Vancouver in November

From 24.11.17 to 26.11.17, I finally got the chance to breathe in the big city air again. However, in Vancouver, you shouldn't take sniffing literally, which I will tell you about today! (Although it sounds like a silly children's documentary, do you actually know how difficult it is to find an interesting introduction?)

So, we left early on Friday, at 4:30. Accordingly, I slept through the entire journey to Nanaimo. We then took the ferry to Nanaimo and I slept for another 2 hours. We arrived at the ferry terminal in Horshoe Bay at 9 o'clock. From there, it was another 30 minutes to our hotel, which was located right in Downtown.

After a short rest from the exhausting car ride, we walked along Robsen Street. That's Vancouver's equivalent of Ku'damm. In terms of sightseeing, Downtown doesn't have much more to offer than skyscrapers, so we went straight to the nearest mall (don't get me wrong, there's only one Downtown, but it's quite something). After countless designer outlets, I ended up with just one bag, shoes, of course. Since my host sister had ten times as many bags, we briefly went back to the hotel and then walked up and down Robson Street again. In the evening, we had my belated birthday dinner. We went to a German restaurant that was located a bit outside of Downtown. It reminded me a lot of Hofbräuhaus and was even run by Germans. And oh, how I had missed Kaiserschmarren, good schnitzel, and spaetzle! Somehow not sauerkraut though. Back in Downtown, we took a digestive walk, passing BC Place, the stadium, and the convention center.

On Saturday, we continued our shopping program. Up and down Robson Street, souvenir shops here and there. We also went to Chinatown and Gastown. Unfortunately, Chinatown has turned into a very disgraceful area in recent years and is not really recommended. A lot of homelessness. Gastown used to be that way, but it's better now. Later, we went to a Christmas market, just like in Germany, and it really gave me a sense of home. In the evening, we went to a Mexican restaurant.

On Sunday, after checking out, we drove to Tsawwassen. There's a second ferry terminal there, and a huge mall. So, another 2 hours of shopping. With a few more bags, we got on the ferry back to Nanaimo, this time awake. We arrived home around 19:00.

To answer the question from earlier: there's a lot of smell of grass here, meaning marijuana. There were even stands on the street, although it's not even legal.

However, Vancouver is really a beautiful city. It's good that I'll be back next week. :)