Vancouver

[Tink]

As you can tell by my countdown timer, we are on holiday. We've spent a few days in Vancouver, BC prior to setting sail on our cruise (we embark today). We are in love with this incredible city, the beautiful Canadian people, the food, the sea port, all of it. Here are a few shots that Herself has taken. I hope you enjoy them. She has loads more, but I thought these were fairly representative of what we've seen. There are no food shots as we'd keep forgetting to take them before we started eating. :sorry:

This is a shot of the Public Market on Granville Island. We spent a lovely half day there wandering around. We purchased lunch which consisted of dried and cured meat, cheese, baguette, olives... one of our favorite ways to eat. Oh, and dark chocolate salty caramels for dessert. :D

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[Tink]

The marinas are some of the cleanest we've ever seen. No stink of dead and dying fish. No garbage floating. They keep them very clean as are all the boats and schooners, yachts, etc.

[Tink]

There are many, many boats and yachts for sale. We thought we just might be able to afford this one! :D (It's so us, don't you think)? 12692

[Keith]

YAYAYAYA loving the pics :D

[Tink]

This shot is taken from the seawall in Vancouver. The city is, of course a port city and a magnificent one at that. The day was beautiful, but a touch hazy. The downtown commerce area is populated with tall skyscrapers of metal and glass. Taken as a whole, it's almost a bit overwhelming. Very futuristic. There is a bit of "old" here and there, but for the most part, the business area of Vancouver is high tech and very modern looking.

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[Tink]

This is a reflection of a building within the building. The exterior glass of most of the downtown buildings is highly reflective. Couldn't resist playing with a shot or two.

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[Tink]

You'll remember Vancouver was the host of the Winter Olympics 2010? This is the Olympic Torch. The mountains in the background were fabulous for we "flatlanders."

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[Tink]

We spent much time by the sea. This (fat, gray) gull was dining on starfish. One of the gulls swallowed one whole. It was a frightening sight to see! Was convinced it would choke to death, but it managed to survive.

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[Tink]

The Vancouver Harbor has a seaplane terminal. We watched as seaplane after seaplane took off and landed. I loved the gas station in the middle of the harbor!
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[Tink]

So there are a few shots of this beautiful city. We are loving it. Could easily, EASILY live here. The place is clean, the traffic although heavy is well controlled and there is not a heavy handed police presence. We watched a film being shot (three days in a row) in an area of downtown. It's "Metallica." (Yes, the band). Amazing stuff and equipment like you wouldn't believe! Prices are high, but not for a city. The only thing we never found was a proper grocery store! :lol: Little convenience stores here and there, but nothing that shows us where the city dwellers buy their food. And yes, it's an urban city with a heavy residential faction.

Oh, another thing we noticed is that there are very few old people around. :unsure: Unlike, NYC where you see them coming and going about their daily business, Vancouver seems quite young, and full of beautifully dressed young professionals. Men wear suits and women wear heels! :eek: There is a young element that wears irreverent, shock factor clothing, but nothing seriously untoward (more along the lines of "just fun"). We did see two women who were noticeable for their ermmmmm... lack of properly fitting clothing. :D Herself wondered if they were working girls. They could have been, but even so, they were fairly classy (without gobs of makeup, ect). It was just the barely there clothing that caused them to "stick out" and be noticeably different from the rest of the people surrounding them.

Was very happy to see very few jeans and almost no t-shirts in this city! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! I get so sick of jeans and t-shirts. :sigh:

Not sure when I'll get a chance to upload more photos as we will be without wifi for the majority of the remainder of our holiday.

Take care, and "see you all real soon!"

[Esmeralda]

Sighs...... I need THAT holiday............

[Tink]

Time for a couple of more uploads (whew! They take a LONG time to upload!!)... Here is a shot of a seaplane preparing for take off. Apparently, we are fascinated by all things sea or air related. :D

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[catrancher]

Beautiful photos, Tink! Thanks! :thumbsup:

Canada always impresses me also. On the trips I've made up there, the whole place seems so clean and neat in comparison with US cities.

Hope you have a marvelous cruise. I'd really love to do an Alaskan cruise sometime. (Although I'd do it on Disney).

Tom (:macwave:... DCL bigot. :sail:)

[Tink]

Would you care to learn to sail? Fly? Row? That's what these folks are doing on a gloriously beautiful Saturday. Learning to row...

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[Tink]

This lonely little tomato plant was growing in a tiny crack in the pavement on the heavily trafficked walkway by the cruise ship terminals. We'll suppose it got there courtesy of a gull... wonder if it will ever bear fruit?

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[Wendy]

It looks really nice and the photos are very good :D

Chris has family in Canada, but he has no wish to visit :unsure: I'd go in a heartbeat but he's just not interested and as we know from cruises, when he's made up his mind .....................:lol:

[Tink]

This is the oyster bar at Joe Fortes the single best place for seafood in Vancouver (well, that is our opinion of course, but it's shared by many)! We had our very first raw oysters there. We are now devotees for life! Don't ask me what possessed me to order them, but once I committed, I was going to eat them! At the first beautiful taste, I told Herself we were in serious trouble (they are NOT inexpensive). She got brave and tried one too, and voila! Oyster lovers born! We've always loved them cooked, mind.

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[Tink]

There wasn't enough room to get a proper shot, and Herself won't be happy that I posted this one, but I wanted you to see the beautiful Kammamoto oysters that we had. They are quite small, and very deep shelled which holds all the lovely liquor. They are crisp and not at all "raw" feeling in your mouth. We preferred them with the mignonette sauce (which we had had before with Oysters Rockefeller) over any of the other two (a soy based sauce, and the cocktail/horseradish sauce mix).

