Vancouver, Canada

We boarded our flight to Canada tucked nicely into the very last row of the plane, guarding the toilets.

We departed at 10am and 15 hours, 3 movies and 2 hours sleep later we landed in Vancouver. From the airport we went straight to our hotel, it was only 9 in the morning so our room wasn’t ready but we were able to freshen up and leave our bags.

Our next door neighbours daughter lives in Vancouver and he had brought us back a map of the sea wall bike trail around the city, so next stop was bike hire and then we were off on our lap of the Vancouver cbd and foreshore.

The cycleways were fantastic, separated double lanes all through the city and along the foreshore. Sydney could really learn from them.

We headed down to the harbour where we found the convention centre. Canada is celebrating 150 years as a country and there are Canada150 flags and signs across the city.

The harbour has mountains as a backdrop, some still with snow on their peaks. Very pretty.

We stopped in for a coffee and then headed off along the sea wall bike trail that goes all the way around the city. After passing by the Marina we came to Stanley Park, a huge nature reserve on the tip of the cbd, there were many sculptures and historic artifacts along the way.

About 2/3 around the park is a harbour beach – not exactly Balmoral but a nice place to swim.

Towards the end of the park there was a large public swimming pool by the water’s edge, very similar to the pool we saw in Cairns.

Out of Stanley Park we now looped back down the other side of the CBD along False Creek, passing more Inuit sculptures and also some more modern ones.

We then headed over Burrard bridge so we could loop onto Granville Island. Granville Island is a big tourist spot with markets that reminded us of London’s Borough Markets, they had lamb on sale for $75/kg – no wonder Damo has been craving it!

There’s also a brewery which became our lunch spot. While there I sampled the beers – getting a flight of 4 different beers. Even Bel had a beer!

After lunch we continued along the sea wall and and then back into downtown to complete our loop – around 30km as a rough guess. A great way to see the city and keep the jet lag away.

Back to our rooms by 2.30, we showered and then waited for our friends to arrive – Ed and Shelly. They are Canadians living in Florida and were arriving at 4pm. We got the call and headed off to meet them. First stop was drinks at a sports bar while we watched Winnipeg play Calgary in Canadian football. Same as NFL but only 3 downs. We then headed to the Keg for dinner. It was here I hit a wall. The Jet lag hit hard and I was a walking zombie. We had been up for almost two days with only 2 hours sleep. Back to the room by 10 and we crashed – that pillow was so nice.

The next day we did more touring of Vancouver but this time on the Hop on Hop off bus.

Similar route to the day before but with commentary and a new perspective.

We jumped off at Granville Island for lunch, this time at the Granville Island Hotel,

and then then jumped back on to complete our loop back in the city. We freshened up and then headed down to Gas Town for afternoon drinks and dinner. It’s the original part of the city and a thriving shopping and restaurant district. We had drinks at the Lamplighter, Bel and Shelly ducked out for a bit of shopping while we were there and then we headed across the road to the Flying Pig for dinner.