G'day All,
Opened the curtains this morning to a typical Vancouver day, raining... to be expected really as they do receive about 1,200 mm a year at the airport and around 2,400 mm in /north Vancouver about 20 km from the airport.
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| View from the 17th floor of the Rosedale on Robson this morning (rainy day ahead) |
After breakfast we walked a few blocks to get to Canada Place to catch the Hop On op Off (HOHO) bus. As we left the hotel we met a couple of ladies heading the same direction, also to catch the HOHO, turned out they were from Brisbane (Caboolture and Burpengary). The HOHO voucher was exchanged OK, this was he one we purchased in Australia to be used on our first stay in Vancouver (before we went to Victoria) but were assured we could use today (guess sometimes you can trust the sales people) :-).
We are beginning to think that all bus drivers in Canada complete the Mad Max school of driving to get their licence as the rides we've had have been quite the adventure. We did the full green circuit which leaves from Canada Place at the port and goes through Stanley Island. From there we hopped off at the False Creek Ferry and took the huge ferry (photo below) across to Granville Island to browse the markets, shops and galleries.
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| The ferry that holds about 12 people. |
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| Some of the fresh produce at the Granville markets. |
From there we picked up the red circuit with another HOHO bus and driver who obviously used the same driver program. In all the green and red circuits cover 33 stops around Vancouver city.
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| The second HOHO trolley bus we took. |
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| Museum of Vancouver |
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| Crab sculpture at the Museum of Vancouver |
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| Unusual car art. |
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| Victorian style clock (actually circa 1970's) blows stream whistles on the hour. |
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| Gassy Jack - founder of Gastown |
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| International Village sculpture. |
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| Prospect Point lookout to North Vancouver |
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| Street Lamps and flowers |
We stayed on until we made it back to Canada Place and decided to walk back to Gastown as it looked interesting and also had some nice shops for last minute gifts. It also appeared to had some darker areas with a lot more homeless and a line up at the methadone clinic. The homeless / beggars are everywhere in the city and nearly always approach with the line "I don't want any money but if you can spare some..." They can be seen sleeping on the streets from 1:30 pm, this guy was had an unusual approach, crouching down and hiding his head under the cardboard...
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| Not quite sure of this guys strategy, but it wasn't working for him, the cup was empty. |
Not the brightest photo to end our holiday in Canada, so below is one of the more memorable photos from the trip, a family catch up. All packed and heading to the airport and we are both feeling that it's about time to come home, unless of course there has been a lotto win we don't know about . . .
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| The Canadian family selfie - Gary, Samantha, Penny and Oliver |
Brisvegas, we are heading home...
P.S. For those interested in how many photos I took for the trip, lets just say it was more than 12,000 and I am going to be very busy sorting them out to compile our vacation book :-)
Cheers
Gary and Penny
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