Living in Vancouver
This year our home exchange took us to Vancouver, once again a loooong flight but at least we were able to fly non-stop. The Frankfurt airport was a zoo when we arrived in what we thought would be plenty of time. However, there had been bad thunderstorms all morning and dozens of flights had been canceled. The lines wound back and forth and then into the next area and it was difficult to know which line was the correct one. Luckily we had an e-ticket so after one false start and once we found someone who knew what he was doing we were able to check in very quickly. We still had to get rid of our bags, so we promptly got in the wrong line - again. In the end we managed to arrive at the gate on time and then had to wait 45 minutes once we got on the plane because so many planes were waiting to take off. No big bother for us because we had no connections to make and no one waiting for us in Vancouver, but it didn't make the trip any shorter.
The Lufthansa flight was long but uneventful. I watched Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and it helped to pass the time, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see it. The other movie was about soccer, which didn't interest me at all. We arrived in Vancouver in the afternoon (local time - nine hours later German time) and took a cab to the house we would be staying in for the next three weeks. It was a small, older house in a lovely area of Vancouver withing walking distance of town, if you had an hour or so each way to spare, which of course being on vacation we did. The streets and old houses reminded me of my grandparents' home in Akron.
The next day after buying enough groceries for a day or two we walked into town along Cambie Street, at first a few hundred meters in the wrong direction. It was a hard mistake to make because you can actually see the skyline of Vancouver in the distance, but I think we were suffering from acute jet lag. At least that's my excuse.
This was our first glimpse of Vancouver, taken from the Cambie Bridge. As we later learned, a lot of those skyscrapers are residential, which makes Vancouver a very lively city at all hours. Unfortunately, the California architects and East Coast building companies did not design them for the amount of rain that Vancouver gets each year. Many of the buildings leak and are having to be re-enveloped at great cost.
Of course, that's not the only cost of owning a skyscraper. If you look closely towards the top of this building you can spot two window washers hanging from ropes. This is not an activity Frank would be very good at since he doesn't like heights at all.
To the other side of the bridge you can see the Science Museum and in the foreground a lot of construction going on. This is where the Olympic Village will be in 2010. Cambie Street itself, one of the main thoroughfares in Vancouver, is at present one long ditch where an Underground is being built. It made for interesting walking and driving as we tried to avoid it as much as possible.
In town we walked along Robson Street and randomly chose a place to eat. NOT a good idea. It was a Thai restaurant but the food was less than stellar. I should have researched better before we left the house. In general our shopping tours were not very successful. Things were much more expensive than we had expected and the quality did not justify the prices. Books for example are a lot more expensive than in the U.S. or even here in Germany, which didn't keep us from buying a few of course.
The next day we wanted to visit the Storyeum, a huge multi-media show about the history of Vancouver, which according to our guide book was not to be missed, so we walked in again. Unfortunately, they went bankrupt some time last year. Luckily there was a jazz festival going on and there were live acts in a lot of different places in town. These were (local I think) Indians, referred to in Canada as the First Nations. Actually they were the only Indians we saw during our entire stay although there was evidence of them almost everywhere we visited.
We had lunch at the Spaghetti Factory, which, if I understood the menu correctly, is the original one. Many years ago, we used to eat at the Spaghetti Factory in Hamburg with our girls. They loved it but I'm not sure it's there any more. We were not particularly impressed with the food but it probably hasn't changed much in the meantime. Maybe that's the problem. Afterwards we listened to a concert in the square in Gastown. Notice the building behind the stage. Frank especially wanted me to photograph it because it's so unusual. It looks a little ghostly in the picture.
On the way home we walked by the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden and decided to go in. It was the first classical garden of its kind outside of China and was given to Vancouver for the 1986 Expo. We went on a guided tour, which unfortunately was long-winded and not terribly interesting, so I was glad I had my camera to keep me occupied.
The weather turned really bad for a while and we had to ask how to turn the heat on in the house. Luckily there was a movie theater just up the street and we saw an Irish low budget movie, Once, that we would probably never have seen otherwise that we enjoyed very much. Then late that afternoon Frank decided that we should walk to Canada Place, a convention and exhibition center, which took us well over an hour to reach. The architecture was interesting, with the building that looks like an ocean liner and the roof that looks like sails, but it's not really a very interesting place to go to if there is nothing going on.
There was however a very nice view of the North Shore and most days there are huge cruise ships docked here, often on their way to Alaska.
Our friends, Pam and Courtney, flew up from Santa Monica to see us and to visit other friends in Vancouver. Courtney went to high school and college in Vancouver and although it was quite some while ago, he still knows his way around very well. The day they arrived we arranged to meet at Queen Elizabeth Gardens in the Bloedel Conservatory, which was not very far from the house. We hadn't used the car yet but it was a little far to walk in the time we had so we drove there. We hadn't been in the car five minutes when it began to rain. This is not normally a problem but we couldn't for the life of us figure out how to work the windshield wipers. They would only swipe once when we moved the lever. (Courtney later helped us figure them out.) Then when we arrived at the parking lot it really started pouring and we had to wait for the rain to stop because we weren't even sure what direction to go. Poor Pam and Courtney spent a lot of time in the gift shop waiting for us, but at least they were dry. We really enjoyed the Conservatory which is full of exotic plants and birds.
I must mention that Pam saved a man from a bird that he coaxed onto his arm and then became rather frightened of when the bird wanted to get in his face. You can see him in the background looking very relieved that getting rid of the bird is now Pam's problem and not his.
