstly stopped at Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s Classical Chinese Garden which is beautiful and tranquil despite the building site which looms in the background. There was a pond that had frozen over. It was surrounded by beautiful bridges, leafless willows and beautiful Chinese architecture. We only went to the free part which is apparently much less impressive than the real thing next door (or so the lonely planet says)! I enjoyed it though, especially when an old Chinese man threw a penny into (or on!) the pond. It bounced and then sat on the surface. We all laughed and he kept laughing and saying something to us in Chinese. We wandered around Chinatown looking at the markets and shops and the amazing items on sale, especially in the food markets.
After Chinatown, we headed into the city for some more shopping! After a fruitless search for shoes, I spotted another Levis store! Even Pippi who had given up trying on anything, was quickly into the swing. With the help of a very informative salesperson and an extensive range, we quickly got the low-down on the complete Levis range. I wanted a dark blue pair of jeans, which did not unfortunately come in petite. So it looks like I’m back to taking my jeans up! But we both came away satisfied and mission accomplished! By this time we had had enough. It was well and truly dark and dinner time was approaching so we headed off home on the train.

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