Part 3 - Vancouver

We left Victoria on Vancouver Island via coach which went onto a British Columbia  ferry and thence to the city of Vancouver. Again we stayed in a Worldmark timeshare apartment for four nights.

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.

Part 2 - Vancouver Island

Our next journey was on the Victoria Clipper which is a catamaran sailing from Seattle to Victoria on Vancouver Island. See pic of Clipper below.

We stayed in the Worldmark timeshare apartment which is within walking distance of the tourist attractions in Victoria.

Various impressive buildings look out on Victoria Harbour. We started sightseeing by walking past the Parliament of British Columbia (see pic below).

We then toured the Royal British Columbia Museum. We saw the First Peoples Gallery, which has much of interest about indigenous Americans. The pic below shows totem poles in front of a long house.

The History Gallery in the Museum has recreated 1890s buildings and streets which visitors can walk through (see pic below). It also has an old style theatre showing silent movies.

The Natural History Gallery has excellent dioramas about coastal forests and sea shores, with the sounds and smells of those environments. See pic below of grizzly bear diorama.

Behind the Museum is Thunderbird Park, where there are several totem poles and a long house. See pic below.

The Fairmont Empress Hotel faces Victoria Harbour and is a monumental building in the old style - see pic below.

For Mother's Day we went to the high tea at the Fairmont Empress, a classy and expensive cup of tea with cakes. See pic below.

Behind the Fairmont Empress is Miniature World, full of dioramas of miniature versions of scenes from Canada's history, famous battles and buildings from around the world, as well as moving trains. See pic below of diorama of famous castles from around the world.

We did a harbour cruise on a small Victoria Harbour ferry. Views from the ferry included float planes and a cruise ship. The pics below show the ferry and floating houses at Fisherman's Wharf at the end of the cruise. A floating house tends to be a 2-3 storey house on a floating cement base.

We took a bus trip to Butchart Gardens, happily on a sunny blue sky day. This is a world famous local attraction, built in an excavated quarry once used for materials by a cement company. It is divided into distinct areas, including a formal Japanese garden and an Italian garden. One of the highlights is the sunken garden - see pic below.

Other pics below show a blossoming tree, ragged edge tulips, the lake and an impressive fountain.

Next stop Vancouver.