The Famous Five’s Alaskan Adventure - Episode 9 - ‘We Found Granville, but Where's Arkwright?'

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This is a tricky episode to write, because as I tap away on the IPad, I'm sitting back at home, holiday finished and grappling to remember what we did in the last couple of days, whilst at the same time coping with a brain that feels pretty fried trying to work out which time zone we're in! But perhaps I should start by saying that we got home safe and sound, with the flight arriving at Heathrow about 20 minutes early and if our taxi hadn't been about 40 minutes late, we would have been home by three in the afternoon. The flight itself was uneventful, although Mandy and I did give each other a slightly fretful look when the Captain came over the tannoy just before takeoff to say that we would be delayed for a few minutes due to a 'minor systems fault', bringing back memories of that aborted flight back on the 23rd June, from Vancouver to Anchorage. Fortunately, the fault was fixed very quickly and we were on our way.

But, before we were due to fly home, we had the city of Vancouver to explore and first things first, we had to get there. After another hearty breakfast at the Villa Eyrie, we left the hotel by 8.15, for our drive of about an hour to the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay. If you have been paying attention(!!), you will have noticed that we originally arrived on Vancouver Island via a different terminal at Nanaimo, but for our departure we are leaving from Swartz Bay, further south and closer to the Malahat area where we have been based. Ferries from this terminal travel to Tssawassen, about 40 km south of Vancouver City Centre, a ferry journey of about 90 minutes. We were booked on the 11 am ferry, but once again we were planning to catch the earlier 10.00 am, if possible. Our drive to Swartz Bay was smooth and easy, arriving just after nine and as we hoped, we managed to catch the earlier sailing - all very efficient. On arrival at Tssawassen, we decided to drive straight to Stanley Park as we wanted to make the most of what was a lovely day and also, our hotel room wouldn't be ready just yet. The drive should have taken about 45 minutes, but the traffic was pretty heavy and it ended up being nearer 75 minutes, not difficult driving, just slow!

In terms of urban city parks, Stanley Park is pretty big, being three times the size of Hyde Park, London and 25% bigger than Central Park, New York and rather than being specifically landscaped as such, the park has really evolved over time, with its peninsula-like location having been home to indigenous peoples for thousands of years, before becoming an official park of Vancouver when the city was incorporated in 1886. Whilst there are some structures designed with the user in mind, such as gardens, an aquarium, miniature train ride, cricket pitch and pavilion, not to mention the famous totem poles and the like, it remains largely forested with over half a million trees and the real beauty of the park comes from its fantastic waterfront views. Although it is a park that can be used by walkers, cyclists and joggers, it is also car friendly, with a one way road travelling anti-clock wise around the park (with speed limited to 20km per hour), with carefully positioned parking places at the key spots around the circumference. In essence, you can drive a bit, park up and then walk a bit, which is exactly what we did.

The views are pretty spectacular, not 'Denali National Park spectacular', but impressive in their own right, particularly those across the bay to downtown and Canada Place Cruise Terminal (where we were a few days ago), those of Lion's Bridge (with the constant passing flow of traffic both on water and in the air) and those around the other side of the park (looking down on some of the park's beaches) and at the gaggle of cargo ships out at sea. It's fair to say though, that one of Mandy's highlights was petting a horse in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stables in the centre of the park!

Having spent a lovely time at Stanley Park, we decided it was time to head to our last accommodation of the trip, namely The Exchange Hotel, the former stock exchange building in the centre of downtown. We had a super room on the 9th floor overlooking..........well, a hole in the ground as it happens, where 'something' was being built! This hotel is super hi tech and, if the truth be known, perhaps a little too hi tech for its own good, or at least, for the average guest of a certain age to operate! From the ceilings in each room, the whole area of which is designed as specialist air conditioning units in their own right and whilst not resulting in the prettiest ceilings, are supposed to result in 'super responsive' changes in room temperature and energy efficient units.........assuming of course, that you can manage to work the state of the art thermostat; to the swanky remote for the TV, which forms part of an IPad available in each room; to the elevators, which have a digital control outside the lifts on each floor into which you punch the number of the floor you want to go to and the display then tells you which lift shaft you need to stand by AND more unusually, there are no controls whatsoever inside the lift itself.....very odd and a little unnerving to be honest. The Exchange prides itself on its very 'green' credentials and that may well be true. All I can say is that it is a lovely hotel, in a great position.

