I still had to get in Canada so I booked a long weekend in Vancouver because I've heard such great things about it. I ended up using some points to stay at the Grand Westin downtown so it was a great location. Getting from the airport to the hotel was done via taxi, but I wish I could've taken a train or a bus. I try to use public transportation whenever possible unless I'm in a rush. Public transportation is something that I very much enjoy in big cities and over in Europe, but it is fairly rare where I've lived in the past. First thing I did is get Tim Horton's of course because that's what you do in Canada. I didn't have much time the first day there but I did decide to go to a hockey game because the Canucks's stadium was about 4 blocks away. I really like watching hockey live. It is one of the few sports that I prefer watching live because with the others, I'd rather watch it from my couch because I have a better view and cheaper beer. With hockey, I can follow the puck around the ice much better in person, even from the nose bleed seats, than I can on TV.
On the next day, the first order of business was the Vancouver Foodie Tours. I ended up taking the Granville Island Market Tour first thing in the morning. It was excellent and Nadia, our tour guide, was fantastic, personable, and really knew a lot about great food in Vancouver. Granville Island is one of the top tourist spots in Vancouver, but it isn't too touristy. There is a great market there as well as various other shops, restaurants, breweries. I ended up spending pretty much the entire first day there between the tour, wandering around in the shops, eating, and drinking at Granville Island Brewing while making bar friends. After having "just one more beer" about 4 times, I headed out and ended up taking one of the Vancouver Walking Tours. The one I decided on was the Lost Souls of Gastown. It started at around 8pm at night and we walked around many parts of the Gastown neighborhood in Vancouver. On the tour, I met some more bar friends and then headed back to the hotel.
Granville Island
Across the river from Granville Island
Granville Island Market sweets
Just a boy with a pigeon on his shoulder
Damn pretty treats
Silo men
Granville Island Brewing
Drunken photography #1
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Drunken photography #7
We walked into a convenience store and this cat ran up for some pets
The next day was more wandering around. I decided to go back to Gastown and check it out during the day. It is definitely different during the day than it is at night. After shopping a bit, I decided to walk over to the convention center. On the way was Bella Gelateria which people say is one of the best gelato places in North America. Lines go out the door when it is summer and since I'm a weirdo that travels where it is cold, there was no line. The gelato was definitely delicious. I took a walk around the convention center and watched the sunset over Vancouver. It was quite lovely (I've started saying that because I've been listening to Adam Savage's podcast). Dinner that night was at some Asian-Italian fusion place and it was oh so fantastic. I had some sort of lasagna that was amazing and that was after a gorgeous salad as well.
Pork belly for breakfast
Hehe, Canadian humor
1 part lampshade, 1 part Pacific Northwest Native American art, 1 part Star Wars
Gelato
North Vancouver across the water
North Vancouver lit up in the sunset
Vancouver in blue
Interested art shot that I took
Salad
Lasagna
Shavings from a skate shop's wheel carving machine
Sunday was a lazy day. I got up to go for a run around Stanley Park, but there was the Vancouver Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon going on there. I wanted to run all the way around it, but unfortunately, I'll have to save that for the next time I'm in Vancouver. I had some lunch and then headed over to the Museum of Anthropology. It is probably one of the best museums in Vancouver, but it was really far away from where I was staying. Of course I took the bus though, but it was a long trip to get there. The building itself is gorgeous and it is on the grounds of the University of British Colombia. It had a lot of artifacts from all over the world, but the biggest exhibits are those of the Pacific Northwest Native American tribes. It was awesome to see all of the art and canoes and totem poles. I headed back to downtown Vancouver, had some dinner, and finally had some poutine on my last night in Vancouver. Got up the next day, had some Tim Horton's and headed to the airport.
The money in Canada is awesome!
Half marathon
Right at the finish line for the half marathon
Soccer fans marching down the street in front of my hotel.
UBC campus
Museum of Anthropology
Museum of Anthropology
Museum of Anthropology
Museum of Anthropology
UBC campus. I love autumn.
Poutine!
In Canada, they don't horse around when it comes to lamps.
An interesting shelter that a homeless person created.
I really enjoyed the trip to Vancouver. Canadians are truly as nice and polite as their reputation in my opinion. I like to think I'm 80% Canadian, but 20% American asshole. The food in Vancouver is great because there is a huge diversity of people which influences the cuisine there. It definitely is a foodie town in my opinion. The weather was great while I was there, but I do like traveling when it was cold. It was only 4 days in Vancouver, but I will definitely be taking another trip there.
