Canada 08/09 – Vancouver – Day 2

Day 2 in Vancouver started late – despite being told repeatedly by Ed that we would be walking to Stanley Park by 6am. Instead, we didn’t eat breakfast until well after 10am – which was a shame in the end, because the weather in Vancouver had really put on a show; 4C and sun!

After breakfast we decided to catch a taxi to Stanley Park – in case we decided on the way home that it was actually a long way and that we shouldn’t have walked both ways.

The ride was literally only 5 minutes, but the cold weather would have made it seem much longer on foot. We had the driver drop us off at the Vancouver Aquarium – a place that we could get our bearings from. We decided we would return to the Aquarium later on – once we had explored the park and found some wildlife for Pip.

Unfortunately, exploring the park was a little harder than expected. The cold weather overnight, and the past few days mixed with rain meant that the majority of walkways were turned to ice. Luckily our first squirrel sighting wasn’t far away, although Pip wasn’t satisfied with just one.

We set off on a wild adventure across the park, heading away from Beaver Lake and towards the Pipeline (or Pip-el-lee-nee for those in the know) Track. With a few minor slips along the way, we made it to a nice little outlook where we could see across the bay to North Vancouver, and the slopes of Grouse Mountain behind. It certainly was a great spot, and you should be able to pick it when looking at the photos from today – did I mention that you should look at the photos?

From here, we walked along the Pipeline track, and saw a squirrel or two while we did it, dodging falling branches and other hazards that had fallen in the nasty weather of the previous week or so. We soon came across a T-Junction in the path, and of course we chose the nicest looking path that seemed to go much deeper into the forest. After walking along this track for a few minutes, we soon realised that the track ended in a metal fence – one we would not be getting through. According to Ed, however, it was simple to fix this – just walk through the forest! As we continued towards the fence, it soon became clear that other people had made the same mistake, and followed a similar path from here out of the forest towards Pipeline road.

We walked along Pipeline road for a minute or two, before crossing to the other side of it and observing a map (good moves). We noticed how close we were to Beaver Lake – which we had avoided earlier, as this was to be seen ‘on the way home’ – and so decided to tick this off now. The path there from the road was no longer than 100m, but just as icy as all the others. Once we reached the lake, we noticed that most of it was frozen over – albeit only a thin cover. Ed attempted to break it with a few large snowballs, but to no avail. We did, however, come across an interesting warning sign. It read ‘DANGER’… but that was all. Unfortunately, the rest of the sign was frozen in the lake, beneath the ice, and so we had no idea what it was warning us of. Possibly the thin ice, possibly something else – but unfortunately, great placement meant that it wasn’t really doing its job.

As we continued along this path we saw quite a few more squirrels, and other interesting things – such as the warning sign for oncoming wheelchairs… Interesting indeed (check the photos)! We decided the best way back was along the same path, and so we headed back and then across Pipeline road and returned to the Aquarium. The Cafe at the Aquarium was really the only place in the park to get food, and so this was handy – being after 1pm. Ed enjoyed his ’salmon’ burger – ironic at an Aquarium big on conservation – while Pip and I had more fish-friendly meals. While eating lunch, we watched over the Beluga Whale exhibit.

Following lunch we explored the Aquarium, and saw bits of shows that were running at the time. Looking around the entire complex certainly took time, and it was 3:30pm before we left. From here, we walked to the Sea Wall – the path that circles the entire park, and stretches from here, along the shore, back to the city. We followed this path from the park back into the city, where we diverted slightly to make it back to the apartment.

Just before getting back, we stopped in at Urban Fare – our local grocery store – to pick up some more breakfast supplies and some NYE goods. Unfortunately, as we found out at the checkout, the only champagne that was being sold was non-alcoholic – pointed out by the check-out worker who suggested we must be having a big night… The closest liquor store was 5 blocks away, so we decided to skip this for now.

Ed decided to keep walking and tried to visit the Taylors who were staying only blocks away, while Pip and I decided the couch sounded like a much better plan. Skype was on again back in the apartment, and so we spent some time catching up with the troopers who were still in Australia. Ed returned a little later, as it was getting very dark outside (5pm) with no success. He hadn’t managed to see the Taylors, or leave a message, and hadn’t got any champagne either.

After spending some more time in the room, we booked for dinner at the restaurant in our building – a 6-course banquet for $75 a head. We left a few hours in between so that we could watch a few episodes of an ongoing CSI:Miami marathon. When 7:30pm came around, we were all quite tired already, but decided it was best to face the food now rather than later!

The food was very nice – although we had first thought that the choices were very limited, we all found things that were exciting to eat… but not too exciting of course. Choices we chose included:

• “Kir Royal”
• Asparagus tart; Pork Belly
• Smoked pumpkin soup; Lobster bisque
• Sorbet
• Arctic Char; Butternut squash gnocchi
• Sticky mandarin pudding; Eggnog creme brulee

Wow. What a feast. While we had dinner, we observed limo after limo – which gave Ed an idea; how about hiring a limo for an hour and going for a cruise around town? It sounded good to both Pip and I, but unfortunately, Ed chickened out when push came to shove and we left the restaurant with the remainder of Ed’s bottle of wine in a brown paper bag.