We decided to take up Alamo's offer and keep the rental car an extra day and when we arrived, we parked the vehicle in the hotel garage ourselves, only to find that we should have left it with the valet staff at the entrance to the garage and let them park in the correct place - for a fee, of course! But, it was fine, we chucked them the keys and they sorted it out, while after checking in, we rested up for a while, before venturing out for a bit more exploring. Our first stop was to go up the Vancouver Lookout, with its' observation deck 550 ft above ground level, for 360 degree views around the city particularly of the elegant Dominion Building, once the tallest construction in the British Empire when built in 1910, but now dwarfed by the surrounding structures. Then we headed off towards Gastown, which was only a ten minute walk away and whilst we had a local map to work with, we decided to wander and pretty much follow our noses. As we got closer, we did check where we were with a local policeman, (who turned out to be a Brit who had been in Canada for 20 years but still had a very strong English accent), who confirmed that we were heading the right way. I don't know what this guy had been fed on for the last 20 years, but he was massive - nearer seven feet than six I'd say and with a physique to match; we felt like two little munchkins talking to him!

Gastown is a very old and to be honest, fairly rundown and unsavoury part of the city, but its' main attraction is the Steam Clock, a steam powered time piece, which blasts steam 'hoots' as opposed to 'chimes', on each quarter hour and then a full set of hoots to match the time, on the hour. To be fair, like a lot of rundown city areas around the world, the streets immediately surrounding the clock have been 'gentrified' and are quite funky, with some nice looking restaurants, bars and independent shops, but we were advised against venturing too much further, where things might become a little less 'tourist friendly'. It was time for some food and we decided on the Water Steet Cafe, directly opposite the Steam Clock and we were given a table for two with a great view of the clock and the steady stream of people passing by and clicking the same 'memory snaps' that we did. We both ate pasta (very good), drank a very quaffable red wine and had a really enjoyable evening here, before wandering back to The Exchange and bed.

The next day, was our last full day in Vancouver and our first port of call was to be Granville Island, where we decided to go by car, following which we thought we could return our rental car and then spend some time along the waterfront area. Breakfast wasn't included at the hotel, so we thought we would grab something when we got to Granville Island, which was only about 15 minutes away by car. We thought we deserved a bit of a lie in this morning and so after the valet had retrieved our car and a fairly easy drive to GI, we were parked up ready to explore by about 10.15.

Granville Island isn't actually an island at all, but rather a small peninsula of land jutting into False Creek, itself an inlet of water from the Pacific Ocean, separating downtown from the rest of the city. The whole of the peninsula used to be industrialised in various states of decay, but in recent years has been regenerated and is a great place to visit, with its' fabulous looking foodstuffs in the Public Market, featuring a fascinating assortment of colourful food, delicious looking cakes and produce stores. Outside, is a combination of specialty craft stores (including leather goods, wood and metalwork sculptures, glass blowing, traditional brooms and several art galleries and the like), an excellent collection of kids' toy shops, bars and restaurants of various shapes and sizes and some terrific views back to downtown. Car parking is dotted around the site and is not particularly expensive, but here's a tip.......parking is free until 11 in the morning!

Our first stop was to visit the toy shops to get some gifts for the grandsons and after some very successful purchases, we went in search of breakfast, finding a good place on the edge of the indoor market, looking out over the water. To be honest though, if we had ignored the view and gone in search of breakfast inside the market instead, there were some fantastic food options available which we missed out on. It doesn't take that long to wander around the island, but there were some really fascinating features, such as the cement works that are still operational, but where the decision has been taken to disguise what is going on, with some terrific artistic designs on the silos and also some interesting paintwork on the cement mixer lorries, including one covered in a bunch of asparagus spears.

The broom shop was fabulous, with the lady owner making various styles of 'witches brooms' out of 'broom-corn' - a type of sorghum which produces really stiff and strong bristles for the broom. The lady was making the brooms in the back of the shop, storing all the ingredients for making them in a room, which was cutely named 'Sweepy Hollow' and I couldn't resist sharing with her, the 'Only Fools and Horses' skit about Trigger's Broom. The one where Trigger proudly explains that he's had his road sweeper's broom for over 20 years, only to go on and ruin it by saying that in that time the broom has had 17 new heads and 14 new handles! The lady laughed politely, but I'm not sure that she got it!

We really enjoyed our visit to Granville Island, but it was time to leave and head back to the city and to return our rental car. The Alamo garage was in the same part of the cruise terminal, where we had originally picked it up, but finding the entrance was a bit of a mission and on the third circuit past the terminal, we asked a traffic cop, who actually had to moves some cones to let us in! After parking up, we could have just dropped the keys in a box, but I wanted to be sure everything was ok and I'm so glad that we did! I tracked down one of the Alamo reps and surprise surprise........when he checked his computer, he said 'Oh you've brought it back a day late and that will mean an extra charge.........a cool $680!!! However, I explained what we had been told when we picked up the car and although he tried to say what they really meant was that we could bring the vehicle back first thing the next morning, rather than late the previous night, we stuck to our guns and to be fair, he understood and said he would sort it. He suggested that we leave it with him and he would email a final receipt for the correct amount, but I wasn't leaving until I had an invoice in my hand for the amount we had agreed to pay, which should have been $120 for the SatNav and some extra insurance. Then to compound matters, he couldn't access what he needed to on his laptop, because of the poor Wifi in the garage, so he sent us to another desk on the ground floor. After explaining things again at the new desk, we finally got it sorted and we left with the correct bit of paper in our hands. As I suspected when we had the offer of the free extra day when we picked up the car, this did seem too good to be true!!

