Advertisement
Published: October 1st 2010
It was Sunday 5:00 a.m on the 25th of September. My flight to Vancouver was at 7:30 am.. ‘Enough time’ I said to myself.. How wrong I was… OMG… My train to the Newark airport from Metropark station was at 5:42 a.m. That unfortunately was the earliest train I could catch to get to the airport and the next one was an hour later at 6:42 a.m. So I need to catch the 5:42 train under any circumstances. ‘Enough time’ I repeated to myself….
Time was ticking . It was 5:25 and I was still at home giving a final rundown on the things I needed for my trip, watering the plants and ensuring the house was secure. 5:31 a.m , I slam shut the front door and run to my car. Oh yes, when running late, I had to get all red traffic signals.. Thoughts were running in my head. ‘will I make it or not and if not then what the contingency plan.’ Etc etc etc….
Just as I pulled into the parking lot I see the train rolling in.. Goodness, I still had to park.. I swerved into the first available parking spot and bolted towards the train
that had already pulled in and had the doors open… Opps I forgot to buy a ticket. I needed a special ticket to get into the airport terminal. Whew…..Made it onto the train with 3 seconds to spare.…. Thank god for the cardio I had been doing lately… 😊
As the train was chugging along towards the airport, I reminded myself to take the car or cab it to the airport next time. 22 minutes later I was at the airport station. An 8 minute train ride by the ‘Air Train’ to the terminal. First stop Parking garage and then the terminals. When this ‘Air Train’ arrived at the parking Garage stop, the attendants announced everyone had to disembark and wait for the next train which would take us to the terminals. WTF… We all waited and waited and waited. No sign of the train. Now I was getting jittery that I might miss the flight…. And just as that thought came into my head, I saw the train approaching. After getting off Terminal C, I sprinted (opps correction there.. ) I DASHED towards the check-in counter. (My good cardio workout comes in use again) It was the first time
in my entire travel history that I had forgotten to check-in online.. At the check-in kiosk, the machine refused to accept my confirmation as I was late by a minute. (6:46 a.m.; Check-in closed 45 minutes before departure) I got three Continental Airlines officials to assist me in dealing with this matter. So finally, the manager was called in. He called the gate and told the personnel at the gate that I am on the way and should issue me the boarding pass. I was given a Security Clearance pass. I used my Elite Status on Continental to get through the priority line for Security Check. Oh yes, as luck would have it my bag did beeped through security check. I knew it would as I had initially planned to check-in my bag. The officers took away my shaving cream and moisturizer and passed the bag again though the X-ray machine. Beep Beep Beep. My deodorant and hair gel was also taken… Darn. I had some shopping to do as soon I reached Vancouver. And then guess what… yes, my cardio workout shows it wonders once again…. Some more running and this time like an obstacle race, weaving through swarms
of people, I reached the gate and was on the flight shortly afterwards.. Yippee…
Touchdown at Vancouver; 10:30 a.m Vancouver time.
I got onto the ‘Sky train’ to take me to Downtown Vancouver. I was staying at the Coal Coast Harbor Hotel, a short walk from the Waterfront Station. Being a Sunday everything was shut so I wouldn’t find any tourist information desk nor could I find any maps. I had to use the Google maps on my iPhone to locate the hotel. I had to be careful on using international data service coz I knew it would cost me an arm and leg to use it. But nevertheless I had to use it. And yes, I did locate the hotel. After checking in, I freshened up and headed out again to look for something to eat… I was famished. I found this amazing café called ‘Urban Fare’ which was just outside the hotel. ‘Urban Fare’ offered gourmet dishes and products from all over the world including chicken samosas, Greek salad, Hummus with pita, quiche and other yummy stuff.. I also found my favorite chocolate ‘Ritter Sport’.
