Thursday, April 23, 2009
Pips and Josh
Chapter 10 – The arrival
So we made it back to the Cloakes in time to see Dan off before his opening night which was great. We also knew that when he returned we would be waiting with an awesome surprise, Pips and Josh were coming up from Modesto to surprise him and bring us back home with them. The secret had been a hard one to keep for so long but was worth it even though Dan only came home at 2am as we were just nodding off after trying to stay up to surprise him. It was so good to see Pips after so long and to finally meet Josh, her husband, who is such an awesome guy. But I suppose I can talk more about them once our Californian adventure begins so I need to brag a little more about Dan and the Cloakes.
On Thursday evening, the 26th March 2009, we were blessed to go and watch Dan in possibly his final play performance called “the good woman of Setzuan”. Dan was acting as one of the more central characters – the water seller they called Wong – who pretty much held the play together with his interactions between all the other major characters, the gods and the audience. Dan was absolutely amazing and the production itself was a spectacle for us. It was such a blessing and honour to finally watch Dan at his gifting and see how great his acting had become. The play ended a little melodramatically allowing the audience to leave with the concept of searching for their own individual answer for the truth to the plays plot. It was a very clever and encouraging message from the play for us to try and work through our own versions of the good and evil battles in our lives.
Anyway, that was the deeper side of Dan’s acting and showed how good he has become at changing character. The lighter side of Dan’s acting ability, possibly my favorite side has always been his comedic ability which we got to see snippets of at the 11:07 competition on Friday evening. Basically this competition is more like ‘Whose line is it anyway?’ from Drew Carey which is an impromptu show in which the actors make stuff up on the spot. Dan was very good in this type of audience interaction as were the other actors who participated. And thus ended our experiences of Dan’s acting for now but future plays or possibilities may come our way – movies… I also forgot to mention the ice hockey game we saw with Dan and Robbie playing against the Canadian hockey girls team of trinity college. It was hilariously funny with some exciting moments in wich dan and Robbie both scored goals and some of the guys took some amazingly acrobatic dives to avoid crushing the girls. In the end though, the American boys team made up of guys who couldn’t skate or play hockey won over the girls who could. Proud times!!
As for our Canadian adventure, it was quickly ending and we still had a few places to explore. Unfortunately, Dan wasn’t able to show us exactly where Smallville was filmed but we did see the area from distance so to speak. Friday was a great chill day with Dan, Pips and Josh. We asked if any of them were keen to go explore the swinging bridges of Capilano until we heard that it costs $30 each and Lynn Canyon down the road had a swinging bridge for free. So guess where we went, Lynn canyon and it was totally worth it as the bridge was awesome and about 50m above a raging river with some small waterfalls. We also managed a short hike to twin falls and took some brilliant photos before having to leave to help Dan get some work done at a photo gallery in town. Not entirely sure how the homework assignment was supposed to work but Dan wandered around the studio studying each artists representation of their art through photography making notes along the way. Ang and I were more interested in how the artists managed to get such cool photos – one even had some ghostly figures in it.
Unfortunately, our time was ending and we had to start our farewells with the whole de Flourio clan. Pierre and Betty and Robbie had come over to join us for dinner and a flick after which we said our sad goodbye’s and then they were gone. Dan was a different story as I waited up for him to return from his play to show him our wedding pics and it felt like we hadn’t spent enough time with him. But it was so great to finally see him again and watch his acting and spend time catching up and seeing how good he is and life is for him here. It was a sad Sunday morning at 4am as we said goodbye to Dan, Carl and Jan before heading south towards the American boarder ending our amazing Canadian adventure and begining our new adventure – the great WILD WILD WEST!!!
So we made it back to the Cloakes in time to see Dan off before his opening night which was great. We also knew that when he returned we would be waiting with an awesome surprise, Pips and Josh were coming up from Modesto to surprise him and bring us back home with them. The secret had been a hard one to keep for so long but was worth it even though Dan only came home at 2am as we were just nodding off after trying to stay up to surprise him. It was so good to see Pips after so long and to finally meet Josh, her husband, who is such an awesome guy. But I suppose I can talk more about them once our Californian adventure begins so I need to brag a little more about Dan and the Cloakes.
