Vancouver

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Five hours, bus, car/passenger ferry/bus after having left Victoria, we checked in to our Vancouver hotel. We spent the afternoon familiarising ourselves with our new surroundings, taking the sky rail out to Coal Harbour where the Vancouver Convention Centre, Seaplanes, Seabus a Terminal, Cruise Ship Terminal are based. We walked around the boardwalk for quite some time and distance, and decided to continue walking back into Downtown rather than backtrack to the skytrain. Two block from our hotel we stopped to investigate a very inviting looking restaurant and enjoyed a beautiful meal at a table on the mezzanine floor overlooking the bar / grill and kitchen and other diners. The restaurant, Glowbal, opened two weeks ago and they are booked out most nights. We were very lucky.

Day two here and we chose to take the Hop on Hop off bus around the city, with our first stops at Stanley Park, which covers a 1,001 acre public park that borders the downtown of Vancouver and is almost entirely surrounded by waters of Vancouver Harbour and English Bay. It is the evolution of a forest and urban space over many years, rather than the usual landscape architect creation. Features from specific vantage points include the Lions Gate Bridge, Totem Poles, Aquarium and beautiful gardens.

Our tiny ferry trip from near Burrard Bridge to Granville Island was a treat. The Granville Markets were amazing and we found ourselves wandering in and out throughout before buying fresh fish and chips which we ate overlooking the Harbour, along with hundreds of other Sunday market-goers. The rows and rows of fresh fruit was just too tempting and therefore we are still enjoying some of our purchase!

Our next stop was at the Yaletown Roundhouse Station to Canada Line, where the original steam engine, which came from the east coast to the west coast in 1887, is housed, fully restored and preserved.

As we made our way back towards our hotel, we came across the end of a popular day for the Writers and Poets Festival which had been held in the Public Library Village; a wonderful conclusion to another busy sightseeing day for us, before we enjoyed another Irish beer and dinner at the Lennox Pub.

On day three we took a bus trip up to the beautiful Whistler Village. At this time of year all the trees in Canada are changing rapidly, displaying gorgeous, strong colours of Fall. Whistler was an absolute picture, ablaze with reds, oranges, yellows, soft greens and deep greens! Our 1 1/2 hour return walk to The Lost Lake through the forest paths was very special. We were amazed at just how busy Whistler is at this time of year, with tourists checked in for pre-winter activities.

Day four, our last day before boarding the Canadian Via Rail for our journey to Jasper in the Rockies and we have walked back to Gastown to take in the neighbourhood fully, enjoying the history behind the namesake of this area, Gassy Jack, and the original Steam Clock which stands proudly in the middle of one of the main intersections, always emitting steam and every 4.5 minutes blowing its chime! The climax today has been our lunch at the Revolving Restaurant at the Vancouver Lookout Tower. The past three days have been beautifully clear blue skies with temps in the mid-teens, and therefore the horizon from this vantage point was hazy and stunning.

Tonight we board the train for our journey into the Rocky Mountains.

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