After a delicious meal of some salmon along with a mango drink followed
by 2 small Ritter Sport chocolates, I started exploring the city. After ½ hr of walking around, I felt tired and sleepy so I returned to the hotel and crashed out…. (Jet lag was kicking in)
Later that evening, I had been invited to have dinner at a colleague’s friend’s house. I just had the address so thanks to my iPhone again, I managed to get bus directions to his place. I had to change 2 buses to get to my destination. Cost me $ 2.25 CAD per ride. Not bad compared to the $ 30.00 CAD I would spend if I had taken the cab. The public transport is great and quite an economical way to get around town. I arrived at 6:30 on the dot as scheduled at this person’s place. Mr. G is a partner in one of the Big Four Accounting firms in Vancouver. I was greeted by him and his family. By the end of the evening, it didn’t feel I had just met this family. We had a splendid time. We all sat outside on the patio, chatted about our individual work, our travels, his son’s summer job, his daughter’s school. Mr. G grilled
some lovely fish. Oh darn, I forget the name .. Ah well , It was a delectable meal. We ended the day by watching some clips of Russell Peters, a Canadian-Indian stand-up comedian famous for antagonistic one-liners, impeccable accents of different ethic groups and a whole lot of racial jokes. After a whole lot of bellyaching laughter, Mr. G dropped me back to my hotel. Along the way he showed me the area. I was very much impressed with the bosky park which led to a beautiful beach. We stopped near the marina which was pretty awesome. The scenery was intense and spectacular... the snow capped mountains in the distance and the shadows of Stanley Park to the right... the lights at the Grouse Mountain, lighting up the night sky. It was a sight worth a picture. Unfortunately my 5 year old Sony camera couldn’t do justice to this enchanting scenery. After Mr. G dropped me back at the hotel, I called it a night as I was mighty exhausted.
The next morning I had to take care of some work for which I had come to Vancouver. By noon, I was done and was back in the hotel. I
picked up my camera and my iPod and continued exploring the city where I left off the previous day. Oh yes I also saw the Olympic Cauldron which was presumably burning throughout the 2010 winter Olympics. It had a distinctive icy appearance as it is made of steel and glass. I got some very nice pictures of it at that time as well as when I went there later that night. It now has become a permanent landmark of Vancouver Since I was already at the Vancouver Convention Center/ Canada Place, I started the started a bus tour on the ‘Hop on Hop off’ bus. As half the day had already passed by I decided not to get off the bus but rather just stay on it and scout out the sites. I would think about getting off some place on the next day.
So thus began my sightseeing tour… Since the auto commentary was on, I got to know about every
The bus first made stops at the major hotels before starting the tour. It stopped at the Marriot Pinnacle Hotel and the Hyatt Hotel. After the bus was loaded we were off.. Whew finally….
First stop: the Vancouver
Art gallery..
According the commentary, this neoclassical building is the fifth-largest art gallery in Canada housing about 10,000 artworks including major works by Emily Carr. In addition to the commentary, the buss driver gave us a interesting piece of information. The lawn in front of the gallery is the gathering point for Vancouver's annual 420 celebrations. I was quite curious as to what this meant and the bus driver gladly provided us with an explanation.
On April 20 of every year (4/20), people in hoards approx 10,000 gather to consume cannabis to celebrate "Weed Day". The police surprisingly do not attempt to make arrests and are tolerant of all marijuana use on this day. hmmmmmmm... What can I say to that .. Time to smoke pot next April.
The next stop was the Granville Island. But along the way, just past the famous Burrard bridge, we passed the Molson brewery. This brewery was established in 1786 and is Canada's oldest consumer brand names. Before I continue let me tell you about this famous Burrard Bridge which spans False Creek, connecting downtown Vancouver with Kitsilano. It is a five-lane steel truss bridge which was constructed in 1932. Can you believe it? 5 lanes in 1932.. wow… even the George Washington Bridge in NY which was built in 1927 has 3 lanes… This mighty bridge is embellished with architectural and sculptural details that create a torch-like entrance of pylons. Unfortunately the bus was moving so couldn’t get a decent picture of the busts and the entrance. This is a time when I wish there was a lot of traffic so it would give me time to take non-shaky pictures. Ah well. Enough history for now…. 😊 carrying on…….
