Here is the harbour, our apartment block is one of the new shiny ones (can’t work out which one):

So the drive from Kamloops was fairly long and quite boring as the scenery wasn’t as good as it was in Alberta. Sam did all of the driving which I was thankful for as I wasn’t feeling that well. I was glad to see the back of crappy Kamloops and excited to see what Vancouver had to offer. The hardest part of the journey to our city apartment was actually getting into the building! By no exaggeration it took us 50 minutes!! Security is high and there was a series of gates to go through and then we had to find our parking space in this huge multi-storey carpark that had really bad signage. Anyway, we made it! Here’s a clip of the drive

That evening we decided to make use of the handy cuisine that was on our doorstep, so we went to a fish restaurant where I tried some (very inexpensive) Oysters. -my first time!

The one I’m holding was a standard raw one and then I also tried the grilled one. The grilled one was very nice but the raw one (called Fanny Bay 😂) was difficult to get my head around, although very fresh!

We also enjoyed some cocktails but soon discovered that they don’t have Pornstar Martinis over here -WTAF?! So I was offered an alternative which I thankfully got Sam to try early on and she picked up that it really smelled of almonds. Although I had told the waiter about my nut allergy, he didn’t realise that the alcohol in my drink was made from almonds -it was like a disarano type drink. So thankfully that was rectified pretty quickly and I was given a different cocktail free of charge, whilst the waiter probably sat crying out the back hehe.

We then went back to our apartment via a really cool/upmarket supermarket that sits below our apartment. I managed to find some decent chocolate there and we were intrigued by these huge pumpkins:

Looking forward to seeing more of the city tomorrow!

For me the most entertaining thing to watch was the cheerleaders as they’re so provocative that is really cringe, so that made me giggle!

We sat and watched all the players come out, plus a singer, cheerleaders and various other people. The atmosphere was pretty good and certain people were really into the game, others just saw it as a social occasion to get together with friends. It was strange that the sport was secondary to the main focus of people’s attention.

Quick time lapse of the national anthem being sung and the players being introduced:

So after watching the football for over an hour and half it got to half time and we had only actually watched 30 minutes of the game because it is only played for about 7 seconds at a time! That is no exaggeration! It’s such a stop-start sport that it was impossible to get absorbed by it. So I decided at half time to call it a day and do and something else. We have such little time in Vancouver that I wasn’t prepared to waste any, so we went for a walk along the waterfront.

We also passed through Gastown where there’s this famous clock that runs on steam. Gastown is quite an old part of the city and it therefore has pretty, more traditional, buildings.

Oh and I forgot to mention our ride on the local tram which we thought was taking us to Gastown but actually pretty much took us in a complete circle from where we had started from 😂 There were some very interesting people using the tram, felt slightly like we were at the circus! One thing I did notice though, was how friendly the bus driver was and how courteous the passengers where to each other. It highlighted to me just how rude British people can be to each other.

Canadians generally do seem to be more happy than we do.

We went for lunch at a lovely Italian just off the Main Street... I treated myself to a very nice Bellini.

We were going to be really cultural and go to an art gallery but we discovered that you have to pay to get in, so we scrapped that idea and continued shopping!

The city looks very American but has a lot going for it. People that live here are very health conscious and are often seen jogging with their dog along their streets.

It’s a very pretty city with the mountains in the background, bay and harbour the other side. My only complaint is that it doesn’t feel Canadian at all.

Supporting Pride, nice to see!

There was a mixture of old and new buildings. The old ones were what I found to be more attractive and certain signs looked very retro! Parts of the city, the area we stayed in (Yaletown) in particular, could almost have been an English city such as \240Bristol. It had quite industrial feeling converted brick buildings similar to that of Bristol harbourside. The area was all reclaimed from industrial wasteland and is now very pretty to walk around, even had a couple of super yachts in the harbour! The whole of the central area is very walkable from Yaletown to the centre is just 20 minutes. There’s also so many really similar looking high rise residential and office buildings making you realise just how big the city is, yet the fact it was so walkable was great.

One thing I’ve noticed the locals say a lot is ‘sounds good’ alongside something like when ordering food off a menu and you’ve made a good choice. However, some seem to do it so much out of habit even when something doesn’t sound particularly good. For example, for about the third time in the same conversation a shop assistant was trying to give me a rewards card and I said no thanks I don’t think I’ll shop here again, and he just says okay, sounds good 👍 😂

So after shopping all afternoon and eating out for lunch we decided to stay in in the evening and treat ourselves to some drinks (red wine and gin!) and a little homemade cheeseboard accompanied by a face mask of course!

Today we enjoyed a trip to Stanley Park which is in Vancouver City Centre. The park is vast and has different areas to it, we just went to two of them -around Beaver Lake and The Lagoon. We were surprised to see so much wildlife! Firstly we were met by a raccoon, and then his brothers and sisters.

They were smaller than I imagined but very mischievous and I can just imagine them being a pain to the locals!

Shortly after seeing them we were greeted by this handsome Great Blue Heron. It ended up being a great photo of him with the city and lake in the background.

We spoke to someone who was taking very professional photos of things thinking that he was a local who could point us to maybe some eagles (I did see a glimpse of one there) or a beaver, but he was an Irish Man who was interested in photographing mushrooms. -you do you! He was very mesmerised by this particular one which I have to admit was pretty. He made us remember its name, which Sam originally remembered as Fly-A-Derrick, it was actually Fly Agaric. Hehe!

Whilst we were looking at the Heron, we suddenly got called over by the Irish man who was very excited. He shouted ‘there’s an otter, there’s an otter!’ We ran over and looked through his binoculars at where he was pointing to and sure enough, there was an otter swimming around in the Lagoon. I didn’t manage to get any photos as I could only see it through the binoculars but it was very cute!

We then stumbled across a black squirrel who was a similar size to our grey ones, the previous ones we’ve seen have been much smaller, more like our red squirrels. I think she might have been breastfeeding!

We then went to Beaver Lake but unfortunately didn’t see any beavers! The trail around the lake is designated accessible for wheelchair users so there was obviously a need for this sign! 🤣

The lake is really overgrown with lilies so you can hardly see the water. We did however manage to see these very colourful ducks.

As we continued to walk around the lake I suddenly heard a very familiar sound, the call of a woodpecker (much bigger than ours). Here it is in action:

As we headed back to the car we spent about 15-20 minutes walking along the sea wall. It goes on forever and provides spectacular views of the city, beaches, harbour, sea. You get to appreciate the scale of the city from this viewpoint.

We both really enjoyed our time in Stanley Park, it’s a place well worth visiting if you ever go to Vancouver.

Later we met up with Sams cousin and his wife for some gorgeous sushi at a restaurant a stones throw away from our apartment. We were advised in Calgary that Vancouver is the place to get really good sushi, and it didn’t disappoint! it was nice to socialise with other people (they were a lovely couple), especially as they lived in BC, as we could get a feel for what it’s like to not be a tourist there. it was an enjoyable end to a good day.

And that was our last day in Vancouver! Next it’s off to Tofino! 😁