On Thursday evening, the 26th March 2009, we were blessed to go and watch Dan in possibly his final play performance called “the good woman of Setzuan”. Dan was acting as one of the more central characters – the water seller they called Wong – who pretty much held the play together with his interactions between all the other major characters, the gods and the audience. Dan was absolutely amazing and the production itself was a spectacle for us. It was such a blessing and honour to finally watch Dan at his gifting and see how great his acting had become. The play ended a little melodramatically allowing the audience to leave with the concept of searching for their own individual answer for the truth to the plays plot. It was a very clever and encouraging message from the play for us to try and work through our own versions of the good and evil battles in our lives.
Anyway, that was the deeper side of Dan’s acting and showed how good he has become at changing character. The lighter side of Dan’s acting ability, possibly my favorite side has always been his comedic ability which we got to see snippets of at the 11:07 competition on Friday evening. Basically this competition is more like ‘Whose line is it anyway?’ from Drew Carey which is an impromptu show in which the actors make stuff up on the spot. Dan was very good in this type of audience interaction as were the other actors who participated. And thus ended our experiences of Dan’s acting for now but future plays or possibilities may come our way – movies… I also forgot to mention the ice hockey game we saw with Dan and Robbie playing against the Canadian hockey girls team of trinity college. It was hilariously funny with some exciting moments in wich dan and Robbie both scored goals and some of the guys took some amazingly acrobatic dives to avoid crushing the girls. In the end though, the American boys team made up of guys who couldn’t skate or play hockey won over the girls who could. Proud times!!
As for our Canadian adventure, it was quickly ending and we still had a few places to explore. Unfortunately, Dan wasn’t able to show us exactly where Smallville was filmed but we did see the area from distance so to speak. Friday was a great chill day with Dan, Pips and Josh. We asked if any of them were keen to go explore the swinging bridges of Capilano until we heard that it costs $30 each and Lynn Canyon down the road had a swinging bridge for free. So guess where we went, Lynn canyon and it was totally worth it as the bridge was awesome and about 50m above a raging river with some small waterfalls. We also managed a short hike to twin falls and took some brilliant photos before having to leave to help Dan get some work done at a photo gallery in town. Not entirely sure how the homework assignment was supposed to work but Dan wandered around the studio studying each artists representation of their art through photography making notes along the way. Ang and I were more interested in how the artists managed to get such cool photos – one even had some ghostly figures in it.
Unfortunately, our time was ending and we had to start our farewells with the whole de Flourio clan. Pierre and Betty and Robbie had come over to join us for dinner and a flick after which we said our sad goodbye’s and then they were gone. Dan was a different story as I waited up for him to return from his play to show him our wedding pics and it felt like we hadn’t spent enough time with him. But it was so great to finally see him again and watch his acting and spend time catching up and seeing how good he is and life is for him here. It was a sad Sunday morning at 4am as we said goodbye to Dan, Carl and Jan before heading south towards the American boarder ending our amazing Canadian adventure and begining our new adventure – the great WILD WILD WEST!!!
Chapter 9 – Vancouver Island
The time finally came for us to go and explore the island off the coast of Vancouver hence the name Vancouver Island. Dan was psyched to offer us a lift down to Horseshoe bay which is nearly an hour and 15 minute drive on a good day. It was a good day as we got down there at 9am almost 1 hour and 30 minutes early for our ferry. Not much to say about the next part as we waited and waited and eventually saw our ferry arrive and dock in before we were able to go grab some seats in the rear for some great views of the islands along the way. As per usual, the great Vancouver weather had shown up to offer us some delightful cloudy and rainy views. Not to worry as we were onto our next exciting adventure on the island and had been promised a few sunny days. The ferry experience was really cool and really boring at the same time. We couldn’t see any whales, dolphins or other crazy cool sea creatures yet we were able to see the beautiful ocean and the amazing forest bound islands all along the ferry’s path. 2 hours later and we were in Nanaimo on the Island about 1 hour away from our new home but with time to explore this great area for a while. So that is exactly what we did heading into the city centre and to the waterfront where the many different shopping centers are found.