After passing the Molson brewery, we shortly approached Granville Island. This is supposed to be Vancouver’s most successful urban renewal projects located on False Creek. One the most fascinating aspect of Granville Island is the yachts. Yachts of all sizes just sprawled across the False Creek. Hmmm, I think I mentioned False creek before but forgot to my readers about ‘False Creek’. So here we go.. “False Creek” is a short inlet in the heart of Vancouver. The name 'False Creek' was given by George Henry Richards during his Hydrographic survey nearly a century ago. According to brochure, I found in the hotel, during World War I, the easternmost part of False Creek, which formerly ran to Clark Drive, was filled in by the Great Northern Railway and Canadian Northern Pacific Railway to create new land for their yards and terminals. It was home to many sawmills and small port operations, as well as the western terminus of the major Canadian railways. But as times passed along and the industries shifted to other areas, the vicinity around False Creek started to deteriorate. It was only in the mid seventies, Vancouver City Council adopted a set of policies and guidelines stating the vision of a waterfront city where land and water combine to meet the environmental, cultural and economic needs of the City and its people in a sustainable, equitable, high quality manner.” Hence the urban development of Granville Island…
So where was I .. Ah, the marina with countless yachts. So the main touristy thingy at Granville island is renting yachts from one of Granville Island’s many outfitters or climb aboard charters for a day of deep-sea fishing or whale watching. One could also hop on a small craft for a guided tour of the waters around Vancouver and the city’s fascinating coastline.
Granville Island also consists of three museums - the Sport Fishing Museum, the Model Ships Museum, and the Model Trains Museum. One would also find a lot of street entertainers and “The Kids’ Market”, where children can enjoy two dozen kid-themed stores and a giant indoor play area.
I had the urge to get off here and spend a while here but thought of doing it the next day. Stayed put on the bus.
After a short stop at the Granville Island to drop off / pick up some tourists, the bus carried on through Granville Street or the Entertainment District. This is one place which reminded me of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. During the day this street was rather stodgy. But after dark this street came alive with a vibrant nightlife. There are a lot of trendy night clubs, bars, micro-breweries, comedy clubs, and other establishments that stay open until the wee hours of the morning. I had heard a lot about this place and had already decided to check it out later that evening… 😊
A few minutes later the bus stop at another pickup/ drop off spot near the English Bay beach located along Stanley Park seawall system. I saw an interesting thing tree there. 
Treetop
Notice the tree on top of the apartment... Now ask youself why and how?
The bus took its time at this stop.. I think we waited for about 15 minutes here .. Atleast it gave me time to take some pictures from the bus itself.
While waiting for the bus to leave for its next stop, someone mentioned that another great place of visit would be the Pacific Spirit Regional Park which is a leafy oasis in the middle of UBC. This park has a number of trails that snake and weave through the tall douglas firs and wide oaks. But unfortunately due to lack of time I again decided to leave it to my next visit.😊 . Oh goodness I had already made a mental note of the places I wanted to visit on my next trip. This list was growing….
