Day 1
We flew into a city that has been blanketed in smoke by the British Columbia fires! From the air it was very hazy and not much better on the ground. However our first time arriving into Canada was a dream as far as immigration and customs were concerned. They had an abundance of automated kiosks in the immigration area which slickly took us through the process of scanning passports and taking our photographs. Our bags were waiting on the carousel as soon as we got there and customs was similarly slick. We were heading out of the terminal less than 30 minutes after we’d arrived. Transport to downtown vancouver is equally simple, the Skytrain runs from a staion immediately outside of the terminal directly to the waterfront and we could tap on and off with our credit cards. I’d booked us into the EXchange hotel, a really lovely option within a block of the cruise terminal. And our room was ready when we arrived – we were loving Canada already!
We dropped our bags and freshened up a little before heading out to do some essential shopping – somehow I’d managed to forget to pack any bras in my luggage so all I had was what I was wearing!!. This was not going to work for a 5 week trip so we walked uptown a little to the Hudson bay department store ( very much like Myer) where I managed to stock up. Then we wandered down to the waterfront for our first look at Canada Place – the Cruise ship terminal. It’s a beautiful building and accommodates up to three ships at a time. I loved her white sails.
A short walk to the East brings you into the Gastown area. Established the same year that Canada became a nation, Gastown is the oldest neighbourhood in downtown Vancouver. Named after “Gassy” Jack Deighton, a Yorkshire seaman who opened the area’s first saloon, Gastown burned to the ground in what is known as the Great Fire. Rebuilt , Gastown is now known for its whistling Steam Clock and mix of souvenir shops, indie art galleries and decor stores in lovely Victorian buildings. It was doing a busy trade when we walked through.
For dinner we walked back up past Canada Place to the Convention center and ate at the cactus Club Cafe. Tasty crabcakes! Then back to the hotel and bed. We have a busy day planned tomorrow!
Day 2
I slept rally well and woke to the alarm. We needed to be a few blocks away at the pacific Car rental office by 9am so we got moving. Once we’d collected the car we drove out through Stanley Park and across the Lionsgate bridge to North vancouver and Capilano Suspension Bridge park. It’s a primary place to visit in vancouver ( and entailed aprimary entrance fee!!) However we did get our moneys worth.
The bridge was originally built in 1889 by George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and park commissioner for Vancouver. It was originally made of hemp ropes with a deck of cedar planks and was replaced with a wire cable bridge in 1903. It has passed through a few owners and has seen several additions over the years including local native totem poles, Treetops Adventure which consists of seven footbridges suspended between old-growth Douglas fir trees on the west side of the canyon, forming a walkway up to 30 metres (98 ft) above the forest floor and most recently a new attraction called Cliffwalk. It’s not a place for people with serious fear of heights thats for sure! The bridge itself is very wobbly with the dozens of people walking across it so I was glad to reach the other side of the canyon.
After our high rise adventures we headed out to the entrance and congratulated ourselves on arriving at the park early, the queue to get in and the queue to walk across the bridge were builing rapidly, whereas we had walked straight in. The smoke still hung in the air when we arrived back down in the city for a look at Stanley Park – Vancouver’s first park, with its ever-blooming gardens, pristine coastal areas and roughly 500,000 cedar, fir and hemlock trees. There is a wonderful collection of nine totem poles sourced from remote areas in British Columbia near the water’s edge so we stopped there to see them and to take a walk along the waters edge to the Brockton Point Lighthouse and the replica of the Empress of Japan ( ship) figurehead. It’s such a pretty walk along the water, even on a smoky day.
After Stanley Park the plan had been to visit the Granville Island Public Market area which is a bustling area built under a bridge full of cafes, shops, artisan galleries and a craft brewery. Unfortunatley we hadn’t counted on the popularity of the markets on a lovely warm Saturday afternoon – we couldn’t get a park anywhere and we tried going around twice! So, instead we drove up into the hills to visit Queen Elizabeth Park. There are some really lovely quarry gardens here and great views down to vancouver city. Theres an art installation called the “Photo Session” which playfully appreciates the area as a great spot to take a snapshot.
Because we hand’t been able to get into Granville Island we dropped the car back early and went for a long walk down along the Coal Harbour Foreshore – to the west of the Convention center. It was such a lovely mild evening! Dinner at Tap & Barrel brewpub at the waterfront finished our day. Despite the smoke we have really enjoyed Vancouver – it’s a city that reminds me of Sydney in many ways – taking advantage of it’s lovely waterfront setting. I’d be happy to come back someday.