We are currently back in the apartment watching the picturesque lights of Vancouver, and we keep hoping that everyone has been wrong about the lack of fireworks tonight. In case we don’t update this again – Happy New Year to everyone (as much as I’m aware it’s nearly the end of the first day of 2009 back home, yet we still are in 2008 here).

All the best, keep reading the blog, look at the photos, and keep praying for snow!! 28cm in 24 hours is just not enough!

ps – I thought I’d leave you with a little taste of one of the funny signs we saw on our walk today…

And maybe another nice one from Vancouver. Ciao!

Canada 08/09 – Vancouver – Day 1

Our first proper day in Vancouver started early – at 9am when Ed woke both Pip and I up. While normally we would have all been awake by now, the late night the night before made everyone (except Ed) a little slow off the mark.

A nice breakfast by the window was enjoyed by all – Corn Flakes followed by frosted Mini Wheats for some. It didn’t take too long for us to get ready and hit the road – heading for British Columbia’s largest shopping mall, Metropolis at Metrotown.

We made the short dash from our apartment in the 5C max, but currently dry weather, to the closest underground SkyTrain station (gah that gets me everytime) where we bought 3 day-long tickets. Luckily we could utilise the Bentall Plaza underground shopping mall, and managed to escape the cool most of the way. $27 later, though, and we boarded the train, without having to validate a ticket once – hmm!

After an exciting quick ride on the SkyTrain, which did truly become a ’sky’ train after the ‘Stadium’ station, where we would need to return tonight for the ‘haahkeey’ match. Metrotown, or Mo-Town as dubbed by Tess, was another 7 stops away, so we enjoyed the scenic SkyTrain ride – which was very quite – being Monday at about 11am.

Upon arrival at Mo-Town, we made a move to at least look in every shop on the top floor – that’s one of three levels. It took us considerable time to do this, and we made a number of stops on the way to look at things more closely. While we walked past the food court, we didn’t venture within it, as it was still relatively early – relatively.

After completing the top floor, with a number of purchases and some tickets to the game in hand, we made an effort to give the second floor down the same treatment. Unfortunately, we only managed to see half of this floor before we fell victim to the hungries, and made a b-line for the food court we had discovered earlier.

As much as yesterday proved how much we were determined to eat Hungry Jack’s/Burger King in every city we visited, today we all felt like a change. Pip went with Indian, Ed with Thai, and a Quizno’s Sub for me. While it took us a few minutes to find each other in the food court, due to poor co-ordination and a lack of communication method, we soon met up and enjoyed our lunch.

All of the walking had made everyone very tired, and so the drinks inside the ‘Everything for one dollar’ shop seemed very appetising. Too bad it didn’t work out according to the name – unfortunately, 3 $1 drinks cost us $3.36. That’s the $1 price tag, including 5% GST, 3% PST and some more for funding the refund program – what’s the point of getting money back that you already paid! Where’s the free stuff?!

We continued shopping until we couldn’t walk anymore – and we had seen every shop in the entire shopping complex. But don’t fret – we did visit SportsCheck for a brief moment, and purchased a new set of Leki poles – thanks Shell! Luckily, we didn’t repeat last year’s SportsChek episodes where we managed to lose an entire day inside that crazy time-warp of a store.

After finishing the final level, at 4:30pm, we made our way back to the SkyTrain station amongst the now very much larger crowds. Of course, being Canada, is was basically dark at 4:30pm… dark and significantly colder. We were home at the apartment at 5pm, by which time it was completely dark. The legs got a much-needed rest, and everyone relaxed for an hour or so – before we retraced our exact steps to return to the ‘General Motors Place’; home of the Vancouver Canucks.

Unfortunately for us, even at 6pm, it was not ‘quiet’ as Ed had suggested it may be, and the trains and walkways were packed with die-hard fans pushing to get to their already assigned seats. We grabbed some dinner – Jumbo hot dogs (while it may sound bad, we did opt for not having the foot-long hotdogs!) and then made our way to the seats.

Amongst 18,648 other fans, we watched the Canucks lose 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers. It was, however, an exciting match, with the first fight occurring just 15 seconds into the 1st Period – seeing 2 players sin-binned for 5 minutes. Unfortunately, we didn’t win any prizes in the many competitions, but enjoyed the crowd energy, and general good times that come with an ice-hockey match.

Upon leaving the GM Place, it was certainly much colder outside now, and raining. We made a quick dash amongst the rest of the fans and stood in line for the SkyTrain for 10 minutes or so as the drizzle continued. Luckily most of the crowd was going East – us going West. The ride home was uneventful, but the over-ground walk back to the hotel, now that the underground mall was closed, uncomfortable due to the wind which had picked up, and the ongoing rain.

By the time we were back in the room, it was nearly 10pm and all of the crew were completely exhausted. After half an hour or so of Skype-ing, we watched an episode or two of Scrubs and then hit the beds – except for me, who is still sitting up typing this at nearly midnight.