The birds were colorful and some of them were very LOUD.
In addition to all the birds there were a lot of exotic plants. These are perhaps not so exotic but I loved the name. Very apt.
Once we had gone through the Conservatory it had fortunately stopped raining so we could wander around in the beautiful gardens which are in the crater of a former rock quarry. There were dozens of young people who had just graduated having their pictures made in their formal attire, the girls trying to keep their long gowns from getting wet in the grass or next to the dripping bushes. Before we left we had something warm to drink in the well known restaurant Seasons in the Park, basking next to an open fire in soft comfy easy chairs. Frank and I would like to have returned for a real meal but never made it back.
The next day we met Pam and Courtney along with their friends from Vancouver in the Art Gallery which was exhibiting From Monet to Dali, a collection of 80 paintings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. It was very enjoyable even if it was quite crowded. We also finally got to see some of the works of Emily Carr, whom we had never heard of until we started reading our guide books. She painted Indian themes from British Columbia at the beginning of the 20th century before it was fashionable to do so. Unfortunately we didn't care for her style at all. Afterwards we had lunch together on the rooftop terrace of the museum. The weather was improving day by day although we still had to carry umbrellas with us.
The next day Pam and Courtney picked us up and drove with us to the North Shore and then on to Mount Seymour, where we had a breathtaking view of Vancouver. You can see the layout of the city very well in the picture with the skyscrapers in the middle and Stanley Park at the right end.
I don't know how high we were but there was a thick layer of ice on the ground which probably doesn't ever completely melt.
Coutney was a wonderful guide who knew a lot about the area and had interesting stories to tell about his life there as a student.
On our last Sunday morning we went to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. It was a good time to go because in the beginning it wasn't too crowded and we got a super parking place. By 1 pm after almost three hours when we were ready to leave it was very full. We had a great time there and it was every bit as much fun as the Monterey Aquarium we visited last summer, although we missed having Louise and Michael with us this time.
We watched the seals being fed and then the Beluga whales show. I have to admit we were warned that we might get splashed and we were sitting in the front row, but I was still caught by surprise at the end of the show when the whale said good-bye flipping its tail and sending a tsunami in our faces. We were wet to the skin and I'm glad the weather was good or we would have had to leave. As it was, it was uncomfortable but at least not pneumonia inducing.
After that we watched the porpoise show and were amazed by their flights into the air and their intelligence in general.
On our very last day in Vancouver we decided to go back to Granville Island (the tip of which you can see on the left) which we had visited on our bike tour but had had only half an hour to eat lunch and look around. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed walking around looking at the small shops and eating fish right on the bay. The food market is quite interesting but because we have wonderful markets here in Germany it takes a lot to really impress us. We struck up a conversation with a young German woman who had been living in Vancouver for a number of years and she was able to compare life in the two countries. There are of course advantages and disadvantages to both but she is very happy in Canada and will likely remain there. On a day like this we could really understand that!
Eating in Vancouver
We didn't eat out nearly as much as we had expected to. There was an organic health food supermarket not far from the house that had delicious food so that we made a lot of our meals ourselves. They had the wonderful fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries from California that I looked for last summer and couldn't find. I guess California exports its best fruit. Then the first two places we ate at weren't very good, a Thai restaurant chosen at random and the Spaghetti Factory. We had a nice light lunch at the Art Gallery but it was cafeteria style and the wait in line was quite long. Not a place to revisit except maybe for their cheesecake which was divine.
After studying Trip Advisor I decided we should try the Steamworks Brewery in Gastown, one of the sections of downtown Vancouver. Bingo! The food was great and the service very good too. Frank loved his wild salmon and in fact we had to go back a few days later so he could have it again. They also brew their own beer which he liked a lot. We also had a good meal at a White Spot, one of a chain of restaurants in British Columbia that was originally founded in 1928 in Vancouver. On Granville Island we ate at Bridges and it was fine, but Frank liked the salmon in Gastown better. Later we had coffee and cake at Keg's Steakhouse and liked the food and atmosphere very much. The best meal we had as far as I'm concerned was at Naam, a vegetarian restaurant.
However, when we went to Victoria I couldn't entice Frank to try Green Cuisine, another veggie place, except for coffee and cake. I have to admit the vegan cake was not particularly good. While in Victoria we ate lunch at Pescatore's Fish House that was recommended by the hotel staff and was okay but not first rate and lunch the next day at Ric's Grill, a steak house right downtown and I can't remember at all what we had so I can't really say whether it was good or not. It couldn't have been very amazing if I've forgotten all about it. We had breakfast at Sam's Deli, which has a very limited breakfast menu. Frank had a breakfast sandwich which didn't impress him and I had muesli and fresh fruit which was excellent. In the evening we walked along the waterfront to Barb's Place for fish and chips and it was maybe the best meal we had in Victoria. We sat at a picnic table and ate with plastic forks and knives but it was good hearty authentic food. The only reason I didn't feel like I was in England was there were no mushy peas on the menu, not that I would have eaten any.
In Squamish we had lunch at the Howe Sound Inn and Brewing Company, where we sat outside on the porch and enjoyed the view while we had a good pub meal
When we visited White Rock with Linda, Dirk and Hannah we ate at the Green Papaya because it was child friendly and close to the beach where we spent the afternoon. It was great fun, especially watching Hannah eat and chatting with Linda and Dirk. Once again, I'm afraid I don't remember a lot about the food but the company was first class.
