Vancouver (1)

Playlist
No Horses – Same
Kensington Prairie – Captured in Still Life
Rush – Hemispheres

Our first full day in Vancouver started with a long lazy, very filling breakfast as we sat round the table between 8 and 9 with four Canadians and two Brazilians, exchanging stories and suggestions and, generally, having a very enjoyable time...

After breakfast we walked for 90 minutes all the way through downtown to Canada Place and the Tourist Office to pick up a few tips...

Then along to the touristy area of Gastown, and from there through a couple of streets which we learned later represent the junkie centre of Vancouver - then on to Chinatown, the third largest in North America which didn’t impress us at all really...

We walked on to the Science Centre at the shore of False Creek and took the False Creek Ferry to Granville Island, where we’d been last night...

We spent the entire afternoon there, firstly exploring the huge Public Market and its wears enjoying a tasty lunch, where I donated some of my falafel wrap to a starling with an injured foot...

We took a leisurely stroll around the various craft shops and art galleries and stopped at a coffee shop...

We bought a Canadian Cookbook for Julia to thank her for taking care of Meg the Black Cat while we are away – the shop only sold cookbooks but sold them from every conceivable part of the globe...

We wound up in the Granville Brewery where I enjoyed a couple of pints of Raspberry Wheat Beer – absolutely delicious – Anne had tasters of three or four different beers too...

In a bespoke jewellers, we bought a beautiful silver bracelet for Anne re our upcoming Silver Wedding Anniversary...

Then we walked up to 4th Avenue in Kitsilano and found a great shop called Zulu records, where I ended up buying a couple of local bands’ silver coloured CDs – No Horses and Kensington Prairie – along with the recent disc by my (almost) namesakes Cloudland Canyon...

We had dinner at the rather splendid Sophie’s Cosmic Café, where the portions were filling and the walls were crammed with entertaining paraphernalia...

Back home we chatted with the owner in the living room and then checked the internet – Queens were up to an amazing 2nd in the league and Hearts were third – perhaps we should leave Scotland more often....

Off to bed with Rush in the cans...



Highlight of the day : Zulu Records/Granville Brewery