There wasn’t much to do in Nanaimo as it is a rather small yet spread out area and with our bus leaving from a specific part, we didn’t want to wander to far off the beaten path and then miss it. So we stayed near the harbour which gave Nanaimo a very Durban bluff feel. And as happens in Durban, the weather shifted from dreary to sunny in a short time and then very quickly we caught ourselves in a huge down pour which had us drenched for 30 minutes before the sun began to appear again. Let’s just say that we were happy to board our bus and begin the travel south towards Cowichan Valley. We were very blessed to have accomadation set up with some family friends who very welcoming and so easy to get on with that we settled right in and had the most amazing experience on the Island.
So for those who have a picture of the island as I did – of this tiny place that you could probably walk around in a day and explore every nook and cranny – this was not that type of Island. In fact, if you could walk around this island in 2 months I would be impressed. It is huge and we had no idea how we could get around and go to all the fancy cool places that were being suggested to us. Basically, we had to sit down and decide where we could go in the next 5 days realistically and still spend enough time in the area to enjoy the experience. It turned out that the small area we were in had an abundance and variety of activities which we were interested in doing and didn’t have to far to travel. We also had some great hosts who made it part of the mission and adventure to help transport us around from one beautiful area to the next.
So Saturday began with a short drive up the side of their mountain – back yard – to a forest area blooming with these huge mixture of trees that cocooned the whole area into a shady pleasant hiking trail (mountain biking for sure). After a short hike where we were able to see far beyond and around the entire down town we headed back through the wooded grove and then north towards a small town called Chemanius. Chemanius is a small town which has been recognized for its local heritage and is now known as the mural town on the Island. Murals on every wall depicting the history and heritage of this small town. Our stay was short but the adventure had to continue as we began to circle inland towards the beautifully magnificent Lake Cowichan. This huge lake – smaller than the Okanagon but as beautiful if not more - was but a short drive from our hosts house. If Ang and I had our own means of transport and were going to be on the Island for longer than the 5 day limit this period, this would have been the ideal campers paradise with multiple opportunities and loads of untouched mysteries to uncover. As it was, we only had a short time to visit and so our adventure for the day had to continue with our trip to Cow Bay. At the time, it was starting to get dark as dusk set in but it made the waterfront of Cow Bay shine illuminating this tranquil setting into a magical and stunning sight for our already over awed eyes.
Sunday was a more modest day where we met the entire family who came up to visit for lunch and we had a joyous time getting to know the kids. Afterwards though, we did manage to experience some more of this Cowichan Valley’s unending beauty when we were escorted to Maple and Genoa Bay for some delightful sunset settings before going on a short hike to see the amazing Cowichan River thundering down through the valley. We had to keep this day short as we were planning a full day in Victoria and needed our beauty sleep for the early rise. Monday came and we hitched a bus ride at 6:30am all the way down to Victoria arriving just outside the museum and IMAX theatre where we had been blessed by our hosts with complimentary tickets for both at 9am. So doing a little exploring before the museum opened, we finally entered and went to watch our IMAX treat on Whales – absolutely breathtaking depiction of the migrating cycles of various gigantic sea beasts. As we didn’t want to spend all day in the museum, we raced through the 2 levels in record time seeing absolutely every nook and cranny and only spending 2 hours. Incredible!! This was one of the best museums I have ever been into and it depicted so many cultural variations and the different time gaps that have influenced and built up Victoria.