I have uploaded some photos, but they are really only half of what we have – and don’t include any from the travelling. Those are on the other camera, which is hidden away with the appropriate adaptors in Ed’s room – who is fast asleep. Those will have to wait. Visit the gallery page using the links above (on the OnSno.com homepage) to check them out! There’s a small taste below…

Check out the ones that are up there, keep reading the blog, and enjoy your New Year’s Eve – we still have just under 24 hours to wait!

ps – Happy Birthday Tammy!

Canada 08/09 – The Journey There

Following on from the previous post – we left Sydney airport relatively on time, at 4:15pm, and were promised a shorter-than-expected flight due to impressive tail winds. Jumping onto the 747 on offer, we secured our three seats towards the front of the economy cabin – much better seating than we had previously been assigned (ie 2nd row from the back).

Although we had only just recently eaten lunch, after a Hungry Jack’s ‘brunch’ – as it was too early to call it lunch back in the domestic terminal, we were soon offered dinner. Although Pip’s ‘vegetarian’ preference appeared not to stick with the airline, the food on offer was more than acceptable for all party members. Unfortunately, Pip wasn’t feeling the best and probably wasn’t going to be appetised by anything offered.

Somewhere around two hours into the flight, the flight attendants politely suggested that we close our window shades to block out the ‘late and bright sun’ that was still shining. Within literally five minutes of this suggestion, we found out the real reason why – tropical thunderstorms left, right and centre.

While we played dodge the thunderstorm for many hours to come, the flight was not uncomfortable and time seemed to go past relatively quickly – although, we were thoroughly disappointed that the January movies had already come into swing, while the movies we had been promised in the seat-back magazine had been ditched into the Pacific.

With just a few hours remaining until our arrival in San Francisco, a small medical emergency unfolded only two rows in front of us. A woman, seemingly visiting the toilet, simply collapsed on the floor in front of the exit row/toilets. While it took the flight attendants several minutes to react to this, it tied up five of them on and off for the next hour or so, while blood pressure was checked and oxygen given. It appeared that their first aid training was not helping much, as they soon put out a call for any medical personnel on the flight to come forward.

Luckily, an hour before the flight landed, the woman simply stood up and returned to her seat a few rows back. She stayed in her seat for the rest of the flight, with oxygen attached – strange but true. Looks like it might not have been as serious as first thought, but still not a good thing to happen.

Unfortunately, for all other passengers on the flight, this delayed the breakfast service which forced some of the final row passengers to eat in the same movement as handing up their rubbish. Pip again wasn’t feeling great, and so had gone many hours now without a proper meal.

After these airborne adventures had ceased, we began our decent into San Francisco. Literally metres from the end of the runway, we simply powered-up to full throttle and took off again – later it became clear why: a plane was trying to cross over the runway we were landing on, but managed to do so right at the point we were trying to use the runway.

Another approach loop down and we finally landed in cool, and slightly hazy San Francisco. After clearing US customs and immigration – wow, there wasn’t even a line up – we had to recheck our bags with one very grumpy (and who could blame him, what a shite job he had to do) airline rep.

From here, we cleared security to reenter the airport we had just left, and were shuffled to a ’special’ line – one which Ed feared may mean excessive tests, as we obviously looked suspicious. As it turned out, it was actually just a line that was not being used, BUT, designed for ‘first-time flyers’, ‘families with babies’ etc etc. No problem however – we got through with no problems and quite quickly too.

From here we looked for some lunch – now 11:30am the same day we left Sydney. You’ll never guess, but we walked a few hundred metres and had major dejavu – Hungry Jack’s (or Burger King) again! Although, as you’ll see in the photos (when I get around to that), a medium in the US of A is nothing like that found at home.

After lunch we moved from here to the departure gate to wait until we could board yet another plane – luckily the last for the journey. While the flight was running on time, once aboard the aircraft, we sat and waited for more than 30 minutes past our scheduled departure time – for the Captain to arrive. He was flying in from Calgary and moving directly from one flight to another, but unfortunately got delayed on the way in.

The flight was uneventful, and snow appeared quickly after leaving ‘Frisco’. Upon arrival into Vancouver, we saw snow… everywhere. This is a once-in-50-year event, so we’re told – and certainly different to the normal “7C, rain” weather forecast.

By the time we left the airport – 4:30pm – it was practically dark, in the true Canadian spirit. We arrived at the accommodation with no worries, and soon set out to buy some groceries – from our local gourmet supermarket. One thing to note: Canadians do not drink cordial.

After returning with the groceries, we hit Robson street for some dinner, ending up at one of our favourites – Earl’s. The food and service was nice, as always, and the interior decor very fine and funky. It was nice and warm too – unlike outside, which had cooled down significantly from our arrival 2C weather.

Following dinner, we explored the streets a little and discovered the underground Sky Train station (oxymoron anyone?) that we needed for tomorrow. But again, more on that when it actually happens.

If you’ve got this far, you’ve done very well – so here’s your prize. The End!

Stay tuned, and pray for more snow (29cm fell in 24 hours)! Woo! I’ll get some photos up as soon as we can.