When this day started, I did not know that we would be walking as far and for as long as we did. Nearly 30km is what we hit that day, which was probably needed because of the amount of food we ate in Vancouver.
We decided to walk our way down to the sea bus, to see what Lonsdale had to offer. It is a mixture of shops that have been there for a long time and are still running (like the Clog Shop), and funky places to eat; and we cannot forget the Tim Hortons and Starbucks on every corner. What excited me most about this Main Street was the giant Thrift Store. So many clothing opportunities, you never know what you will find. If you know me well you will know that Thrift Stores, Op Shops or Charity Stores are my weakness. There was many a colourful blouse, with a frilly sleeve, or a bedazzled waistcoat just waiting for the right buyer. The item that went home with me that day was something that Lars found. In amongst the sporting goods was a Darryl Strawberry Baseball Mitt, with the name Laura already marked. Even though it was a child's mitt and it fit my hand perfectly, I wanted to take it home.
A quick 12-15 minute ride in the Sea Bus and we were ready to paint the town red, or blue. Which ever came to our fancy. But someone had already bet us to it, for in Vancouver in this month of August is a mural festival. You will not find many walls untouched. We took a left out of the ferry terminal, past Canada place to reach Gastown. This area has been refurbished to look like it did originally. Beautiful shop fronts with souvenirs galore inside. Many of these were housing jade, very expensive jade. When we came across a large crowd, we knew that we had reached the Steam Clock.
This clock was built in the 19th century and is powered by the gas pipes underneath. It has an intricate system where it picks up weights and then Gravity is slowly pulling them down, making the cogs turn. Every quarter of an hour it lets off some literal steam with a musical chime and every hour it really lets loose, so make sure to stick around for that.
You would be mistaken to think that Gastown was named after the gas works going underneath, in the pipes. Where actually it was names after the first pub owner in the area - Gassy Jack (Thanks Ingrid).
With a pizza slice in our bellies and a visit to the Cowboy boot shop, it was time to make our way to our next stop. The shops! It was a bit of a walk to get there.
We found ourselves lost under the columns of the Stadium. Feeling as if we were never going to get out, we stepped back into the light. It was now a scorcher of a day and a 7/11 was in our view. Never ones to pass up on a novelty pop culture reference, we got ourselves a Slurpee, a frozen slushy to help cool us down.
Shopping at Sephora, Old Navy, and other such shops, we were ready for lunch. The IEG is one of the supermarkets in Vancouver, and this is where we got our lunchtime treats. The way to make a lunch even better is to have a lovely view. We chose to be down by the water, just back from First Beach. We could see the mini water taxis zipping by and the large cargo ships stationary in the background. The sun hit the water at the perfect angle, to give it that magical twinkle.
Seeing many people zoom past on their bikes gave us the idea to hire of of the Shaw City bikes. In London, these types of bikes are £2 for 24 hours. In Vancouver, these bikes are $9.95 for 24 hours, but you must dock them every half an hour. If you go over your half an hour without docking, you have to pay $5 for every half hour. We went for the option of using our legs instead. Not too far along was a giant Inuksuk pointing our way to the next beach - English Bay. What a sunny picture it was. Happy people sun bathing and playing in the water, lots of yellow umbrellas reaching to the sun like sunflowers.
Across the road from the beach is a group of statues. They seem to be either loved or hated by the public. Lars and I loved them! They are very tall, bronze men that are all laughing. They are pulling funny faces and dong different actions. I feel that their main purpose is to bring happiness and laughter to those around them, and that is all I saw. These statues are just down the road from one of the entrances to Stanley Park. Now, I am a big fan of squirrels. I think that they are exceptionally cute, especially the teeny ones that we have seen in Canmore. So when we saw a black squirrel in the distance, we were curious. Turns out they don't move like squirrels, they don't have the charm of squirrels, and they are just rats in disguise! Following the map, we first came across Lost Lagoon. This lagoon is very different to the last lagoon we saw in Malta. There are meant to be beavers living in this lagoon, but sadly we did not meet any on this day. An unsuccessful search for ice cream lead us to the waterfront, with a spectacular view of the Lions Gate Bridge and luckily a cheeky seal who gave us a very suspicious look. We shall never know what he was thinking.
Our next stop was on the other side of the bridge, and as we were walking we detoured towards beaver lake, maybe this could be our chance to see one. What did we see? More rat squirrels taunting us, laughing at our misfortune of not finding a beaver once again. Beaver lake trail lead us out to the main road to the bridge. When walking, me made sure we kept to the right, otherwise we would be split in half by commuting cycles who don't care that we think the bridge is pretty and the view is spectacular. They just want you out of their way.
We stopped in the middle of the bridge, in a designated stopping area. To our left was the North shore: a gradual incline leading up to Grouse Mountain. A sea of evergreen Forrest, with tiny spots of houses and shops. We could see some men fishing, just under the bridge. In front of us was the water, sparkling and shimmering. The sea buses were playing chase, never catching up with each other. We could hear the distant sound of the float planes, then we would see them glide by, like a flying banana. To direct right was Stanley Park, looking proud to be the home of so much wildlife and nature in the middle of a city. Then there was the city, standing at medium height. Not one building towered over the others, housing many ethnicities, all working together to keep Vancouver the lovely place it is.
What a Wonderful spot to view an incredible city.
Labels: Canada 2017
