We got in to Vancouver at nearly 23:00 after leaving Portland, so we didn't have any time for sightseeing that night. We just wanted to get into our hotel room- but our hotelier had other ideas. See, it seems that it's common practice in Vancouver to require a $200 damage deposit in order to rent a room. Since we're rather broke at the moment, this was a problem. (We've pre-paid for all of our accommodations on the trip, and I've never seen a damage deposit more than $30-$50.) We managed to talk him down to C$50, and then had to put down US$55 because of the hotel's exorbitant exchange rate of C$1=US$0.90. (The current official exchange rate is C$1=US$1.01, so we lost ~US$5 on the deal.) After this bit of negotiation, we settled in to our room at the Howard Johnson Plaza. It was obviously smaller, older and less comfortable than the Clarion in Portland- and it cost twice as much- but it was closer to downtown. We tried to get the Internet to work, to no avail, and then went to sleep. (We did actually figure out the Internet the next day- we needed a ticket from the front desk to log in.)
The next morning, we enjoyed the free hotel breakfast again (and their pub's misspelling of the word "burrito"- they left out an R) and set out to explore Vancouver. First on Dani's agenda? The mall. (You can ask her why...) Specifically, the Metropolis at Metrotown, the second-largest mall in Canada and right on the automated SkyTrain rapid transit line. We actually took the bus there, and the sheer volume of transit offerings at the establishment were pretty impressive.
Canadian buses are, of course, stereotypically polite, apologising for not taking on passengers:
Dani took this photo because she believed it would make her sister jealous:
The mall was not really my cup of tea, besides the bus loop and train station. Dani, however, was quite excited by the difference between Canadian and American fashions. I also learned something- well-known clothing company American Apparel is a Canadian concern, which grew out of a small clothing shop in Montreal. They advertise this prominently on their Canadian stores, and seem to downplay it in the states.
After the mall, we headed to Granville Island, a touristy bit of the city with a large indoor farmer's market. (Granville Island sits in False Creek, and interestingly it is not an island, nor does it sit in a creek. The "Island" is actually a peninsula, and the "Creek" is a small inlet off of the ocean.) To get there, we caught the aforementioned SkyTrain, the longest driver-less train system in the world. The low labour costs of this model allow TransLink, the local transit agency, to offer SkyTrains every 6-8 minutes, from 04:00 to 01:00 daily. The train is connected to an extensive network of local buses, and their operation in concert is a wonder to behold.
The Island itself is a bit of a tourist trap, but certainly a scenic one. We had some great views of the cityscape from the surrounding parking lots, and enjoyed wandering around through the various shops. (The Public Market was fantastically huge and delicious-smelling-- torture when you can't afford to eat much more than PB&J sandwiches for the week.) We also watched some of the tiny water taxis that ply their trade on and around False Creek.
There were also seabirds and skyscrapers, both hallmarks of the region.
We sat for a bit and watched a window-washer dangle from one of the many condo buildings that sit on the north side of False Creek.
After False Creek, we decided to head to another prime location for people-watching (especially local-watching): the University of British Columbia. The Point Grey campus is at the far western edge of Vancouver, and is not actually within the city limits. Sitting at the edge of a peninsula jutting out into the Georgia Strait, it is a stunning place to visit. They also have a well-respected Museum of Anthropology and several botanical gardens on site, but those cost money and time, so we didn't visit them. (There's also a well-known nude beach, Wreck Beach, on the site, but we didn't visit that either.) Here's some photos taken from the north end of the campus, in and around the rose garden and Museum of Anthropology.
During my search for a graduate school, I applied to UBC. As evidenced by the fact that I'm still living in Riverside, I didn't get in. If I had, though, my department would have been here, in Buchanan Building, Block C:
We also saw other things around the UBC campus: a nice plaza in the centre of campus, totem poles, and the UBC Amateur Radio Club, VE7UBC. Yes, I tried to go see if I could chat with them, but nobody was operating that day.
We headed back towards the city and Commercial Drive, a counter-culture-ish neighbourhood just outside of downtown. (Any place with a People's Book Co-op can't be bad, right?) We wandered in and out of the various bookstores and shops, and we suffered what Dani called a "moment of weakness" walking past a pizza shop. $5 for a small pizza with up to three toppings. They put yellow cheese on the top in addition to the usual mozzarella, but it was still delicious. (Of course, most things are delicious after a week of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.) We also ran across a shop that had a shop dog. We watched the dog run in and out of the store and the neighbouring coffee shop, until at one point it seemed to enter the store and emerge from the coffee shop. Our first theory was that there was some sort of link between the two shops, but when the second dog emerged to frolic with the first (they looked nearly identical), we were proven wrong.