Having come all the way down to see Victoria meant we had to eventually go exploring the town which we did by hitting the main shopping district which really gives you a great understanding of the city itself. Having been shopped out and with our return ride due at 3:30, we scurried off to the Victoria art gallery and Craigdarrough castle. Since the castle was a little out of our price range and the art gallery decided that Monday’s were great to be closed on, this little detour didn’t do much for our pockets but gave us a pretty cool idea of Victoria. The time came and we were picked up and whisked off on a beautiful scenic drive along the coast by our hosts who really wanted to give us the full spectrum of our short visit. As it turns out, this was the coolest thing as we saw the coastal point of Victoria from a view point that gave us a 360 degree view from the ocean to inland to even getting pictures of downtown Victoria. As usual, our magical experience had to end and even though it had been a short spent time in Victoria, it had been a great experience and a place we could definitely wish to see in our future.
Our final day spent on the Island was our 2 year anniversary and as a result we decided to go for a long walk over the mountain and down to find Maple Bay. At one point during this hike we both felt really silly thinking we could manage a walk of this magnitude yet the view we got when we finally came over and down the mountain to Maple Bay was mind-blowing. To think that just 20 minutes or so by car in any direction could place you at the sea or in a forest or by a lake or on the river – WOW!!! It was a special place to spend our 2nd anniversary and it didn’t end because we also wanted to go and explore down town to see all the totems and do a little shopping for momentos. Unfortunately, we had to say farewell the following morning as our stay on the Island had quickly come to an end but our time there was a real blessing for us. So back on the greyhound we climbed and then we ran to try and catch our early ferry missing it by possibly 10 minutes as we waved goodbye to it and then spent close to 2 hours waiting for our next ferry ride with absolutely no shops or things to do on an absolutely beautiful sunny day.
We finally caught our ferry and rode in to Vancouver by transit before trying to catch the sky train only to find out that the bus driver hadn’t given us a 3 zone pass and so we couldn’t take the sky train. Thankfully God had a plan and sent a lovely angel to our rescue in the form of a sky train attendant officer who kindly heard our story and quickly wrote us a boarding pass even providing us with an extra 30 minutes so we could make it all the way to Langley without having to pay any extra. We are truly experiencing God’s gracious hand on this amazing trip. To hear more, wait until our next posting coming soon.
The time finally came for us to go and explore the island off the coast of Vancouver hence the name Vancouver Island. Dan was psyched to offer us a lift down to Horseshoe bay which is nearly an hour and 15 minute drive on a good day. It was a good day as we got down there at 9am almost 1 hour and 30 minutes early for our ferry. Not much to say about the next part as we waited and waited and eventually saw our ferry arrive and dock in before we were able to go grab some seats in the rear for some great views of the islands along the way. As per usual, the great Vancouver weather had shown up to offer us some delightful cloudy and rainy views. Not to worry as we were onto our next exciting adventure on the island and had been promised a few sunny days. The ferry experience was really cool and really boring at the same time. We couldn’t see any whales, dolphins or other crazy cool sea creatures yet we were able to see the beautiful ocean and the amazing forest bound islands all along the ferry’s path. 2 hours later and we were in Nanaimo on the Island about 1 hour away from our new home but with time to explore this great area for a while. So that is exactly what we did heading into the city centre and to the waterfront where the many different shopping centers are found.
There wasn’t much to do in Nanaimo as it is a rather small yet spread out area and with our bus leaving from a specific part, we didn’t want to wander to far off the beaten path and then miss it. So we stayed near the harbour which gave Nanaimo a very Durban bluff feel. And as happens in Durban, the weather shifted from dreary to sunny in a short time and then very quickly we caught ourselves in a huge down pour which had us drenched for 30 minutes before the sun began to appear again. Let’s just say that we were happy to board our bus and begin the travel south towards Cowichan Valley. We were very blessed to have accomadation set up with some family friends who very welcoming and so easy to get on with that we settled right in and had the most amazing experience on the Island.