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[Tink]

Tom, that is so true. The city is so very clean! I don't really know how they do it as you don't see street sweepers, ect. You do see any number of people collecting plastic drink bottles (and glass ones too) for the deposits. That helps, I'm sure.

Wendy, where in Canada? I really only know the east coast, but as you can see have fallen in love with the west coast now too! (It really is quite like the east coast). :yes:

It's changed my mind completely about the "dark and forbidding" Pacific Ocean. I was an Atlantic snob. :D

[Wendy]

I couldn't eat raw oysters, it's just the thought of it :lol: I'm glad you enjoyed them though. Sea food is always so much nicer when it comes straight from the quay to the restaurant :yes:

Have you had scallops :unsure: I know how much you like them and I just wondered if they were good as well.

[Tink]

We could have ordered them at Joe Fortes but went with the oysters and halibut instead. Herself LOVES scallops so I was a bit surprised she chose Oysters Rockefeller, but you never know what you might be in the mood for.

The texture is what kept me from trying them, Wendy. Well, the texture I imagined, but that isn't the case at all. The texture of the oyster fresh from the shell is quite firm!

I always said that I was going to try raw oysters in Galway, but I gave in and tried them here instead. As Herself said, "Well, you are still in a foreign country." :D True!

[Slowhand]

Fabulous photos Tink, thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

Vancouver is a city that I would love to visit someday. The closest I`ve been was when I was on a business trip to Edmonton several years ago and I managed to grab a few days in the Rockies in the Banff area. Truly magificent scenery, and I was told at the time that Vancouver was reminiscent of England in the Victorian times and so pretty.

Enjoy the rest of your trip and please keep us posted. :wave:

[Britchick]

Vancouver is near the top of my to visit list. It looks so fresh and clean. Hopefully i'll be able to go soon and we can rent a sea plane :thumbsup:

[foreverducky]

What a wonderful trip! Thank you for the pictures.

I have to say I'm shocked you are posting photos...not your normal m.o. :D.

[uscwest]

Vancouver looks absolutely gorgeous. I drool over what you have eaten so far, the lunch, the oysters, etc. I assume you are headed out on an Alaskan cruise?

Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures.

[Sam]

Thank you for the photos. Vancouver looks amazing, what a beautiful city.

Loving the oysters too.

[Beccaberry]

Le sigh, Le sigh...

That is all :)

Looks like you're having the MOST amazing time already!!

[Tinkfan]

:hug2:Thanks Sis for sharing. it truly is an amazing city. Did you get to see more of the Olympic site? You are much braver than me for eating those oysters!!!! Love to read of your travels

[Deb]

Love the photos! Thanks for posting them. The seafood sounds delicious! Hope you're loving the next bit of your trip :yes:

[Watchinherskip]

Great great photos Tink. We loved Vancouver too. Great port to start your Alaskan cruise. Northbound is better than Southbound in my opinion. You work your way up the waterway and each day gets more spectacular finishing with the glacier visits. If you think Vancouver has a lot of seaplanes....wait till you hit Ketchikan...!!

[Tink]

How can it be that we've returned already? :unsure:

We did have a wonderful time. :yes: Alaska is incredible. Without "starting something" or giving offense to anyone, Texas can go pound salt for being "the biggest" or having "the biggest" everything! :eek: Alaska is truly majestic and we've only seen the lower southern portion!

Ketchikan did have the market cornered on sea planes, eh? :mental: Little "port" after little "port!" We ordered fresh seafood in Ketchikan from a Navy SEAL. :D (Well, former SEAL) and some in Juneau. We had the most delicious and wonderful King Crab in Juneau, too. Skagway saw us having more halibut, and more crab and oysters! We can't get enough. Although I will say no oyster yet compares to the Kammamotos.

We've tons of photos, and it will be awhile before I can sort through them. I'll post a few so you can get a feel for the beauty that is Alaska.

We did have a few iffy spots and most likely won't (never say never, eh) cruise with HAL again. Not too pleased with Olivia this time either, but meh we made our own good time.

The weather was beyond beautiful. Sunny and warm! (Well, for Alaska warm). The fiord was frozen over once we got about 1/4 of the way to the glacier so we had to turn around. We did see the Sumdum (yep, that's what it's called) glacier though, so not all was lost. Whales, and porpoises, and orcas, and seals, and eagles, and this really cool looking blue and black woodpecker type bird...

Cannot believe we have to go to work tomorrow. Unfortunately, we are still on Alaska time (four hours behind our east coast time) so expect to be pretty miserable tomorrow.

Thank you all for reading this far!

[Beccaberry]

But, but, but...I want to know moooooooore !!

Can't wait to see the photos. You must be exhausted though, so feel free to take a ten minute nap before you get started ;-)

[Watchinherskip]

So glad you had a great time. Alaska is in a word stunning. I guess I forgot it was an Olivia cruise. I would expect a prominant cruise like to have a lot of events in place for a themed cruise. How was the food? I have heard that HAL has some of the best.

We did a Carnival cruise to AK. Food was ok...nothing to write home (or in the forum) about.:tongue: We did get a captain on his "last cruise" before retiring to some South Pacific island with his new bride. He was about 55 - 60 I would suppose. Because it was his last cruise we got freakishly close to the College (Harvard) Glaciers. Lots of calving to the point where the waves rocked our boat. Well long story short, on another Carnival cruise to Souther Caribbean, that same Italian captain had un retired..:tongue: Apparently the marriage didn't take.

[Slowhand]

Thanks for that mini trip report Tink....can`t wait to see the photos. :wiggle:

[uscwest]

Really looking forward to pictures Tink. I would LOVE to do Alaska sometime.