4th Day 24.07.2016 Vancouver - sunny

Now we woke up more refreshed and got a delicious breakfast again. Today we had Chinatown, Gastown and Stanley Park on the agenda. Silvain gave us the tip to take the bus to China Town. After we wanted to give the bus driver 10 dollars, he just waved us off and said we should take a seat. 😊 I've never experienced that before. When we arrived at the station, he also told us where to get off and which streets to go. That's how we almost always found the people there, relaxed, friendly and helpful. Since it was Sunday morning, the streets were not so crowded and it was rather quiet. We passed a beautifully designed Chinese park, which we explored. The rest of the neighborhood was not so exciting for us.

Then we continued towards Gastown. Before we arrived there, we passed by the Vancouver Lookout Tower and admired the glass elevators. Since it was again a sunny day with a great view, we spontaneously decided to go up the tower. The tickets could be purchased downstairs and are valid for the whole day. So you can also enjoy the view over the city again in the evening when it gets dark. We planned to do that too. But now, around noon, it was also very impressive and we enjoyed the 360 degree view, each in their own way.

Then we went to Gastown and even though this neighborhood is very touristy, it still has its charm, with the old renovated brick houses, in contrast to the concrete skyscrapers of downtown. After walking up and down the street, we fortified ourselves in a cozy café with the 'best cheesecakes in town', at trees organic coffee.

Refreshed, we decided to rent a bike and cycle around Stanley Park. We remembered seeing a bike shop at Canada Place and headed there. But when we looked at the price list, I suggested checking the side streets again. Indeed, half an hour later, we found another shop that offered the bikes a third cheaper. So we quickly rented 4 bikes, including a helmet. You could already tell that the bikes were not the youngest, but they should be fine for about 2 hours. So we pushed ourselves into the seemingly endless line of cyclists. It was really crowded, but it was also Sunday and super summer weather at about 25 degrees Celsius.

The bike path was well developed and led past the marina to Stanley Park. From there, the path became single-lane, meaning there was no going back. This circular route is about 12 km long. We made the first stop at the Totem Pole Exhibition of the First Nation, which was very impressive. Then we came to a huge adventure playground, where all cyclists had to dismount. I have to mention here that traffic safety is generally highly valued in Canada and pedestrians always have the right of way. We took advantage of that for a short break before cycling under the high Lions Gate Bridge. The most impressive part was the circumnavigation of the northern tip of the park, where you look out onto the open sea. Shortly afterwards was also the city beach, which was also very crowded.

After almost 2 hours, we completed the round trip and returned the bikes. Then we fortified ourselves in a beer garden at the harbor with tarte flambée plus a drink. After strolling through the harbor district for a bit, no one felt like waiting for it to get dark to go up the tower again, so we drove back to Commercial Drive, where Marie wanted to eat Indian food with us. After a delicious, but also spicy dinner, we went back to our Airbnb house, where we chatted a bit with Alexis.