On the Drive, we also ran in to striking Canada Post workers. (Note that, if you asked for a postcard from Vancouver or Victoria, you'll be getting it sent via Seattle.) Protesting severe cuts in mail delivery, wages and mass layoffs, the workers shut down the entire nation's postal system for nearly two weeks. Delivery service should have resumed today, though workers were forced back to work by legislation, and the union is fighting the new law. (As a union member myself, I support the CUPW strikers, and wonder when the working class in this country will have the cajones to pull something like this.)
As we reached the top end of the Drive, we decided to head to a park on the North Shore called Lynn Canyon Park. It came highly recommended by a local. The bus we ended up taking, however, lumbered down Vancouver's notorious East Hastings St., basically the only skeevy part of town worth mentioning. Needless to say, we stayed on the bus, but some of the area residents joined us. One gentleman butted in to a conversation that Dani and I were having to inquire if I believed in Jesus (after a minute or so of incoherent ramblings, followed by "So what do you think?"). I told him I wasn't sure- and that's true, I'm not entirely sold one way or the other on the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth- and he informed me that I'd better get sure on the subject. Fortunately, he then decided to sing America's "A Horse With No Name"- badly, and despite having forgotten the lyrics- rather than pester me with religion.
We alighted at Vancouver's fantastic Waterfront station, a hub for just about any transportation option you can imagine (besides long-distance rail & bus: those are handled by Pacific Central Station some distance away). They've got three SkyTrain lines, more buses than I can count, the West Coast Express commuter train, and the SeaBus ferry service. It was the last that Dani and I sought. The SeaBus is a frequent, passenger-only ferry service operated by unique double-ended catamaran vessels. It's basically an extension of the SkyTrain across the Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver, and the terminal on the north side is the main bus exchange for the North Shore. We grabbed a #229 bus up to the park and set out on our adventure. (If you ever go, you can take the 228 or 229- the 228 gets you closer but is less frequent.)
The suspension bridge is a trip. As you can see, it's just what you'd expect- an Indiana Jones-style wooden suspension bridge across a deep chasm. There are actually two such bridges in North Vancouver, the other being the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The one in Lynn Canyon, however, is free, and the person who recommended the place said it's almost as good as the other. Capilano charges a whopping C$32.95 for adult passage.
Lynn Canyon Park itself, though, isn't just a suspension bridge. It's a phenomenally lush and beautiful park, with Lynn Creek running through it. Hiking trails mostly follow the creek, but a few branch out into other parts of the park, or even other parks (as in the case of the Baden-Powell Trail). It's a pretty interesting experience- roughly half an hour's journey, by public transit, from the bustling centre of Vancouver, and you're in a quiet, peaceful forest that feels as if it were nowhere near human habitation.
Dani has officially decided that Lynn Canyon Park is her happy place.
We were pretty tired after Lynn Canyon, so we headed back to the hotel, packed up and slept.
The next morning, when pondering what to do until our 3pm departure to Victoria, we realized that we had not visited Vancouver's massive Stanley Park. This huge park sits on a peninsula just north of downtown, and is the largest park in Vancouver's park system. (It is named after the same man, Rt. Hon. Frederick Stanley, Earl of Derby, who gave his name to hockey's Stanley Cup. He was Canada's sixth Governor-General.) The park includes a zoo, a miniature railway, and a seawall ringing the peninsula, which is popular with cyclists and roller skaters. Hoping to save money, we decided to take advantage of Translink's 2-hour transfer policy- a one-way fare gives one two hours of access to the transit system. We picked up a bus at our hotel, paid the $2.50 (although I'd find out later that Dani mistakenly paid $4.50), and made a beeline for the park. Once there, we looked around as long as we could (sadly, not long) until our transfer was about to expire. We had maybe 20 minutes, but we did get some pretty great photos:
With our obligatory (albeit cursory) visit to Stanley Park complete, we used the last few minutes of our bus transfer to take us back to Pacific Central Station, where we awaited our bus to Victoria. We also resolved to find a way to move to Vancouver as soon as possible.
*(Editorial update: The blog-updating time I referred to at the beginning of this post, onboard the Coast Starlight, was mostly taken up by dealing with the latest meltdown of Amtrak's western long-distance trains. Thanks to my grandparents, and no thanks to Amtrak's "customer relations" department, I'm finishing this post in a hotel outside of Chicago. We are back on schedule, and don't anticipate any more delays, but blogging time has suffered. I'm doing my best, and will keep you all updated. -JN 22:01 CDT, 30 June 2011)
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ReplyDeleteI would like to go backpacking from SFO to Vancouver this summer your blog is very interesting, thanks
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