Vancouver

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After a very long sleep we are over “jet lag”. The day is overcast and looking like showers with cooler temps. We thought we would walk along the foreshore to Yaletown to get a train ticket for the city area but when we got there we realised that it wasn’t that far and that we could probably walk to the China Gardens that we were aiming for. The walk continued along the foreshore then inland past the two stadiums and we were there in Chinatown. The Gardens were absolutely lovely and a must see. They cover only a small enclosed area but it is like stepping into a part of China with lovely wing-roofed buildings, tranquil gardens, ponds with lillies and large carp fish, bonsaied trees and the whole setting within sculpted limestone (like our Takaka Hill marble).

Our walk continued through Chinatown with the many Chinese shop names and businesses and then through an absolutely awful market. It was a mass of tents jam-packed with people of every persuasion with drunks and druggies on the fringes all selling absolute rubbish. I really do mean rubbish. There wasn’t anything new and it looked like mostly old second hand clothes and stuff from other people’s rubbish. We didn’t feel comfortable so moved right along. We sure did stand out!

By accident we then arrived in Gastown named after Gassie Jack’s Tavern from 1867. This is the original part of Vancouver and is now mostly cafes, bars and souvenir shops with a notable gallery of beautiful native art works. We stopped here for lunch which didn’t include coffee as our experience of coffee so far has been bad. Also the waitress said it was filter coffee. Also notable here was a large and unusual gas clock which runs on gas and has steam coming out the top.

Our walk then continued along the waterfront, past the attractive main railway station and on to Canada Place marked by 5 tall sails which is a Convention Centre and cruise ship terminal. We had decided to take a Harbour Cruise so we skipped most of this area hoping to return tomorrow. Along the pathway are boards with photos and historic information about the area over the years. They were very informative covering what you would normally only find out in a museum.

At the far end of the inlet at Coal Harbour and near the entrance to Stanley Park we got a paddle steamer boat and did an hour tour around the main part of the harbour. This was only marred by a group of people who talked non-stop, didn’t look at anything and didn’t listen to the commentary making it very difficult for us to hear. The tour took us past the downtown business area of Vancouver, past the huge container terminal, across to West Vancouver and the dry docks and back again. It gave a perspective on just how big the harbour area is and this is only a tiny portion of the coastline and the inlet going inland. Everything about Canada is huge when comparing with NZ.

After the cruise we decided to have one last try of a coffee by going to a Starbucks thinking that if they are a worldwide franchise for coffee they’d have decent coffee. They didn’t! It was awful and we left it. So, no more coffee in Canada. I’ll stick to Instant which so far has been better. Maybe somewhere we’ll find a genuine coffee machine where coffee is made individually with some bite to it and a nice creamy head.

From Coal Harbour it didn’t look that far to walk back across Vancouver to the apartment so off we went again through lovely tree lined streets, apartment blocks galour but also with occasion American style houses along the way until we met the seafront again where we continued until we arrived back at the apartment. But not for long……………..

We put on some better clothing and headed off for Yaletown again. Now we had done a full circuit of the main area of downtown Vancouver. We had seen a restaurant that we thought we’d like to eat at a couple of days ago but couldn’t find it but did instead find the Minami Japanese Restaurant which specialised in Aburi styled sushi. Oh, yum. It was a most delicious meal of wonderful flavours and worth every dollar (which was quite a few). I also had a Mai Tai drink which was also lovely ($$) made of rum, lime, and a couple of other things I hadn’t heard of.

Of course, another walk back. We sure have covered some kilometres today but it did show that we did not need a bus or a train in this location.

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Photos

The beautiful lake in the Chinese Garden
The lake was stocked with carp and surrounded by bonsai trees of various sizes

Interesting house boats
More houses than boats and very colourful