Wedding Trip, Day 7 (Vancouver)
Mon 7/28. We left La Conner fairly early in the morning (ok, not really). Thankfully the border crossing into Canada took all of five minutes and before we knew it we were driving in Vancouver. The streets and individual lanes are really narrow, which made driving a little tense. However you could really see the effect of the strict zoning laws in Vancouver--farms leading up to the city limits, then very quickly you get into dense residential followed by skyscrapers and vibrantly busy commercial streets. Everything was well mixed to keep the city living and breathing. After getting our stuff in the hotel we booked downtown, we walked over another tall bridge (Christian was not happy) to get to Granville Island, a cute island that used to be an industrial park but now is a hip space with shops and seafront. After that we hopped on a bus and walked along the outer shore of downtown Vancouver. We walked all the way to the tip of Stanley Park to get a full view of downtown. Along the way, we passed many locals and WOW. The men I can only describe as urban lumberjacks--so many guys with really ripped arms and chest. Also, everywhere you looked you could see tons of people, men and women, with really defined and muscular calves. Is Vancouver a breeding ground for decathletes or something???
After leaving Stanly Park our legs were tired of walking, so we cut through a nonstandard route to get back to our hotel. We were passing through a more residential neighborhood with small apartment buildings and little roads that don't connect except by little footpaths that pass through flowery gardens. On one of these footpaths, there were two older guys sitting at a table with seats and when I stopped to take a photo of the flowers, they yelled out "Paparazzi!!!" After that a conversation quickly struck up about Canada vs. USA and immigration and all sorts of stuff. They then pulled out a bottle of wine and offered to share it with us in the little neighborhood square. So we sat down at their table and had a plastic-cup wine party. They recommended two word-of-mouth hotels, pointed out the gay district, as well as a nearby restaurant for dinner. They pshawed our navigation of public transportation because we could have taken a sea taxi for less and saved ourselves an hour of walking. Sea taxi? That wouldn't have even entered my mind as a possible option. It was an amazing conversation, simply for the fact that these were complete strangers that we had met on the street and who were totally open and friendly with us. If a stranger started talking to you in the States you'd think he was after something, but these two had no swindles (or roofies) up their sleeves--rather it was Canadian hospitality. Seriously, what a country.
We found the restaurant (Knight and Day) recommended by the two guys and ordered our food and some beer. After a few minutes the waiter returns and says to Christian, "Sorry, the computer printed out your order and it was gerbil. Could you remind me what you ordered?" "Ummmmm... the turkey dinner." "Right. I remembered he had the mushroom swiss burger, but I couldn't remember yours and then the computer had some printing problem where it was illegible". As he walked away to correct our order, we started laughing because we realized what happened. He comes back and Christian says "I think you meant 'jarbled or garbled' and not 'gerbils'". He laughed and said "Oh no, we got a whole pot of 'em back there." He took it all in stride and was joking with us and with other tables. Again, an example of Canadians being awesome people. The food was tasty and hearty; we were happy that the two guys recommended such a regular and laid back place instead of a foofy eatery.
To head back to the hotel we walked along the strip with all the gay and straight clubs. After getting changed we headed out and hit up a club called Numbers which had the end of a drag show and then a dance contest. It was Latin night, but as is usually the case in places that have "Latin night", they will play one or two salsa or merengue songs before switching over to an hour of crappy Mexican pop music (I find pop music pretty abhorrently valueless and undanceable, no matter the language). We nonetheless danced a bunch and when the salsa and merengue finally came back on an hour before closing we were much more happy. However the club had awful ventilation near the dancefloor so it was at least 90 degrees in there and felt like a sauna. After the one bar had last call we walked outside and were going to go home until some guy came up to us and invited us to come to another cheaper bar where he DJs and he would get us in without paying the cover. That sounded good especially because our money had evaporated at Numbers after just the cover charge and one trip to the bar. This new place, Odyssey, was certainly cheaper, but beer and alcohol is still really expensive in Vancouver. We danced for a few songs, but it was an 80's night and the bar was thinning out so we headed home at 3am. Conveniently, our hotel was only TWO blocks away. God, if there's anything that made that hotel worth it, it was the location. Other than that and the hearty breakfast that was included (sans coffee) this hotel (Granville Grand) felt like nothing more than a hostel, but charged much more than that.