Being a touch stressed after that little encounter, we went off in search of a bar and found just what we were looking for, a short walk from the terminal and with the weather by this time having become very overcast and rainy, we sat done and enjoyed a glass of vino and watched the world go by. Once refreshed and with the rain stopping briefly, we headed off along the waterfront enjoying the views and watching the seaplanes taking off and landing in the bay. The showers started to get heavier and Mandy decided to get the cover out of the rucksack to protect it from the rain, a quiet understated piece of kit in 'bright yellow', which made me look as though I had a giant zit on my back!! With the weather not getting any better, we headed back to our hotel after first stopping in a Tim Hortons for a much needed and bargain priced coffee and maple iced doughnut filled with custard!!

Tonight was the last night of this amazing holiday and we decided to push the boat out for dinner, although the usual steakhouse haunts that we love in North America, such as Ruth's Chris, Mastros and Mortons aren't represented in Vancouver and so instead, we booked a table at The Keg, which had a good reputation in town. The restaurant was within easy walking distance of our hotel and after dressing up in the best glad rags that we had left, we arrived bang on 7.30 and were shown to a really nice table. Everything started very well, with some good drinks and a super appetiser and whilst we weren't really bothered (because, believe it or not, we were too busy chatting and also checking in online to get good seats on the plane for our flight home tomorrow!), the main course seemed to be taking an awfully long time. And then, just as we were about to ask what was going on, the restaurant manager came over and apologised that there had been 'a cock up on the catering front' (he didn't actually use those words of course, but that's what he meant!) and he had taken personal charge of our order, which would be out in ten minutes. I jokingly said that it sounded as if a discount may be in order, to which he said that he was just about to say that the main courses would be on the restaurant! And when they arrived, the steaks were fabulous and so filling that we didn't have any room for dessert........a great meal and a fraction of the cost that it should have been! With that, it was home to bed.........our last night before really going home tomorrow!

The day on whIch we all fly home from holiday can often be a bit of a damp squib, but we were determined to 'do something', rather than just wander around killing time. Our flight was at eight tonight and we needed to get a cab around four, in order to get us to the terminal by five and with that in mind, we had time to do something positive. Our first job was to finish packing, make sure the 'hold bags' weren't overweight (close, but OK!) and then checkout. We tried to get our room extended to around four, but the best they could offer was 1pm, which didn't really help and so we checked out and stored our bags at reception, until later. We decided that we would spend our time by going to the Queen Elizabeth Park and gardens, the highest point in Vancouver (although not that high really!) and about a 20 minute taxi ride from downtown. We skipped breakfast and thought we would grab something when we got to the park, but when we arrived, it seemed as though we had made a big mistake, because the only food on offer was at the Seasons in the Park restaurant which looked a bit pricier and more formal than we were hoping for AND didn't open until 11, the best part of an hour away!

In addition to the gardens, the main attraction at the Park is the Bloedel Conservatory, a glass dome containing an indoor tropical garden and quite a few exotic birds flying 'freely' inside the dome and we decided to visit this first, by which time the restaurant should be open and we can make a decision on food. The entrance fee is relatively modest at $6.50 per person ($4.50 for an old man like me) and although the experience is quite small, it is nicely done and the birds are very pretty. We looped around the dome twice, by which time the hunger pangs were getting quite strong and we needed scoff! As we left the conservatory Mandy noticed someone with a takeaway coffee and around the corner we found a little mobile stall not only doing teas and coffees BUT ALSO Bratwurst Sausage in a roll!! Absolutely perfect and great to taste a proper sausage for the first time in nearly a month!

Queen Elizabeth Park is no Butchart Gardens, (but it didn't cost eighty odd dollars to get into either - the only charge being the entry fee into the conservatory), but it is actually nicely laid out, (mainly around former quarries) and are definitely worth a visit. We knew that getting a taxi back to downtown might be a struggle as there didn't appear to be any cabs waiting for pick ups at the park entrance and so, after finishing our look around, we decided to follow our noses and start walking back towards downtown, hoping to flag down a cab at some point. Mandy wasn't convinced by this plan, but 'she of little faith', we soon found Cambie Street (one of the main drags into downtown) and even better, about five blocks later we reached King Edward Metro Station and hopped on the Canada Line train, five stops to Waterfront Station, right next to the cruise terminal.

