Locations - "The Family" was shot in Vancouver

[dieastra]

I watched the first episode of "The Family" today - thank you kanarek13 for recommending this one! Very intriguing, I'll definitely watch more (and who do I see there? Rupert Graves

Comments

[dieastra]

Oh nice! How long did you stay? I was there in 2008 and 2010, for two weeks each (as it’s a long trip from Germany). We went there for Stargate conventions with Richard Dean Anderson and lots others, and we visited a lot of Stargate and MacGyver locations in and around the city. Everyone has to have had a Sundae icecream in that special diner for example ;)

I agree, I love the city. It feels very European. I didn’t want to leave at all. Also not too big, one can walk from one end to the other if you like.

We also stayed just a block or so away from the museum, in the Sheraton, that is the hotel with the huge round tower. Very expensive and we only used it for the three days of the convention. But whenever we were lost in the city, we just had to look for the tower, you can see it from everywhere!

What else did you see? I saw a lot. We were at Stanley Park and also up at Grouse Mountain and even a whale watching trip to Victoria, they have a miniature museum on the island. There is also a famous restaurant at Burnaby Mountain where every Stargate fan has to eat steak. And up at the lookout, to see Vancouver at night. I should post more pictures of my trips. For some reason I never did.

For some reason though it never occurred to me and my friend to actually go inside the museum. Thank you for telling me about the exhibition. Even if it was weird - sometimes I am more interested in the building itself. The British Museum in London is beautiful!

There is a saying that if you stand long enough at a street corner in Vancouver, a film team will arrive LOL

[shivver13]

I was there for three nights. Basically, it's a new habit I'm enjoying of just going to a new city and hanging out for a few days, walking around, watching people, seeing some of the attractions, and trying to find those cool little hole-in-the-walls. It's directly inspired by DW - a large part of my fascination with the show is with this character who just goes to new places and sees new things and loves meeting new people. So far, I've visited Vancouver, Victoria, San Francisco, and Raleigh this way, and when I went to the UK with my friend, we scheduled very little and spent most of our time just exploring. (I have to admit that the SF was a work trip and the Victoria and Raleigh trips were David Tennant-related events, but I spent every moment I could in those places exploring the cities.)

I've found that walking is really the way to go. If you're just taking cabs, all you see is what's at the beginning and the end of the ride, and if you're on tours, you only see what the tour guide shows you. There's so much in between!

I walked all over downtown, especially the waterfront area, and I went over to North Vancouver to wander around up there. It's much more relaxed and less glitzy than downtown. I also visited Chinatown and wandered through the Sun Yat-Sen Garden, and that was just amazing. I think it's a must-see if you visit again. I also made a point to visit the Vancouver Maritime Museum, because I love sailing ships, but I was too tired to visit the other museums in the same complex. And I took a seaplane tour which took us over the city and up the inlet to the northeast. I wanted to do a whale-watching tour, but March is too early for that.

The museum was the Vancouver Court House, converted once they moved to a new facility, so it was certainly interesting in that the floorplan is very odd. I'm sure they knocked out what walls they could to make larger galleries but had to make concessions in some places.

The British Museum is gorgeous! They've done some beautiful, unusual things with their space.

[dieastra]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it but I saw that Chinese Garden on the first trip! We went there right at the first day as it was close to our hotel. Many people are under the wrong impression that it is a Stargate location actually, but in Stargate it was all studio. I was much surprised to find that it had been a MacGyver location though, after I was back home watching an episode. Since then, I also keep it seeing everywhere. I have it under locations for Arrow: http://dieastra.livejournal.com/118105.html

I agree, walking is the best! Not many people want to do it nowadays. I'm always eager to find what is around the next corner (plus I never could figure out the bus system in Vancouver ;) Here you have time tables and maps with the routes, there you just stand there and wait for a bus to arrive but have no idea where it's going - too scary for me)

As for exciting buildings, I also should have gone to the round library but wasn't sure whether one can just walk in there.