So for those who have a picture of the island as I did – of this tiny place that you could probably walk around in a day and explore every nook and cranny – this was not that type of Island. In fact, if you could walk around this island in 2 months I would be impressed. It is huge and we had no idea how we could get around and go to all the fancy cool places that were being suggested to us. Basically, we had to sit down and decide where we could go in the next 5 days realistically and still spend enough time in the area to enjoy the experience. It turned out that the small area we were in had an abundance and variety of activities which we were interested in doing and didn’t have to far to travel. We also had some great hosts who made it part of the mission and adventure to help transport us around from one beautiful area to the next.
So Saturday began with a short drive up the side of their mountain – back yard – to a forest area blooming with these huge mixture of trees that cocooned the whole area into a shady pleasant hiking trail (mountain biking for sure). After a short hike where we were able to see far beyond and around the entire down town we headed back through the wooded grove and then north towards a small town called Chemanius. Chemanius is a small town which has been recognized for its local heritage and is now known as the mural town on the Island. Murals on every wall depicting the history and heritage of this small town. Our stay was short but the adventure had to continue as we began to circle inland towards the beautifully magnificent Lake Cowichan. This huge lake – smaller than the Okanagon but as beautiful if not more - was but a short drive from our hosts house. If Ang and I had our own means of transport and were going to be on the Island for longer than the 5 day limit this period, this would have been the ideal campers paradise with multiple opportunities and loads of untouched mysteries to uncover. As it was, we only had a short time to visit and so our adventure for the day had to continue with our trip to Cow Bay. At the time, it was starting to get dark as dusk set in but it made the waterfront of Cow Bay shine illuminating this tranquil setting into a magical and stunning sight for our already over awed eyes.
Sunday was a more modest day where we met the entire family who came up to visit for lunch and we had a joyous time getting to know the kids. Afterwards though, we did manage to experience some more of this Cowichan Valley’s unending beauty when we were escorted to Maple and Genoa Bay for some delightful sunset settings before going on a short hike to see the amazing Cowichan River thundering down through the valley. We had to keep this day short as we were planning a full day in Victoria and needed our beauty sleep for the early rise. Monday came and we hitched a bus ride at 6:30am all the way down to Victoria arriving just outside the museum and IMAX theatre where we had been blessed by our hosts with complimentary tickets for both at 9am. So doing a little exploring before the museum opened, we finally entered and went to watch our IMAX treat on Whales – absolutely breathtaking depiction of the migrating cycles of various gigantic sea beasts. As we didn’t want to spend all day in the museum, we raced through the 2 levels in record time seeing absolutely every nook and cranny and only spending 2 hours. Incredible!! This was one of the best museums I have ever been into and it depicted so many cultural variations and the different time gaps that have influenced and built up Victoria.
Having come all the way down to see Victoria meant we had to eventually go exploring the town which we did by hitting the main shopping district which really gives you a great understanding of the city itself. Having been shopped out and with our return ride due at 3:30, we scurried off to the Victoria art gallery and Craigdarrough castle. Since the castle was a little out of our price range and the art gallery decided that Monday’s were great to be closed on, this little detour didn’t do much for our pockets but gave us a pretty cool idea of Victoria. The time came and we were picked up and whisked off on a beautiful scenic drive along the coast by our hosts who really wanted to give us the full spectrum of our short visit. As it turns out, this was the coolest thing as we saw the coastal point of Victoria from a view point that gave us a 360 degree view from the ocean to inland to even getting pictures of downtown Victoria. As usual, our magical experience had to end and even though it had been a short spent time in Victoria, it had been a great experience and a place we could definitely wish to see in our future.
Our final day spent on the Island was our 2 year anniversary and as a result we decided to go for a long walk over the mountain and down to find Maple Bay. At one point during this hike we both felt really silly thinking we could manage a walk of this magnitude yet the view we got when we finally came over and down the mountain to Maple Bay was mind-blowing. To think that just 20 minutes or so by car in any direction could place you at the sea or in a forest or by a lake or on the river – WOW!!! It was a special place to spend our 2nd anniversary and it didn’t end because we also wanted to go and explore down town to see all the totems and do a little shopping for momentos. Unfortunately, we had to say farewell the following morning as our stay on the Island had quickly come to an end but our time there was a real blessing for us. So back on the greyhound we climbed and then we ran to try and catch our early ferry missing it by possibly 10 minutes as we waved goodbye to it and then spent close to 2 hours waiting for our next ferry ride with absolutely no shops or things to do on an absolutely beautiful sunny day.