Once there, we wandered along towards Gastown a little way and came across the Steamworks Brewery, with a nice outside patio and excellent Wifi!! We ordered a beer each and then spent an hour or so supping and catching up on important 'Wifi stuff', with hardly a word passing between us! Food hadn't been at the forefront of our minds in the bar, because we were still full from our Bratwurst Sausage, but as we thought about heading back to the hotel, we decided that one last Tim Horton's doughnut was called for, to ensure a healthy end to our time in Vancouver and send us on our way home.

So that's it, we collected our bags, changed in the hotel loos, got our taxi to the airport and headed home. Our North American adventure is over and what an adventure it's been:

* from the great start 'all those years ago' at Niagara Falls;

* to a lovely few days with Laura in and around Calgary;

* to meeting up with the Fabulous Forbes in Vancouver airport and then experiencing a somewhat scary, engine failure on the flight to Anchorage, coupled with Mandy's suitcase being destroyed when we got to Anchorage;

* then the stress of no hotel room in Anchorage for the Forbes (Trailfinders refunded Steve by the way), followed by the ridiculously small room for the three of them that they had in Denali (no compensation here unfortunately);

* the nasty crash on the road up to Denali and the irritating damage to our rental car, when some twerp backed into us at Denali;

* the truly magnificent trip into Denali National Park, with its's fantastic scenery (including, of course, our clear and rare view of Mount Denali itself), stunning wildlife and, of course, our irrepressible bus driver Wayne;

* the unexpectedly fab breakfast at The Perch on our way back to Anchorage and the great time up Mount Alyeska after we got back there, tempered by the disappointment of many of the views around Anchorage and beyond, being partially obscured by smoke from the forest fires;

* the excellent journey on the Coastal Classic train from Anchorage to Seward to join our cruise and of course, the cruise itself, which was everything we had hoped for and with my personal highlights being the awesome Hubbard Glacier and the trip on the White Pass and Yukon railroad;

* saying our sad farewells to Steve, Lily and Sarah, before four great days on Vancouver Island, with the contrasts of remote Ukee and Tofino (with memorable bear watching) and the incredibly beautiful Villa Eyrie resort in the more populated areas further south, coupled with our trips to Butchart Gardens and Victoria;

* and finally, two days back in Vancouver, taking in Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, Granville Island and the waterfront area.

As I finish this post, it's now some ten days since we got home and not only have I completed this blog and downloaded all our photos on to the PC, but I've also worked out precisely what we managed to spend, which I can best describe as 'a bit more than we budgeted, but not as much as I thought we had spent!'. So, until the next adventure, that's it folks; many thanks to all those who stuck with me and read every word, but if it was just the pictures that floated your boat, that's absolutely fine by me and many thanks also.

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Photos

Canada Place
The cruise ship terminal we came into nearly a week ago.

Vancouver Lookout - 1
The Dominion Building now dwarfed by all around.

Vancouver Lookout - 2
Close up of the Dominion Building.

Stanley Park - 1
A view across the bay....

Stanley Park - 2
Boat and seaplane in the bay.

Stanley Park - 3
The view to Lion's Gate Bridge.....

Stanley Park - 4
Some poser in front of the bridge....

Stanley Park - 5
One of the Stanley Park beaches.

Stanley Park - 6
A few cargo ships in the bay waiting to come into port.

Stanley Park - 7
Mandy’s favourite!

The Exchange Hotel - 1
The front of the building, or as much as we could get in anyway!

The Exchange Hotel - 2
Not a bad sized room for a city centre hotel!

Gastown
The Gastown Steam Clock puffs eight o'clock.

Granville Island - 1
The entrance to the Island.

Granville Island - 2
The view across the bay on a pretty murky day!

Granville Island - 3
Mandy found the art shop.

Granville Island - 4
The owner of the Broom Shop, weaving away.

Granville Island - 5
And some of her wares in the shop.

Granville Island - 6
How to make some cement silos a little less ugly.........

Granville Island - 7
......and a cement mixer lorry painted like sticks of asparagus!

Granville Island - 8
Some very funky floating houses in an area called the Sea Village....

Comments

[Steve F]

"Where's Arkwright?"... Is that your quiz question? Am pretty sure that Sir Richard Arkwright invented the Spinning Jenny in 1764 to mechanise the cotton industry
Magnificent photography and top blogging Paul, it was so well written that it almost felt like I was travelling along with you on at least part of that journey. Until the next time matey