I'll be back!

Day 7. Off to Canada, Ay. Home of poutine, mapleleafs, "aboots, Robin Sparkles, and I am sure so much more. Of course on the bus ride there, all I could think of was the "Blame Canada" song from South Park. It was playing in my head over and over again. But seriously, I have only heard positive things about Vancouver so I was excited to see its beauty. In order to head to our northerly neighbors LL and I were up super early to catch a 6:30 am bus. We had to schlep all of our stuff to the bus stop (a cab ride wasn't worth the money) and then show our passports as we got on the bus. The bus ride made one stop in upstate Washington on the way to Vancouver and then got to the Canadian border. With free Wi-fi on the bus that actually was pretty solid this time around I was able to watch some Ladies of London on my computer which was excellent as per usual. I also downloaded A Fault in Our Stars on my phone too so I could read that on the ride and the plane if the Wi-fi craps out. Plus I really want to finish it so I can see the movie when I get home. Anyway, back to the trip at hand here.  When we reached the border, we had to have our customs cards filled out and had to exit the bus with all of our belongings to go through customs. The last time I was in Canada was almost nine years ago when I was a camp director at the 92^nd Street Y and we took the kids to Montreal for a week. That trip was actually the reason I had to get a passport in the first place and it never even got stamped! The nerve. This time around I wanted that Canada stamp. LL and I asked our bus driver if we would get our passports stamped here and he said if we asked they most likely would but they normally don’t. We were the last ones in line and I politely and quietly (and cutely I may add) asked if they’d stamp our passports and they did! Wahoo. It’s the little things in life that make me happy. It was back on the bus another hour and we finally hit Vancouver and cabbed it to our hotel so we could begin our day.

Once again, our hotel was very nice hotel and in a central part of town which was perfect. (However, this one had no free wi-fi. Zero. Zilch. Not even in the lobby. Kind of brutal, but it’s just one day and I found a wi-fi hotspot or two a few times around the city.) We were able to check-in early and made a B-line for the concierge as per usual. We explained how we only had one full day in town and we are up to do as much as we could. He suggested a hop-on, hop-off tour as well as a bike ride around the perimeter of most of town. We opted for the bike ride which we had previously discussed and it was such a good decision. I haven’t been on a real bike in over a year (minimum) however, I take my spin classes so assumed I’d be able to handle this ride. We grabbed lunch first at this great place called Bread and Meat where I inhaled a delicious Porchetta sandwich (which my brother would have loved). So damn good. Also good was the eye candy. Cute guys here in Vancouver. I noticed it at lunch and continued to notice it all day. (Another thing I noticed here was the lack of diversity. There was mostly just white people and a lot of Asians.)

After our very yummy sandwiches we headed down to the marina and rented our bikes for four hours (the longest we could without doing 24 hours) and began our journey along the water in Vancouver. With our helmets on and locks secure, we were on our way. The scenery was absolutely picturesque. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun, the mountains, and the water were gorgeous.  Each Pacific Northwest city I go to the scenery seems to get prettier and prettier. LL and I took the bike path as instructed and enjoyed the views as we pedaled. The first stop was Stanley Park. We stopped a few times along the way to take pictures of the incredible view, the Totem Poles, and the beaches. When I think of Vancouver, I certainly don’t think of beaches, but they were decently crowded and very nice. (And there were palm trees too!) When we hit Third Beach, we locked up our bikes, took our shoes off and walked down to the English Bay. It was great to get my toes in the sand and my feet in the water. It was my first beach trip of the summer. Then it was back on the bikes to ride to the pier to catch the pedestrian/bike ferry to Granville Island. This island has shops, restaurants, and public markets. We walked around a bit and made our way to the market. From my experience from this market and Pike Place market, I’ve decided I really like public markets. All the fresh produce, baked good, prepared food, quality meats and cheeses, and other goodies make it so fun. It was hard to resist everything. I ended up with some frozen yogurt and the some homemade granola from one of the bakeries. I could have bought so much more. We had seen a lot on the island so hopped back on the ferry to head across town to return our bikes. Vancouver is such a bike friendly city. Besides the amazing biking/running paths along the water and around the park, there are bike paths on a lot of the main streets and we took these back to the marina to return our bikes. I have never biked in an urban setting before and although you have to stop and start a lot at the stoplights, I really enjoyed it. Like really enjoyed it. In fact, this whole bike-riding experience made me really want to buy a bike. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time but have no space for one. That might have to change very soon. 

Once the bikes were returned, it was time to explore on foot. We wanted to check out the Gastown neighborhood (the name of course made me think of farts. Duh.) which we were told was local and trendy, walk down Robson for good shopping, and then hit up the Yaletown area of Harrison and Mainland streets for tons of bars and restaurants. The only store on Robson we went in was Lululemon because it was started in Canada so I wanted to check it out. Same ole stuff there. Also, it was free slurpee day at 7-11 so we got ourselves one of those as well. After about eight sips though, it was enough for me. I haven’t had a slurpee in about three years and I don’t think I need one again for another three. Waayyyy too sweet for me. 

Yaletown was an awesome neighborhood with tons of restaurants and bars and gorgeous apartment buildings.  After walking around it, we decided we wanted to head back there for dinner and drinks. I mean, it is Friday night in Vancouver so we should live it up a little even though we had to be up early again for our busride back to Seattle. And that we did. A little rest and a shower later, we made our way to Milestones for dinner and then a bar a few doors down where we proceeded to make ourselves right at home. This bar had skeeball and other games so we were pretty excited. And because we were in Canada, we had to get a local beer while out (only $3 at this bar too). We befriended the bartender a bit and even got him to give us the locked Wi-Fi's password (and a free shot). At the bar, after avoiding some creepers, we started talking to these other guys and then headed to a club with them nearby. We didn’t have to wait in line or pay the cover which was sweet because of these dudes and the music was great. Lots of hip hop and two different rooms playing it. I haven’t been to a place like that (a club) since Atlantic City in February so it had been a while. It was such a blast but we didn’t get back to the hotel until 2 am (after a quick post-bar McDonald’s stop) and then had to be up in a little over three hours to catch our bus back to Seattle. Exhausting, but fun.

I really enjoyed Vancouver. A lot. It’s definitely a city I could see myself living in. I certainly did not feel like I was out of America and I’m sure if we had another day, we would have walked to more areas and seen even more. We still covered a ton of ground and saw everything we wanted to see and more. It was really a great day in Vancouver and this is most def a city I would like to return to.