Saturday, August 29
Tony certainly warned us! Angie has the reputation of taking bad weather with her whenever she goes on holidays and it appears that she is living up to her reputation on this holiday! Vancouver has just had its sunniest summer on record but, with our arrival, the heavens have opened and it has rained and rained and the wind has been really strong causing a lot of damage around the city. Thankfully it has not been cold but the rain has made it unpleasant to get around. We eagerly watched the TV tonight for the forecast for the next 7 days and sadly, it's more of today! Oh well, we won't let it dampen our spirits.
Making a new Canadian friend
We set off mid morning after a good sleep-in and eating brunch overlooking a misty grey vista. We made our way down to Canada Place to see where our cruise will be departing from and one of the Princess cruise ships was berthed there so we walked over to have a better look at what we will be on in a few day's time. We then found the Visitor Info Centre and spent quite some time there because Tony (a Yorkshireman), befriended one of the guides - a fellow from Manchester - and the banter between the two was very funny. We booked a tour for tomorrow to Victoria Island and Butchart Gardens and are looking forward to that, despite the early starting time!
Al acquainting himself with "Gassy Jack"
The Gastown Steam Clock
We stopped for a coffee then headed to Gastown where Vancouver was born. The story goes that in 1867 John "Gassy Jack" Deighton wandered through the wilderness armed with only a barrel of whiskey and a penchant for long-winded tales and set up a saloon on the southern shores of Burrard Inlet. This attracted loggers and mill workers who named the area Gastown to honour Jack for his generous pours. As the area grew, it became the commercial and shipping hub and many of the buildings and warehouses built back then still stand today. It's a tourist hotspot now with boutiques, great eateries, stunning design studios, art galleries, etc. all lining streets festooned with overflowing hanging baskets of flowers suspended from old fashioned street lamps. One of the attractions is a steam clock that we arrived in time to see doing it's thing - a steamy rendition of the Westminster chimes - with steam gushing from the top as it draws it's power from the city's underground steam-heat system.
Lunch at Pub 131
After browsing in shops and generally nosing around reading the heritage signs, seeing the memorial to Gassy Jack and taking up all the photo opps, we stopped for a very late lunch at Pub 131. The food was excellent and it was hard to move on from there but more sights beckoned so we headed off. Small spots quickly developed into heavy rain and even Goretex jackets and umbrellas couldn't keep us dry. Our original plan was to walk to Granville Island but the rain changed that and we decided to stop in at our apartment for a cuppa and see whether the rain would ease. It did but by then we had decided to give the long walk to Granville Is away and head for the 1000 acre Stanley Park instead. We passed a fishing charter that had just returned and two lucky seals thought they had died and gone to heaven with the huge pieces of fish they were being fed by the charter operator. We hadn't gone much further before the sky was looking ominous and the heavens opened again. We pressed on in driving rain to see the native totem poles the Park is famous for and by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and it was looking much brighter.
Two very lucky seals
Stanley Park Totem Poles and ???
Vancouver at dusk
Not wanting to push our luck too far, we headed back home and the weather seemed to be clearing and we saw the sun for the first time. Vancouver is a lovely city and we hope to see it bathed in sunshine before we leave. The four of us felt it reminded us a lot of Melbourne (and not just for its weather).
Some sun - at last!
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