Ahhhh Vancouver, so close and yet another country away! I have been planning to go to Vancouver for a long time, but never worked the timing out perfectly, something always came up that was more important, or else I couldn't schedule enough time to make it worth the trip. But, after a long time I was finally able to pull all the pieces together and go there! I went with two other au pair friends, we took my fabulous Stallion car and left early one Saturday morning. We got to Vancouver at around 10.30. It was miserable weather, cold and blustery and rainy. We had no Canadian currency because none of us had the time that week to go to the bank and exchange some. Everywhere we went we had to pay for parking - and we had no coins in order to do so, AND the parking wardens were everywhere!!! We drove around for a while just wondering what we should do. We didn't exactly feel like walking around in the rain, and I was losing enthusiasm fast of what to do! So we did the best possible thing - we decided was to stop for brunch - always the best idea!! We managed to find a nice sandwich shop downtown that happened to have parking right outside. We still had no coins, but we were able to get some! We quickly ate up our sandwiches, checked our emails and loaded maps on our phones and my nexus with their WiFi. It worked well! It lifted all our spirits, and we were even able to get some Canadian currency!
The first thing we decided to do was to head to North Vancouver and see the Lynn Canyon Park where there is a large suspension bridge over a canyon. We arrived and parked, and I was still unsure of what we were going to see, but ooohh when we got there we were left breathless with the beauty!
Wow!
Walking the bridge!
After enjoying the suspension bridge we hurried back to the shelter and warmth of the car and headed to our next stop, Lighthouse Park, on the North shore of Vancouver, facing towards the ocean. It was a really neat place, and I just love lighthouses, so it made me very happy!
Yay I'm so excited to be at a lighthouse!
After we had ticked those things off our little list, we headed over the famous Lion's Gate bridge to Stanley Park. As we drove around we had to stop at almost every corner and leap out of the car to take pictures because it was so lovely! You saw the city from so many different angles. Really, Stanley park is a very rare and amazing treasure for the city of Vancouver.
City skyline from Stanley Park
Lighthouse!
From there we headed to English Bay, which was beautiful but hard to find a car park!!! When we finally found one it was not in the most picturesque place, but it was certainly still lovely. I don't think you can ever go wrong with a landscape of water and sky!
By this stage we were happily chugging through our "To See" list, we headed to Queen Elizabeth Park where you can see the citylights.
Fountain at Queen Elizabeth Park
We then headed to our hotel to put down our stuff. When I say 'hotel', I use the term loosely, haha. I had found this hotel which was cheaper than even a backpacker's hostel! The only catch was it was on the outskirts of downtown in the 'rough part of town', and apparently was a haven for addicts etc. Never one to be put off by things like that, I booked us immediately! We found the place to be great, it was super clean, we had a private bathroom, it had a carpark beside the building, it was comfortable and had internet - what more could we want? Later on we had a good laugh because a few locals had asked my friend where we were staying, and when she told them they immediately knew the place simply by reputation and they were shocked that we were staying there, they advised us to leave at once! haha. But when have I ever listened to such advice? People are too quick to judge places without actually trying it for themselves.
Anyway, we put our stuff down, and really we were all feeling weary. Tired, broke, hungry. We didn't want to take the car to downtown because of the parking expense, but we were too cold and tired to walk, and we didn't even want to spend the money to take a bus. We ended up taking the car, and paying a small fortune for parking!! We got downtown and headed to find a bar where all the meals were just $4.95. I was also looking out for a particular bar where a friend of mine from New Zealand was planning to be for the evening - she happened to be in Vancouver at the same time as me and I wanted to synchronise up with her, however she didn't have a phone, and so we had to just email each other whenever we could find wireless internet. It was very frustrating at times, and in the end I just felt that I would give up on trying to see her.
Downtown Vancouver!
As we walked down the main road looking for this cheap food place, I was also looking for the name of the bar where my friend was going to be. Then, in an incredible strike of luck or fate or miracle or whatever - we found the bar where the food was cheap, and it happened to be the very same bar that my friend was at!!!!! I could hardly contain myself! It was beyond words!
Reunited with my friend from New Zealand!
We joined her and a whole party of other New Zealanders - it was so strange for me because I haven't met any other New Zealanders all year, let alone hearing the accent from a whole table full of kiwis!! Hearing the accent again was very strange for me. Very strange! I kept thinking "is this how I sound? is this how I sound?" haha. My au pair friends said that they could not understand a word they were saying because of their accents! Anyway, after a meal and a catch up we headed home because we were tired and cold and miserable, and the parking meter was running out.
We woke up and there was a break in the weather, it was still overcast but not so rainy! It really was a welcome relief.
We decided to head to Chinatown for breakfast, which was very nice
Then we went to Gastown, an historic part of Vancouver downtown area.
Gastown
Gastown clock
Cuisine to delight every palate! I was in heaven!
My trouble was to be in this wonderful market and to know that I could only spend about $4 on lunch, so I bought a freshly made small baguette roll and then some delicious cheese which I bought a sliver of from one of the many artisan cheese stalls. I think my lunch came to a total of $3,and it was delicious! perfect!
After Granville Island, I really felt that we had covered pretty much everything on our 'To See' list, and the three of us mutually decided it was time to head home. We had seen a lot and done a lot, on a cold and wet weekend which did not make for very inspiring travel weather! But we really pushed through and trucked along in a great way!
So yes, Vancouver was worth the wait. Vancouver will always be in my memories as the city where it was extremely difficult and expensive to park, where left turns are always difficult, and for the hilarious reputation of the hotel we stayed in!!! Good times indeed!
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