sunday 21st april
it was quite a long trip to get to vancouver but well worth it
the flight was a good 10 hours but there were some interesting things to see on the way like greenland and the canadian rocky mountains
they had a surprisingly good transport system for getting from the airport to the hotel called the skytrain
we were a bit jet lagged at first being so many hours behind uk time
this photo was taken on our first morning in vancouver when we tried to find somewhere to have some breakfast but this was no easy task
we tried to get some breakfast at medina near the hotel but there was a long wait for a table
after trecking about for some time we ended up at a japanese eatery called miku where we had some very nice sushi
we then went to canada place and the waterfront which had good views of the harbour and north vancouver
there were people handing out roses from masaf institute and they handed one to sue - they must have handed out quite a few as there were so many people holding them
there seemed to be a lot of seaplanes taking off and landing
more seaplanes with stanley park in the middle background
vancouver marina with lots of high rise apartment blocks
a display of wolves sculpture in the foyer of the four seasons hotel vancouver
the foyer of the hotel had a door giving direct access to the basement shopping centre called the pacific centre
it really is a huge shopping centre and connects directly to the vancouver city centre skytrain station on the canada line
i seem to remember there was also a direct link to granville station on the expo line although i did not use that line during my visit
when i came out of the pacific centre i must have been a couple of blocks away from the hotel
this microsoft store was in the basement shopping centre
one i had surfaced from the basement mall i thought i would investigate the area in the neighbourhood of the hotel
this alleyway was quite unusual as it had power cables in it - it was opposite the back of the nordstrom building
the junction of robson & granville showing a no 16 trolleybus
they have a good system (like the skytrain) where you 'tap on' and 'tap off' with your debit card so you only ever pay for what you use, and don't need to worry about change
camouflage military surplus store in granville street vancouver - there was a long line of people queueing for the commodore ballroom next to it
looks like a band called taking back sunday is what they were queuing for
this was quite an interesting alley on smythe street - looks like they are called a laneway and there is a project called more awesome now to brighten them up
monday 22nd april
we decided a trip to granville island would be a good idea for our 2nd day in vancouver - luckily the main trolleybus route was along granville street which was right next to our hotel
they seem a lot smoother than traditional diesel busses and quieter too, perhaps not quite as good as a tram but way better than an ordinary bus
there was a huge bridge that went over granville island to a small park where you get off and walk the last bit down to granville island - this is taken in the underpass on the way down
we eventually arrive at granville island with the huge bridge towering above it
the first thing we visited was an artisan pet food company the granville island pet treatery
sue got some tasty treats for the cats
this sculpture studio - the peter kiss gallery was really good with some unusual modern styles of sculpture like this owl
origins organic coffee at granville island - this looks like a bit of a coffee mecca with hario v60 kit as well as chemex and other brewing methods
arts and crafts at ainsworth custom design
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