We finally caught our ferry and rode in to Vancouver by transit before trying to catch the sky train only to find out that the bus driver hadn’t given us a 3 zone pass and so we couldn’t take the sky train. Thankfully God had a plan and sent a lovely angel to our rescue in the form of a sky train attendant officer who kindly heard our story and quickly wrote us a boarding pass even providing us with an extra 30 minutes so we could make it all the way to Langley without having to pay any extra. We are truly experiencing God’s gracious hand on this amazing trip. To hear more, wait until our next posting coming soon.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Downtown Vancouver
Chapter 8 – Vancouver
Having only been in to Vancouver once to explore the downtown area and Dan raced us through on that particular expedition, we really wanted to – HAD too – go back to do some proper sight seeing. So we found some day passes which allowed us to bus and sky train and sea bus our way around the whole of Vancouver for only $9 each. We had planned this long adventure with many places to visit and we hadn’t really figured out the public transit system just yet. Fortunately we had gotten a head start and were able to make it to our first stop quickly. Metro town – the shopping mall similar to Gateway only with no ocean view. As many know, Ang really enjoys shopping and I really enjoy Ang being happy which shopping makes her and so I allow it. In the end though, it was just too much mall for us and so we decided to leave and begin the rest of our Vancouver tour.
Our next official stop was a place I had really been eying out and had twisted Ang’s arm so that we could go visit it. Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s Chinese Gardens was an ethnic park created by and for the Chinese community of Vancouver by this Dr. what we hadn’t realized on our entrance into the gardens was that directly across from us was a park which had a fairly similar view and was free. Though we did have to pay for our experience, I would say that it was worth it being that we got some cultural of Vancouver with some really cool pics of a different garden style. After spending enough time winding around passageways and through Chinese buildings we ended up near the Vancouver lookout tower and decided that the weather permitted us some magical views of this great city. We were not disappointed. After climbing the elevator shaft up 30 or so stories we climbed out on the lookout floor and were bombarded with picturesque views of this magnificent city. I am not a real city lover as Johannesburg has worn me down, but Vancouver had a different appeal to it. The exceptionally good news with this detour and experience was that we could use the pass for the whole day and so we were able to return at dusk to take some night shots of downtown as well. Something I probably wouldn’t try in Joburg!
In between the two tower events we boarded some buses around downtown to go and find the UBC botanical gardens which we had thought could be a great sight. Unfortunately, we both had no idea how far and how HUGE the university is taking us nearly 1 hour and 15 minutes just to get there and once there feeling rather foolish with no map or directions boarding a bus to take us somewhere else. Ang was upset that we hadn’t done something greater at UBC but I just had to escape the clutches of another university and find the tranquility of the Bloedel gardens – our last stop for this adventure. Boarding another bus and driving further in directions we had never been before, we arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Park where the Bloedel conservatory is. Of course, we managed to arrive 30 minutes late and so didn’t even get to view the wonderful tropical plants found inside this shapely dome. But what a view!!!
The only other experience matching this expedition was our first trip on our own downtown when Carl managed to drop us off at the surrey sky train and we headed in all the way to Canada place and Gas town. These are just two of the great sights to be seen downtown. Gas town was absolutely beautiful with these old buildings and this real small town feel with the cobble stone pathways and the steam clock tower. We enjoyed visiting the small shops down there and finding bargain touristy buys for treasured memories. Robson Street was our next stop allowing Ang’s shopping bug to explode as we visited numerous shops in this big radius of downtown. For me the intricacy and beauty of the building with churches and old style décor was more of the wonder and experience. We managed somehow to find another truly Canadian road downtown called Granville which was my type of road. It is the musical area of downtown with many rock shops and punk styled looks and Irish pubs. One such shop we were told we had to visit by Corbin & Dan was Value Vintage. Having spoken of his fascination with Value Village he told us of the vintage store which sells people’s old trendy clothes and accessories at a really marked up price. Oh ja, and with St. Patrick’s day coming up around the corner, this area was booming with drunk and disorderly peeps all dressed up in green.
