Vancouver

Considering the terrible fires raging in CA, I was going to skip posting about our Vancouver trip, but then I thought that perhaps some goofy pictures and tourist anecdotes might be a welcome break (all that to say that I've been thinking of you guys in LA).
The weekend did not get off to a promising start- rain, traffic and unfriendly border police had me worried that our first weekend out of the country was going to be a rough one, but it turned out to be quite lovely (despite the near constant RAIN! Cristie, your umbrella came in handy- thanks!).
After we got settled into our hotel late Friday evening, we walked around Robson Street, a popular spot, active with many restaurants and shops. Joey had researched the area and chose Guu, a Japanese tapas place as our first Canadian dinner spot. Guu's lively atmosphere and wonderful food revived our dampened mood - the weekend was back on track!

We spent Saturday morning acquainting ourself with Vancouver's public transportation system (subtext: we got lost twice due to repeated misdirections), and eventually made our way to the lookout deck, which offers the highest view of downtown Vancouver- a great way to orient yourself to the outlaying city, water and mountains. Although we loved the view, we were pretty bummed that it was still raining:

Afterwards, we walked to Canada Place, where we saw the Canadian military practice a ceremonial flag folding (there were guns involved- it was cooler than I'm describing) and then on to Gas Town, thus named after a "chatty" bar keeper. Gas Town has a very European aesthetic and boasts one of the first steam powered clocks! That's right, I said a steam powered clock- it toots and everything:We relaxed over beers and yummy lunch and then made our way to the Chinese Gardens, which did not disappoint:

We continued our walking tour of Vancouver, making a near 3 mile trek across downtown and a bridge to reach Granville Island for a brewery tour. The tour was a bit of a dud (they weren't even brewing that weekend!) but I did have an uplifting conversation with this gentleman (you know how I love seniors):

We started chatting over the beer samples (apparently the first beer of his life- he might have been pulling my leg...). He had an interesting story- when he retired from the Canadian school system, he and his wife started traveling the world and along the way he's been invited to teach at international schools so now he takes different teaching jobs all over the world. He was a true delight.

Granville Island is very touristy, but still quaint with a wonderful indoor market- not as fun as the hat shop though:As it was getting dark (and colder), we relied once again on the public transport and bussed it back to the downtown area for our favorite food- sushi! Joey spotted a great hole in the wall find- ideal mix of traditional and innovation- the perfect end to a great day. We even managed to get ourselves back to the hotel without the "help" of any Canadians (sorry, but seriously, don't offer directions if you really don't know how to get there!).
We awoke on Sunday to even more downpour- nothing but crepes would do for breakfast (good way to practice what paltry bit of French I can remember). We decided to brave the storm and went to Stanley Park- a must see in my opinion:



Pictured above: a giant hollow tree, entrance to the Lions Gate Bridge and the Stanley Park Totem Poles.

After a failed attempt at finding indoor activities to keep us out of the rain (don't ever go to Science World unless you have a 5 year old), we decided to start the drive home. Our Vancouver trip was over.