Firstly, this will be a progressive 'publication' I'll update blogs as I photo edit. Annnnd I need to prepare you now that although I took hundreds!! of photos we were on moving transport most of the time and they're mostly blurry or reflected (aw :( ). But that's probably good news because it means you'll truly see only the best of the photos ;) and wont be showered in them.
Canada
This was actually taken At Jasper, further into the trip, but its a good way to start.
In the beginning... :) there was much discussion and decision making (indecision) on when to visit my brother and sister in law in Canada and take the kids, mostly it revolved around the kids' ages and appropriateness. They were 7.5 and 5 yrs when we went and although they didn't really appreciate the whole 'different country'ness and hugeness of it all it was an awesome experience for us all.
We flew from Brisbane to Sydney then straight to Vancouver, adjusted our watches 3-4 hrs forward then taxied to the hotel; mum had been sick the whole way and the flight knocked her. So she spend most of the first week in bed!
On our flight we had an obnoxious man kicked off in Honolulu, which took 6 hours during which we had to stay in our seats; I watched the movies 'Adam' 'Julie & Julia' 'Benjamin Button'.
The Canadians sure love their coffee; when we arrived at the airport one Canadian said to another "mm, smells like home" (starbucks was the first and last shop everywhere we went). The hotels (throughout Canada) had very limited amenities (glasses, mugs, sugar, tea if you're lucky, coffee and ground coffee and a perculator, no jugs/kettles!). There are 200 Starbucks' in Vancouver, one literally on every corner. I saw 2 on diagonally opposing corners and another 1 block away.
We stayed here:
The first day, the kids and I went for a wander around downtown, caught sight of an all you can eat sushi sign and didn't need to be told twice, we hadn't actually eaten in 24 hours. We got our monies worth there, but yeesh food + tips in Canada is expensive!!
Our amble revealed mostly asian restaurants and bubble tea houses. We took a side street tangent where I bought stamps and postcards and then to safeway for supplies.
The next day mum stayed in bed again so we went back down the street and took a left, got rained on (if I don't mention rain, its not because it wasn't there, but because it was always there in mist, moisture or drip form) and we tried our raincoats on. You know those handy temporary plastic bag ponchos you can get? Don't bother! We ate a Ukrainian lunch and reached the end of the road. I'd somehow thought I was going south, turns out it was north, and after a few hours made our circular way back to the hotel, but it was a genuine Vancouverian experience :).
These sculptures are self portraits of a Chinese artist in various stages of hilarity. When China had the olympics, Canada built them a log cabin and so in reciprication, China gifted these hilarious statues for Canada's Olympics. Each year Vancouver moves its public art around and auctions off some; speculation indicated the Chinese men would cost a fortune.
I was hoping to find the Visitor's Info Center (but I was going in the wrong direction) and asked in a Starbucks, they didn't know of it. So I asked where Burard Street was (Borard? Boorard? Boerard?) and after some minutes of head shaking I spelt it. "Ohh, BoorRad" (damn I thought I was speaking English! :P) and got directions.
The next day we went to the aquarium and with our Norths and Souths in the right spot this time bravely set off through wind and rain (of course).
Next blog: the aquarium :).
Lovely, sweetie! I really wish we had the opportunity to get together while you were up here. Miss you much!
ReplyDeleteThose are nice photos. :)
ReplyDeleteI have never yet stayed in a hotel here that didn't have a kettle and the rest of the things you mentioned. I think it has less to do with Canada and more to do with your choice of cheap hotels. :p Oh, and downtown Vancouver is probably one of the most expensive areas in the country for fast food, so it's really not a fair way to judge the whole place.
Fair enough, fair enough! Since I'm writing from scratch, not from my journal most of what I say is an overview of the whole trip but you're right in that we ate in town most of the time where ever we were or in Lethbridge and the fast food was super cheap. I took them as two seperate representations of eateries and there doesn't seem to be much tipping of fast food.
ReplyDeleteWe actually stayed at a Fairmont and another expensive place in Jasper too, and you can't tell me they don't live off coffee ;).
And thanks :).