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Published: December 21st 2014
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Christmas Lights
A building which is decorated into an Xmas tree. We are going to explore one night and do xmas activities. Morning All,
We have just woken after our first day in Vancouver. We survived our 20 hours of flying well. We left Saturday morning at 920 NSW time and arrived in Vancouver at 10.30am Saturday morning local time. Both flights were relatively smooth. Our stop over and one hour exchange in Seoul was perfect. They have a very efficient airport. We planned on sleeping more in the second flight which worked a little as we both got an hour or two sleep. The plan was for that hour or two sleep to keep us going the day and continue a normal pattern and with a small nap in the afternoon we got to bed at 11pm local time and up at 8am feeling pretty good. Fingers crossed we stay that way.
When we arrived in Canada we made our way to our motel. This was our first experience driving in the wrong side of the road and, as we both paused for a moment as our driver got in on the left side before realising. We got accustomed to it fairly quickly but still find it funny when there is no one on the right hand side or a
small child which gives the impression no one or a kid is driving the car. Our taxi driver was very nice and pointed out a few attractions along the way. We got talking about the ice hockey (NHL) an d he told us there was a game that night (Saturday). The fair system out of the airport works differently with a flat rate to certain parts of the city. Our 20-25 minute trip only cost $31 plus a tip which we thought was fair. The Canadian dollar and Australian dollar exchange is almost the same
We were able to check into our motel when we arrived at midday which was Great. This meant we could freshen up with a shower and begin exploring. Our motel, Fairmont Vancouver is right in the middle of the city, it was one of the first motels here and has an amazing touch of class. The rooms are huge ando have been maintained and renovated well without losing their vintage feeling. Canada is very dog friendly and dogs are welcome in the motel, so it's a bit strange seeing dogs walking around a fairly swish establishment.
On our way out to explore we
stopped by concierge to organie tickets to the hockey. Everyone here is supper friendly and he was more than happy to help and organised our tickets for us. We later worked out although they seem genuinely friendly and we are sure they are they also work for tips.
We then set of on a little walk to explore around our hotel and by some food. We found a nice little place which had cold beer and good food. For Mick who has requested a detailed food analysis, Theresa had a Turkish bread with some traditional toppings and Ryan had a pesto chicken quesadila. After that we returned for a nap before the hockey.
The hockey was a 20 min walk from our motel and was easy enough to find by following everyone in their jerseys. Inside the stadium was amazing. The atmosphere even just waking into the stadium and all the stalls and people was unreal. We had a look around before finding our sets. althiugh we were in the top section, 9 rows back the stadium is developed so well you still have a good view. After a quick run down of the rules from the people
next to us, after many references to NHLL 98 and mighty ducks we had a good enough understanding of the game. The game itself was great eith the home team scoring 2 very lucky goals, even by their fans admission, to Calgarry evening the score to send it to over time. In the first 20 seconds of overtime the hometown scored a great team goal as the stadium went wild. In the first 5 minutes of the game there was a fight between two players, not something uncommon in Ice Hockey but it was interesting as their wasn't a mass run in like you see in AFL and rugby league as both teams just watched and the refs didn't break it up until the players feel over and was wrestling in the ice, to which they both seemed to acknowledge by stopping the punches thrown. Either was at the end they were both sent off for about 7 minutes but I think they were allowed to be replaced.
Anyway, sorry for so much detail and I'm sure in future won't be this much. We are off to explore more of the city, it is raining so will find some inside activiticed and it is meant to be sunnier tomorrow so we are planning on going to Stanley Park then.
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Lyn Swift
non-member comment
Great first day
Hi Ry & Teez, keep up the blog in detail, it is so great to read what you are both doing and experiencing your travels. The ice-hockey sounded amazing. Ry, with you being a sports fanatic it is great you can experience another code of sport, especially on home turf in Canada. Hope the sun is shining for your next day in Canada. Don't forget to take a picture of a 'mounty' for me. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Love Mum xxxxxx