We were soon on our way towards the Robson Street Shopping District. I am not much of shopping fanatic but Robson Street has a diverse selection of shops peddling well-known international brands as well as high-end stores and small, trendy boutiques promoting creations by today’s budding designers. The restaurants on this street are nearly as diverse as the shopping opportunities. I was actually tempted to hop off and grab something to eat but thought it would be better to just finish the bus tour first. So we continued weaving through traffic and making insane turns in the downtown area before reaching Chinatown. Along the way I saw another building in the distance with some trees on top of it. I wondered what’s with the people of Vancouver and having trees on top of buildings. Maybe they ran out of place on the streets or perhaps there was place in Stanley Park to grow more trees. As these thoughts were running in my head, the bus reached China town. The passed through a huge Chinese architectural gate called the Millennium Gate which was the entrance to Chinatown. It was like entering a whole different world. Chinese people are the largest ethnic minority in Vancouver. There were an abundance of colorful shops boasting a variety of unique items, including Chinese clothing, baskets, and linens; martial arts equipment; exquisite antiques, stationery, and artwork; and fascinating Chinese herbs. Thankfully they had boards in Chinese as well as English so one could easily read what was being sold… I also noticed a lot of Chinese restaurants ( no surprise there). There were quite a few Asian Fusion restaurants too.
Hmm seems like a trend here. I have been writing about restaurant selections in the last two places. Yes,indeed. I was getting hungry. I decided to get off at the next stop whichever it was. Turned out to be Gastown.
After alighting the bus at gas town, I popped into this place called the ‘Trees Organic Coffee & Roasting House’. Picked up a sandwich and a coffee. I think I inhaled the sandwich… Guess I must have been really really really hungry. 😊 . I popped into the next store and bought the standard souvenirs which I always get when visiting any new place namely snow globes and refrigerator magnets.
I must say, I found the history of Gastown quite interesting. Okay, I admit, I did something quite out of the ordinary. I usually would not have done such a thing but it happened by chance NOT intentionally.. I was standing at the statue of ‘Gassy’ Jack taking some pictures when some tour group came and stood next to me. The tour guide went on to narrate some tidbits of Gastown. I overheard the whole history. Didn’t need to pull out my trusty guide book, this time…. 😊 So as per the narrator, in 1867, a gentleman known as Jack “Gassy” Deighton - so nicknamed because of his love for telling long, traffic violation
I have no idea why this dude got a law enforcement citation. tall tales - arrived on the barren north shore of the Burrard Inlet and asked local mill workers to build him a saloon. Having been deprived of drink for a long time, they obliged and completed it in less than a day! Hence, Gastown was born! Weird name of a town, if you ask me…
Today, Gastown is far from a one-saloon neighborhood! Along Gastown’s beautiful cobblestone streets and amid its Victorian-style buildings, there are numerous quaint shops with antiques and fine regional works of art.
Oh forgot to mention that is a quirky Gastown Steam Clock, where 5 enormous brass whistles play Westminster Chimes every 15 minutes! Pretty kewl, eh?
But this time, I was kinda exhausted.. I had had a long day.. So I headed back to the hotel. Just as I approached the hotel, I noticed something one doesn’t see everyday in New York. Two cops on motorbikes had pulled over a bicycle rider. My mind started working out some scenarios. Maybe he didn’t wear a helmet, or perhaps he was above the ‘cycle’ speed limit (if they had any in Vancouver) or he overtook another cyclist without indicating. Hmmmm… I didn’t stay there for too long and carried on to the hotel. Once I reached the hotel, I realized that my hotel booking was only till the next day and I was going to stay and extra day to get my work completed. I went to the reception desk and asked them if they could extend my stay by one more day.. Unfortunately the hotel was packed… Arrrgghhhhhhhh… Panic time. I walked around the vicinity of my hotel and looked for options. Either the hotels were booked or they were expensive.. So I did the next best thing… I went online on hotels.com and looked for reasonable choices. Bingo, I found one. The Sandman hotel. I remembered passing it on the hop on/ hop off bus. I reckoned it was not much of a walk from the present hotel I was staying. So I booked it and breathed a sigh of relief. Whew… Tension over.
Later that evening, I walked over to the nearby theater and watched the latest Angelina Jolie movie, ‘Salt’ . On the way back to the hotel post movie, I stopped at the Convention Center and took some more pictures. It was time to call it a night..
The next morning, I was up bright and early.. Wanted to make best of a lovely day. So after rushing through the usual morning chores of personal hygiene, I headed out to Granville Island..
