First major event was taking the Skyride (cable car) ride to the top of Grouse Mountain, which overlooks Vancouver. On the mountain top there is a grizzly bear habitat, but the occupants were feeling sleepy, as they had only been out of hibernation for a few weeks, and did not care to earn their keep amusing the tourists. Pics below show the Skyride, one of the bears and a night view of Vancouver below.
We spent one day in Stanley Park, a major Vancouver attraction, firstly at the Aquarium. This has more than 165 informative inside and outside displays, dealing with marine life and the local marine environment. Pics below show Pacific sea nettles and the graceful Beluga whales, which are the star attraction of the Aquarium.
That afternoon we hired bicycles and rode along the 8.8km Seawall which winds around the rim of Stanley Park. It is a popular venue for walking, bicycling and roller skating. Pics below were taken at various attractions on our bicycle ride. In order below are Gail at the Totem Park, a view of Canada Place and the cruise ships, the "Girl in a Wet Suit" statue (similar to a Little Mermaid statue), Siwash Rock (a volcanic formation which has inspired many native legends), and Don at Second Beach.
We also rode to English Bay beach, described as western Canada's best urban beach. See pic below.
We hired a Ford Focus for a day and drove along the Sea to Sky Highway (Highway 99) to Whistler, best known as a ski resort. The drive is very scenic and we stopped at various notable spots on the way to Whistler. The pics below show Horseshoe Bay, the highway, Shannon Falls and Brandywine Falls.
We had lunch in Whistler Village and walked along a trail to the Squamish-Lil'Wat Cultural Centre. Pics below show the Village Square, the Blackcomb Mountain chairlift, a display of Lil'Wat hide clothing in the cultural centre and Gail with a cedar bark rope she made in a beginner craft class at the cultural centre.
The next day we met our friends the Simpsons who would be travelling with us for the rest of our trip. We bought day passes for the little False Creek ferries in Vancouver and used them to go across to Granville Island, which is a peninsula rather than an island. It is a former industrial area now occupied with craft studios and a public market which is its highlight attraction. Pics below show one of the ferries, the public market, the market fudge maker, some of the tarts we ate, and the Sea Village houseboats.
We rode the ferries around False Creek. Pics below from our ferry ride show Science World and a view of Vancouver from a ferry stop.
We went shopping in downtown Vancouver. Granville Street is the centre of this area, with restaurants, nightclubs, bars and theatres. Don went mad and bought three new pairs of shoes (at bargain prices). Pics below show Granville Street and Don's new and old joggers compared. The old ones went in to the bin. The new ones are Sketchers Shapeups, very trendy which come with their own instructional DVD.
We went up to the Vancouver Lookout, a viewing deck 167m above the city, on top of the Harbour Centre. Pics show the lookout and one of the great views from there (Stanley Park and Canada Place, where cruise shops dock).
We dined in Yaletown, an historic brick warehouse area which has been reinvented and is now full of swanky eateries, art galleries and theatres. Pics show a restaurant street and our travel group.
On our last day in Vancouver we visited Gastown, named after "Gassy" Jack Deighton (called "Gassy" because he was chatty). He opened a bar in the 1860s which started the settlement which became Vancouver. Pics show the main attractions of Gastown: a steam clock which toots from its steam whistles every 15 min and the Gassy Jack statue on Maple Tree Square.
In nearby Chinatown we looked at the Millennium Gate and the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden - see pics below.
We walked to Canada Place where our ship Sapphire Princess was moored. It took us 5 hours to get through customs and immigration to our ship. This was due to the fact that three large cruise ships were in port, with 8000 passengers to be proceessed. Pics below show Canada Place, the Sapphire Princess (centre of pic) with our group in the foreground, a float plane landing on the harbour and our group proceeding to register for boarding.
Next part of blog will be our cruise to Alaska on the Sapphire Princess.
No comments:
Post a Comment