Vancouver

Our arrival into Vancouver from Kamloops was a tad stressful.  The 4 hour drive down to the outskirts of Vancouver was enjoyable but once again we got lost trying to take the hire car back to the airport. We eventually managed to get back to the airport and then we easily caught the air train into Vancouver and then walked the kilometre or so up to our airbnb apartment. We arrived around 1pm but couldn't get into the apartment until 4 so we wheeled our luggage down to a harbour side pub and enjoyed a slow meal and drinks there until it was time to check in.  This was the night time view from our apartment which really was a beautifully appointed apartment really well located.

 We took a long walk up along English Bay to the beginnings of Stanley Park, a huge parkland on the tip of a peninsula and then walked back again just on sunset.  We only had three nights in Vancouver so it was a bit of a rush.  The weather had been beautiful and sunny for the previous week but by the time we arrived it had returned to typical Vancouver weather for that time of the year - cool and wet.

Our apartment was only a five minute stroll up to Davie Street which is where the Vancouver equivalent of Oxford Street is situated. Vancouver was able to cope with rainbow pedestrian crossings unlike Sydney.

 A fabulous installation of about twenty laughing men along the foreshore of English Bay.

 So what did we do in Vancouver?  Well I was a tad off colour and needed to see a doctor, so pretty much half of one day was waiting to get into see a doctor and then getting the antibiotics he prescribed; but other than that we visited the marvellous Granville Island with its incredible markets and arts and crafts shops: so much food but I wasn't in the mood to indulge; we visited Stanley Park; the Vancouver Aquarium; and generally strolled around the city

 We saw more wildlife in Vancouver than I think we saw in any other city: these were river otters we saw in the harbour - we also saw a sea lion as well - and orcas have apparently been known to venture right inside the harbour.  We had been hoping to go on a day trip to see orcas but unfortunately we ran out of time.

 While we were making our big walk through Stanley Park this racoon came right up to us, realised we had no food for it, and then continued on its way.

We pretty much spent a full day in Stanley Park visiting the Vancouver Aquarium and then going on this horse drawn carriage ride for an hour through the park. Really lovely way to see the park.