And so ended the exploring of downtown Vancouver but that was not the end of our tour of this part of Canada. Read our next installment sooon.
Having only been in to Vancouver once to explore the downtown area and Dan raced us through on that particular expedition, we really wanted to – HAD too – go back to do some proper sight seeing. So we found some day passes which allowed us to bus and sky train and sea bus our way around the whole of Vancouver for only $9 each. We had planned this long adventure with many places to visit and we hadn’t really figured out the public transit system just yet. Fortunately we had gotten a head start and were able to make it to our first stop quickly. Metro town – the shopping mall similar to Gateway only with no ocean view. As many know, Ang really enjoys shopping and I really enjoy Ang being happy which shopping makes her and so I allow it. In the end though, it was just too much mall for us and so we decided to leave and begin the rest of our Vancouver tour.
Our next official stop was a place I had really been eying out and had twisted Ang’s arm so that we could go visit it. Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s Chinese Gardens was an ethnic park created by and for the Chinese community of Vancouver by this Dr. what we hadn’t realized on our entrance into the gardens was that directly across from us was a park which had a fairly similar view and was free. Though we did have to pay for our experience, I would say that it was worth it being that we got some cultural of Vancouver with some really cool pics of a different garden style. After spending enough time winding around passageways and through Chinese buildings we ended up near the Vancouver lookout tower and decided that the weather permitted us some magical views of this great city. We were not disappointed. After climbing the elevator shaft up 30 or so stories we climbed out on the lookout floor and were bombarded with picturesque views of this magnificent city. I am not a real city lover as Johannesburg has worn me down, but Vancouver had a different appeal to it. The exceptionally good news with this detour and experience was that we could use the pass for the whole day and so we were able to return at dusk to take some night shots of downtown as well. Something I probably wouldn’t try in Joburg!
In between the two tower events we boarded some buses around downtown to go and find the UBC botanical gardens which we had thought could be a great sight. Unfortunately, we both had no idea how far and how HUGE the university is taking us nearly 1 hour and 15 minutes just to get there and once there feeling rather foolish with no map or directions boarding a bus to take us somewhere else. Ang was upset that we hadn’t done something greater at UBC but I just had to escape the clutches of another university and find the tranquility of the Bloedel gardens – our last stop for this adventure. Boarding another bus and driving further in directions we had never been before, we arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Park where the Bloedel conservatory is. Of course, we managed to arrive 30 minutes late and so didn’t even get to view the wonderful tropical plants found inside this shapely dome. But what a view!!!
The only other experience matching this expedition was our first trip on our own downtown when Carl managed to drop us off at the surrey sky train and we headed in all the way to Canada place and Gas town. These are just two of the great sights to be seen downtown. Gas town was absolutely beautiful with these old buildings and this real small town feel with the cobble stone pathways and the steam clock tower. We enjoyed visiting the small shops down there and finding bargain touristy buys for treasured memories. Robson Street was our next stop allowing Ang’s shopping bug to explode as we visited numerous shops in this big radius of downtown. For me the intricacy and beauty of the building with churches and old style décor was more of the wonder and experience. We managed somehow to find another truly Canadian road downtown called Granville which was my type of road. It is the musical area of downtown with many rock shops and punk styled looks and Irish pubs. One such shop we were told we had to visit by Corbin & Dan was Value Vintage. Having spoken of his fascination with Value Village he told us of the vintage store which sells people’s old trendy clothes and accessories at a really marked up price. Oh ja, and with St. Patrick’s day coming up around the corner, this area was booming with drunk and disorderly peeps all dressed up in green.
And so ended the exploring of downtown Vancouver but that was not the end of our tour of this part of Canada. Read our next installment sooon.
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