Of all the places that we have visited Vancouver is probably the only place that we would emigrate to. Vancouver has everything, the city, Stanley Park, the sea and the mountains of Grouse and Whistler not far away.

Hotels

We have stayed in Vancouver twice in 2008 and 2010.

In 2008 our hotel was the Holiday Inn Downtown

In 2010 we stayed at the Coast Coal Harbour Hotel, we didn’t take a picture of the outside of the hotel but here is the view from our room.

Granville Island

Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in Vancouver, it is located across False Creek from the downtown area under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge.

You can either walk from the downtown to Granville island or even better take the small aquabus.

The market has some of the most amazing food stalls.

The Plywood Challenge

On our first visit we were there was the plywood challenge competition which is a charity event in which team members build their own plywood boat. The participants are only given 90 minutes to build a boat for the race by using two sheets of plywood, nails and a roll of duct tape. The only tools you have are a hammer, ruler and saw.

This is UAT (user acceptance testing as we say in the software world) the see if the theory works. The winners are those that do the return journey as quickly as possible. There are other prizes for style etc.

Stanley Park

To us one of Vancouver’s greatest assets is Stanley Park which is a 405-hectare public park that borders the downtown of Vancouver and is mostly surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay.

The park became Vancouver’s first park in 1886 and was named after Lord Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, a British politician who had recently been appointed Governor General. It was originally known as Coal Peninsula and was set aside for military fortifications to guard the entrance to Vancouver harbour. In 1886 Vancouver city council successfully sought a lease of the park which was granted for $1 per year. In September 1888 Lord Stanley opened the park in his name.

There is a path all the way around the perimeter of the park which is split in to walking and cycling. Intelligently it is split by a kerb to separate the two, also the cycle path is one way to avoid any nasty collisions.

In the background is the bridge which links North Vancouver to the Downtown area.

Inside the park there are areas which are dedicated to the indigenous population, Totem Poles.

Vancouver’s version of “The Little Mermaid” – this is the “Girl In Wetsuit” which was a gift from Hungarian sculptor Elek Imredy (who emigrated to Vancouver in 1957) as a representation of Vancouver’s dependence on the sea.

Apologies but we think that it is a bit more impressive than “The Little Mermaid”

The bottom edge of the park finishes at English Bay.

Burran inlet is access to the Port of Vancouver, which is the largest port in Canada, the largest in the Pacific Northwest, and the largest port on the West Coast of North America by metric tons of total cargo, with 76.5 million metric tons. The main reason is that it is closest to the Asian continent, shipping to Vancouver and moving goods by train can save weeks in terms of goods arriving in California for instance.

Gastown

Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood, Gastown grew from a single tavern founded by John ‘Gassy Jack’ Deighton back in 1867. The main attraction is its whistling Steam Clock which is powered by it’s a steam engine. There are only a few function clocks still in existence.

Gastown also has some great Victorian buildings which house bars and restaurants, very hop and chic..

Vancouver Lookout

The Harbour Centre and the Vancouver Lookout has been in Vancouver since 1977. At the top of the lookout there are 360º degree viewis over the city and beyond. There is a glass lift that takes you up to the lookout. When we were there a ticket covered the whole day so you could in as many times as you liked. It’s certainly worth going during the day and at night.

By day.

At night.

Vancouver Island

This is home to British Columbia’s capital Victoria which lies on the southern tip. This can be accessed from Vancouver from the sea plane terminal at Coal Harbour or by ferry from various points on the coast.

We went out by float plan and came back by ferry

The Whale Spotting didn’t really go to plan the only things we saw were Osprey’s and Bald Eagles plus the odd Dolphin, all of which were too far away to get pictures of, so we have added a picture of a lighthouse and the beautiful scenery.

Butchart Gardens

Just outside Victoria are Butchart gardens named after the Butchart family. They were cement manufacturers and after the limestone was exhausted from the quarry they started the gardens.

Whistler

Whistler is a small town north of Vancouver and is synonymous with Whistler Blackcomb, one of the largest ski resorts in North America. It is about 1 1/2 hours by car from the downtown area.

We went on a coach trip and on the way up stopped for a short break and get this view of the Rockies.

The hub of Whistler is a compact, chalet-style pedestrian village at the base of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

The Peak 2 Peak Gondola links Whistler Mountain’s Roundhouse Lodge with Blackcomb Mountain’s Rendezvous Lodge. and was the first lift to join the two side-by-side mountains. It held the world record for the longest free span between ropeway towers—3.03 kilometres (1.88 miles) until 2017.

At the top of Balckcomb.

A view towards Whistler town.

On our way back to Vancouver we had these amazing views of the Canadian Fjords (yes you do get these outside of Scandinavia).

Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is one of the North Shore Mountains of the Pacific Ranges in North Vancouver. In the winter it is a skip resort and in the summer a haven for hikers.

You views here of downtown from North Vancouver, the Lookout can be seen in the foreground.

Capilano Suspension Bridge

On the way up to Grouse Mountain we visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge which crosses the Capilano River. The current bridge is 140 metres (460 ft) long and 70 metres (230 ft) above the river.

Once over the bridge there are walk ways suspended in mid air through the trees.

They day we went will be etched in our mind as when we coming off the bridge a number of high school students came the other way, we had to push our way past to get out. On the way back from Grouse mountain we noticed that the bridge had been closed, unusual as it wasn’t that late in the afternoon. Thinking nothing of it, we found out later that evening that an 18 year old had tried walking along one of the barriers and had fallen to their death below.

Finally

Where ever you are in Canada, it seems to us, you are never very far away from one these things. This was spotted not that far from Vancouver as we headed towards Whistler.

On our first trip to Vancouver, which was the first time ever outside Europe we were amazed to see a Yellow Taxi, we only thought they existed in the US, oh the innocent of youth

What we love about cities is the variety of street performers and the fact there is always something to do rain, hail or shine.