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Vancouver….
We had heard stories about Vancouver before we even arrived and it didn’t let us down. A fantastic city (said that about many places I think!) and it was great to be back in Canada again. The journey up was made all the better as we met a couple of guys who were staying at our hostel in Seattle called Nathan and Paul so the journey wasn’t as boring as usual. Although saying that over the last couple of months we always have something random that happens on a greyhound bus….usually involves a Mexican trying to sneak on. Anyway, customs was cool….Fran didn’t get harassed by a burly customs official so it didn’t take long to enter Canada again.
First impressions were good, had to stomp a bit to the nearest ‘sky train’ station and then to the hostel, but hostel was on a good, lively street and was clean with amazing bathrooms. They had a shower, toilet and sink which is luxury compared to some places which have had a toilet and shower but no sink and a shower and a sink…??!! Well, we also met a couple of ladies from England and Germany and we all
Me and a Mountain and a lunge
Can you see the lunge theme throughout my travels...nice. decided to meet up for food later. Me and Fran had a four person room but only us in which was a bonus!
In the evening it hit us that there is a lot of homelessness in this city with a huge amount of begging but that isn’t a problem as they are generally friendly and quite random. Had some good food and then a few drinks and then spent some time in a bar just up the road from our hostel, good times were had.
We had booked ourselves on an excursion organised via the hostel for the next day and were looking forward to it. It was awesome. Erik, our 65 year old kickboxing tour guide was really good and we got see loads and loads. We went around Vancouver harbour and saw loads, then up into Yaletown and on to Lynn canyon. We went on quite a hike through some great scenery and had a stop at the Cleveland Dam which was impressive….well as impressive as dams can be! Anyway, the highlight of the day for me was the suspension bridge at Capilano which sits 80m above the Capilano River. It was a bit touristy but
Cleveland Dam
Looking down onto the intense Cleveland Dam. the crossing is fun and its higher up than it seems, I enjoyed it! The tour took us on an 11k walk which was a good workout and ended with a look at the harbour again but with the added bonus of seeing a huge cruise ship that was then leaving port. A long day was finished with some drinks with Nathan, Paul, Lucy and Stef, unfortunately we spent ages trying to find a club to go to but with several different tastes that was always gonna be hard. We did find a random live rock venue that was open til late so we stayed there and had a good time even though I didn’t have a tattoo etched from my arm to my neck.
We didn’t get to bed until five so the next day we slept…! Well, not all day but we didn’t feel too good early on so we didn’t do much until late morning. We stomped over to Granville Island and a had a look around the market there. Really chilled out place with street entertainers and stuff like that. We ate in quite a swanky place and headed back to the hostel to do
Random bridge
Our group crossing what is basically a big pipe...!! some reservations and get ready before we went out that evening.
There was a club below our hostel which we had ignored the previous two nights so we checked that out and it was quite good! From what I can remember and from the photos it looks like a good night out!! Lots of men in there though dripping with cheese and slime….! Whipped out a few moves, the usual repertoire but the canoe didn’t and still hasn’t made an appearance overseas yet, it will though.
Seemed like Nath and Paul had fun (didn’t see you the next morning boys so if you felt anything like we did, I bet the bus journey was fun!) and we all stayed out til way past our bedtimes.
Next day was our last day and so we checked out Stanley Park which was so big and there were so many trails and tracks to go on. We really enjoyed the park and it’s a shame we didn’t go there earlier during our stay here in Vancouver as it’s a park with a rainforest climate which produces some awesome trees and plants (trees….hmmm interesting!). We flaked out in the evening and slept
Capilano bridge
Suspension bridge like logs due to the lack of sleep from the night before…..wimps. Next morning we packed like maniacs because we always leave it until the last minute, which isn’t wise, and left for the bus station. I wouldn’t have minded if the bus station was a short walk away but it was an eight block walk, a ride on a monorail and then another short walk to the station, felt like it took ages. We did the same walk when we arrived in Vancouver but it seemed easier as we had company on the way there. Needless to say, a clean t-shirt was ruined by mid morning thanks to my amazingly weak sweat pores. Drenched.
Anyway, enough about sweat. We enjoyed Vancouver and would definitely come back again as it is huge and we only just touched the surface of this city. By the way, its called ‘Vansterdam’ to some and I’ll leave that to your imagination to figure out why!!
Sorry for being sooooo late with my blogs, we are in LA at the moment and are leaving the country tomorrow for Fiji so quite excited about that! Hollywood is crazy, loads going on.
Peace to
you all, hopefully by the time you read this Arsenal have got chucked out of the Chumps league for messing around with other clubs and Spurs will take their place…..err…maybe not but it would be nice! To all you lads, enjoy the world cup at a reasonable hour in your comfy seats at home or the pub, I’m gutted that I’m gonna miss it, think of me. Oh yeah and I left my phone at the hostel in Vancouver……great idea.
Love to everyone, take care.
Thommo
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