As I mentioned earlier, Granville Island is a place one must visit. It was an abandoned industrial area converted into an eclectic mixture of shops, restaurants, theatres, and galleries. Hmmmm I think I have already written a lot about the history of Granville Island. Hence I won’t get into any details about it.
So after grabbing a Starbucks coffee at the corner where the bus dropped me off, I started exploring this wonderful place. I took some pictures from the marina and went along scouting the tiny little alleys and side streets that housed lot of quaint shops. I popped my head in mostly all the shops. I found a couple of very interesting shops. There was one store which made 3D photos. I was quite inclined to take a photo of myself and make it 3D but it would have taken a couple of hours for processing and I didn’t have too much time there. So I just took the store owners business card and proceeded. I immediately came across another nifty shop. It was called the ‘Hangout Store’. They had a very dandy contraption. It was a chair hammock woven in the style of the traditional Mayan hammock from the Yucatan peninsula in Southern Mexico. There was a harness bar to support the hammock. I asked the lovely saleswoman on where it could be installed and she gave lot of choices like over a tree branch, exposed beam, swing set, or lamp post. Basically any darn place that could safely hold the weight. (okay, I am not going to say how much weight). It looked so kewl, that I bought one.. a 125 CAD investment without knowing where and when I would be using it.. But it looked so darn nifty.
After this ‘small’ buy of mine, I went to the ‘Public market’ which was indoor. Oh goodness This place was incredible. It was crammed with zillion of vendors selling fresh cheese, fruits, vegetables, as well as a range of prepared bakery and deli items. There's also a sort of food court offering a variety of cusines from different parts of the world. I opted to have a lamb shawarma and went out on the riverfront . A broom store
Was swept away......... It was good and relaxing to sit in the shade enjoying the view of the Vancouver skyline across ‘False creek’ and the bridge above and a busker performing. After 30 minutes of enjoying this environment I left. Behind the market there were more shops including numerous local artists including glassblowers, jewelry makers, pottery makers and carpenters selling their crafts. Oh I saw a shop which I would not have even dreamt of. ‘Broom Shop’. It was a huge shop selling various brooms. Lol.. I didn’t go into this store coz I couldn’t stop laughing.
I looked at the time and realized it was time to head back as I had to check out of the hotel and go to my next accommodation. So as I started walking back to the exit. I had one more stop before that. ‘The Kids Market’ . I wished I was a kid again… hee hee hee.. This huge indoor warehouse had an abundance of kid-oriented shops and a giant indoor play area known as the Adventure Zone. There was also a free Water Park for kids, with water pipes, fire hydrants, sprays, slides, and special area for toddlers. Yes, I was jealous of the kids …. Arrrrghhhhhh.
An hour later I was lugging my suitcase towards my new accommodation. I reached the ‘Sandman Hotel’, checked in and crashed out for the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening.. Guess I must have been exhausted… 😊
I took a quick wash and decided for a stroll. After walking for 10 minutes I found myself right in the center of Granville Street. Wow, this place had magically transformed from a dull boring street I saw the previous day when I took a bus tour to a lively and energy filled pedestrian party space. The Granville street with its wall-to-wall bars and clubs dominating the ambience enjoyed its share of nightly bunch of yahoos staggering about in a drunken stupor, some fast cars with the engines idling etc gave a whole new meaning to the word Pedestrianization…. I entered a pub called ‘Roxy’ and had a burger while sipping on a Cider. I didn’t spend too much time there coz I wanted to soak up this pedestrian party scene before leaving for home the next day.
I walked around for about an hour before heading back to the hotel to get some rest before my long boring flight back home the next day…
Good bye Vancouver.. See you next summer when I come to check out Capilano Suspension Bridge and Whistler….
Advertisement
Tot: 0.238s; Tpl: 0.027s; cc: 9; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0357s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Indu Kale
non-member comment
Very interesting and scenic