The days in Vancouver

Long-awaited insights from Vancouver.

The city is more mountainous than we expected, and due to a lot of walking, our bike tour through Stanley Park, and the time difference (plus two hours), we were completely exhausted every evening when we arrived at our accommodation.

It is now 9 hours later here than in Germany.

When you wake up, we are going to bed. ;-)

Unfortunately, Vancouver did not spoil us with sunshine like Chicago.

Thursday and Friday, it rained more or less the whole day.

The means of transport in Vancouver is the Skytrain. It operates autonomously and was built for Expo 1986.

Our first full day in Vancouver was Thursday. Unfortunately, this time our host did not give us any tips on what to see in Vancouver.

So we started with a relaxed breakfast at 'Chambar'. It was cozy and the staff was very accommodating. I was particularly impressed by the lamps.

Flo had an excellent omelette and I treated myself to waffles with berry compote and salted caramel sauce.

Fortunately, there was free Wi-Fi everywhere, so we could find our way to the tourist information.

We were wonderfully advised by an older gentleman here and equipped with the most important information and a city map.

Our first destination of the day took us to Granville Island, where we treated ourselves to another great yellow umbrella. As I mentioned before, it was pouring rain.

This is an artist quarter with workshops and a market hall. Here you can buy fresh fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables, but also ready-made dishes and delicious cakes.

We were particularly impressed by the large selection of gluten-free food. We simply couldn't resist.

After exploring the island with its workshops, we went to the next restaurant, 'The Sandbar', which is a seafood restaurant on Granville Island.

They also had shellfish fresh from the market.

So we treated ourselves to fresh lobster and Dungeness crab

After this excellent meal, we strolled through the city for a while and fell into bed exhausted.

New day (Friday), same rainy weather. :-(

The staff at the tourist information recommended us to visit UBC (University of British Columbia) and the Museum of Anthropology on rainy days. This is a good alternative.

The university campus is like its own city within the city. There are many student residences and plenty of recreational activities.

As soon as we arrived at the Museum of Anthropology, we were greeted by two totem poles.

Totems are the typical wooden sculptures of the Canadian indigenous people and they are really impressive.

Artworks from other cultures were also exhibited. All paths in the museum led to the statue ' The Raven and the First Men'.

A beautiful wood carving and very detailed.

After so much culture and a short coffee break, we followed the advice of our first hostess in Chicago and went shopping at the outlet center in Vancouver. :-)

After a long search, I finally found a lightweight yellow raincoat. But it was quite difficult because the popular outdoor brands only had jackets up to XL size left due to the sale.

We finally found what we were looking for at Nordstrom.

Now it's Saturday and breakfast time again. This time we went to the neighborhood 'Gastown'. This neighborhood has many small shops and another landmark of Vancouver, the 'Steam Clock'. But first, we had breakfast at 'Catch122'.

The 'Steam Clock' is powered by steam and plays a melody from the roof every quarter hour. It was invented by Raymond Saunders, and the first one was built in Vancouver in 1977!

In the afternoon, we had a big highlight of our Vancouver stay. A bike tour through Stanley Park.

Stanley Park is located on a peninsula north of Vancouver. It is easily accessible from the harbor without any mountains. Unfortunately, our Easy-Rider bikes were in a garage on a slope. So we had to push them downhill for three blocks first.

The tour took us all the way around Stanley Park. Past great totem poles, always along the water. Amazing views and beautiful panoramas. After the park, we rode past English Bay towards Downtown, but the bike path always runs right along the water. So we also passed other highlights like the inner city harbor with a tourist pirate ship, the Olympic Stadium and Olympic Village, and finally, we stopped at Granville Island again for a little snack before heading back.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't hold up for the entire bike tour. It started raining again on the bridge towards our destination.

After the tour, we warmed up with a cozy coffee and ended up unplanned at the end of the day in a great sports bar called 'Score on Davie' with various dishes, including gluten-free options.

Thank you Vancouver for these eventful days.