Vancouver, BC

We had a good flight into Vancouver on Sunday 24th July. From the airport we caught the train to the Waterfront Station, then the SeaBus over to North Vancouver. We were staying the first couple of nights with Juliet, Will's Godmother. Juliet was waiting for us at Lonsdale Quay, and drove us the short distance back to her place.  

On Monday Will was up nice and early to catch the SeaBus back over to the Convention Centre for the start of the IEEE WCCI conference. This stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers World Congress on Computational Intelligence, which is bit of a mouthful! 

Juliet and I had a lovely day together. After I enjoyed a very nice lie-in we drove to Ambleside Park in West Vancouver to check out the action on the large duck pond and walk on the beach. There were good views of the Lions Gate Bridge, looking back towards Downtown.  

Next we drove up Cypress Mountain to check out the views. In winter this is one of three ski hills easily accessible from the city.

Our last stop was to Horseshoe Bay where we stopped at a cute little cafe for coffee and a bite to eat. From here we could watch the ferries departing and arriving to/from the surrounding islands.

Juliet has a couple of gorgeous Burmese cats and Bluey, above, just LOVED having her tummy tickled!

On Tuesday we had a day outing to Whistler, which hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. Juliet's sister Hilary and brother-in-law Michael joined us for the day. The purpose of the trip was for Juliet to get a medical scan, as the waiting time was way shorter than if she'd tried to get it done in Vancouver. The drive was well under 2 hours, and was very scenic. This was more prime bear-spotting territory, and I kept my eyes peeled, but to no avail...

The scan was completed nice and quickly. We enjoyed a very tasty lunch at one of the numerous restaurants, then had a good wander around Whistler Village. Some of the ski lifts were running for the benefit of the mountain-bikers who had taken over the mountain.

On Tuesday night Will and I moved into the conference hotel, the Pinnacle Hotel, Harbourfront for three nights. Will had a huge day on Wednesday, being involved in the presentation of 4 papers which started at 8 am in the morning, so only being a 5 minute walk from the conference venue was a big help.

I spent Wednesday wandering around Vancouver. I took the cute little ferry over to the Granville Island Market and had lunch over there. There were signs around the market warning of the aggressive birds, but I was still surprised when I was eating my lunch on a bench by the water and a seagull swooped down and swiped a bit of food from my fork before I had a chance to get it into my mouth! It was still a very nice lunch with a view...

I love coming across community gardens when I'm exploring cities, I'm always interested in what people are growing. As you can see in the background below, Vancouver was gearing up for its annual Pride Festival that coming Saturday. It would have been fun to attend but unfortunately we were leaving town on the Saturday morning.

However, we were in town for the middle session of the 'Honda Celebration of Light' festival on the Wednesday night. This is an annual event where three countries 'compete' in a fireworks competition over three different nights. It so happened that Australia were the featured country on the Wednesday.

It was a glorious evening and I enjoyed walking to English Bay, along with the thousands of others! This event is crazy popular, over 1 million people viewed the fireworks over the three nights. Will had his official conference banquet that evening, so because I was by myself I managed to get a prime spot on the grassed area just back from the beach, pretty much right in front of the barge that the fireworks were going to be released from.

I arrived around 8:30 pm, and the fireworks weren't due to be set off until 10 pm, but already the place was packed. I passed the time reading my kindle, enjoying the sunset and watching the display put on by the fire boats.

The fireworks were actually spectacular. I can be a bit 'bah humbug' towards them at times, as I think it's just a ridiculous amount of money going up in smoke! However, if Aussie wanted to burn all that cash, the least I could do was sit back and enjoy it... Here's a selection of pics.

I also took a couple of short videos, best watched with the sound off (or at least down low) as I had a very annoying whiny kid next to me. Luckily the parents got fed up and took him home before the end!

  

After the fireworks finished I had a text from Will saying that he was in the area. He had caught a taxi to the fireworks after his conference dinner finished, along with a couple of his colleagues. We managed to meet up (no mean feat considering the huge crowds of people!) and walked back to our hotel together. We went back via the waterfront and enjoyed the night lights and sights.

It was just before midnight and we also happened to catch one of the huge big cruise ships departing the port with guidance from a tug/pilot boat.

 

On Thursday I walked to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park and met up with Juliet. She is a volunteer at the aquarium and has been for many years. As well as getting me in for free as her guest, I also had my own personal, highly knowledgeable guide! Chester, a young false killer whale who was rescued in a really bad condition as a calf was one of my favourites.

The beluga whales fascinated me as I'd never seen a white whale before.

The dolphins were also beautiful to watch. It is crazy how high they can propel themselves out of the water.

There is an exhibition where (after thoroughly washing your hands and removing any jewellery) you can put two fingers into a shallow tank and stroke the stingrays on their back as they swim past. They were very soft, it felt like stroking thick velvet.

Here are a couple more pics. I could have included loads more, but this post is going to be long enough as it is.

After the aquarium I spent a couple of hours wandering around Stanley Park. At 405 hectares it's a huge place, and a real asset to the city having that much green space so close to downtown Vancouver. I remembered visiting the totem poles when I was last in Vancouver in 2003, right at the beginning of my OE. At that stage I had no idea I'd end up living away from NZ for 8 years and return with a British husband!

I did spot the happiest raccoon in the world, having procured a near-full bag of snacks from somewhere.

And some more wildlife...

There were lovely views looking back to downtown.

The walk back to our hotel was all along the waterfront. This is such a beautiful picturesque city. It is definitely a place Will and I would seriously consider living if an opportunity arose, it has a huge amount to offer.

Juliet actually knows the owner of the yellow houseboat in the pic below, and has attended book-club meetings there. It would be a pretty amazing place to live!

 

Friday was our last evening in Vancouver and we stayed the night with Juliet once again. We caught the train out to New Westminster and had dinner with Hilary and Michael who have a lovely apartment there overlooking the Fraser River. I had met them during our day trip to Whistler earlier in the week, and Will had actually met them in New Zealand. He briefly showed them around Wellington when they arrived on a cruise ship early in the year. Excellent company, superb food and great wine (Michael is a connoisseur of fine wine!) was a perfect way to finish off our time in Vancouver. Huge thanks are due to Juliet for her incredible hospitality and looking after us so well. Will couldn't have ended up with a better Godmother.