In summary, Vancouver seemed like a fantastic city that deserved much more than a day to see. Christian and I will surely return sometime and now we'll know where to stay (Rosellen Suites or the Buchan). It was my favorite city out of all the ones we visited so far.
After leaving Stanly Park our legs were tired of walking, so we cut through a nonstandard route to get back to our hotel. We were passing through a more residential neighborhood with small apartment buildings and little roads that don't connect except by little footpaths that pass through flowery gardens. On one of these footpaths, there were two older guys sitting at a table with seats and when I stopped to take a photo of the flowers, they yelled out "Paparazzi!!!" After that a conversation quickly struck up about Canada vs. USA and immigration and all sorts of stuff. They then pulled out a bottle of wine and offered to share it with us in the little neighborhood square. So we sat down at their table and had a plastic-cup wine party. They recommended two word-of-mouth hotels, pointed out the gay district, as well as a nearby restaurant for dinner. They pshawed our navigation of public transportation because we could have taken a sea taxi for less and saved ourselves an hour of walking. Sea taxi? That wouldn't have even entered my mind as a possible option. It was an amazing conversation, simply for the fact that these were complete strangers that we had met on the street and who were totally open and friendly with us. If a stranger started talking to you in the States you'd think he was after something, but these two had no swindles (or roofies) up their sleeves--rather it was Canadian hospitality. Seriously, what a country.
We found the restaurant (Knight and Day) recommended by the two guys and ordered our food and some beer. After a few minutes the waiter returns and says to Christian, "Sorry, the computer printed out your order and it was gerbil. Could you remind me what you ordered?" "Ummmmm... the turkey dinner." "Right. I remembered he had the mushroom swiss burger, but I couldn't remember yours and then the computer had some printing problem where it was illegible". As he walked away to correct our order, we started laughing because we realized what happened. He comes back and Christian says "I think you meant 'jarbled or garbled' and not 'gerbils'". He laughed and said "Oh no, we got a whole pot of 'em back there." He took it all in stride and was joking with us and with other tables. Again, an example of Canadians being awesome people. The food was tasty and hearty; we were happy that the two guys recommended such a regular and laid back place instead of a foofy eatery.
To head back to the hotel we walked along the strip with all the gay and straight clubs. After getting changed we headed out and hit up a club called Numbers which had the end of a drag show and then a dance contest. It was Latin night, but as is usually the case in places that have "Latin night", they will play one or two salsa or merengue songs before switching over to an hour of crappy Mexican pop music (I find pop music pretty abhorrently valueless and undanceable, no matter the language). We nonetheless danced a bunch and when the salsa and merengue finally came back on an hour before closing we were much more happy. However the club had awful ventilation near the dancefloor so it was at least 90 degrees in there and felt like a sauna. After the one bar had last call we walked outside and were going to go home until some guy came up to us and invited us to come to another cheaper bar where he DJs and he would get us in without paying the cover. That sounded good especially because our money had evaporated at Numbers after just the cover charge and one trip to the bar. This new place, Odyssey, was certainly cheaper, but beer and alcohol is still really expensive in Vancouver. We danced for a few songs, but it was an 80's night and the bar was thinning out so we headed home at 3am. Conveniently, our hotel was only TWO blocks away. God, if there's anything that made that hotel worth it, it was the location. Other than that and the hearty breakfast that was included (sans coffee) this hotel (Granville Grand) felt like nothing more than a hostel, but charged much more than that.
In summary, Vancouver seemed like a fantastic city that deserved much more than a day to see. Christian and I will surely return sometime and now we'll know where to stay (Rosellen Suites or the Buchan). It was my favorite city out of all the ones we visited so far.