Vancouver Airport

I had several hours to kill at Vancouver Airport while I waited to board my Alaska Airways flight on the first leg of the trip home.  You can see that I didn't particularly mind!  With over 24 hours of aircraft boredom and airport chaos ahead of me, the relative serenity of the place was a blessing.

You'll note I have a disposable coffee cup in hand, from the 'Tim Horton's' franchise.  A puzzle to me when I arrived in Edmonton, I was introduced to them by my cousin during week three.  A great find.

Hwy 1 - The Transcanadian

On the final run to the airport we found ourselves briefly on my old friend, Highway One.  I think this was about the last chance I had to get a picture of the iconic signage associated with this amazing road, so grabbed the chance from the moving car.

In case you forgot my comments when I stopped the traffic on it in Golden, it's something like 6000km long, the Canadian equivalent to Route 66 in the USA (but thrice as long) and the Prince's Highway in Australia (not sure on the distance).  One day I'll travel more of it.

Old Vancouver

Leaving Grenville Street precinct for our round about trip to the airport I could see how the suburbia we passed through, reasonably inner city ring, was of similar appearance to Old Strathcona back in Edmonton.  Hardly surprising, as they were built up around the same time.

Here there was more emphasis of being posh, with price tags of million dollars for these otherwise fairly plain homes (as Vancouver houses go).

Street Banners

Granville Street was decorated with street banners, adding a splash of design and colour to the (pleasant) urban streetscape.

Like back home, a fair bit of symbolic homage is paid to the original inhabitants of these lands, of which these signs are typical examples.  Native iconography is a big thing, much of the better grade souvenier carrying it (produced and patented by first nations peoples).  Also like home, disadvantage and prejudice lie barely beneath the surface, and the mortality and lifestyle statistics are frightening.  In some ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Granville Street

My last few hours on the ground in Vancouver were spent along Granville Street while my cousin did her business nearby.  Nominally an area of upmarket boutiques and lifestyle stores I had an interesting time of it, even finding that 'special something' for my beloved wife Nancy (not that I was worried, but time was running out for the 'perfect gift' to 'leap out at me' so it was good that it did).

The clean streetscape, trolley busses and snow capped mountains in the background combined to give a good final impression of this very impressive city.

Going Home!

I'll finish this photo blog in style in a couple days. For now just a text update. I am writing this from Vancouver Airport and am about to board the plane. All well, all good, and excited to be on my way. Have had a great time in Canada, five weeks of excessive fun, a lot of people, a tonne of new experiences, but now it's time to return to those I love and the place I call home.

If you're reading this in Aussie, I'll be seeing you soon. If you're reading it from Canada or a Pacific Island, I'll be seeing you a bit later, but hope to do so before toooooo much longer. At least, sooner than another 33 years!!!!

Okay, boarding call. Next post will be from home, when I can wind up the last few days I have had here in Vancouver, with appropriate photos to boot. Until then...

Bookshop

MacLeod's Bookshop had attracted my attention on my way to Victory Square, so it was with some pleasure that I returned to it after my lunch with a friend. It was jam packed with books, you had to step over unsorted piles of them crowding the aisles.

About an hour later I left, having picked up a few choice treasures.

Canada's bookshops are interesting to me, partly because the books are slightly cheaper than at home, mainly because a greater number than I had expected are books I haven't seen before.

Victory Square

I eventually found my way to Victory Square, the old centre of Downtown (though no longer at the centre, it apparently is still the centre of public ritual, such as Remembrance Day). I had arranged to meet up with a friend from Australia who is working in Vancouver these days, and had suggested we meet here - partly because it lay in an interesting part of town I'd only seen in passing on my way out in March, partly because it's a good landmark. People were choofing in the park, cops were driving by, the cannabis culture shops and uni students were obvious. Nice Vancouver vibe.

The centopath says - 'Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, their names shall liveth forever'. Makes you think.

Pipes

Getting off the train in town my first task was to get some money (I had exactly $3 on me). Emerging from the bank, I heard the sound of bagpipes. That brought back pleasant memories of my first time in Vancouver, so I followed the sounds and found this guy, cloven feet and all.

Only in Vancouver, I suspect, would you find this as a 'normal' part of city life.

Bus (Bike, Truck) Train

Getting off the ferry and keeping moving was a good idea as it enabled me to hop on this bus and get to the train station (just) in time to get the train into Downtown Vancouver.

Possibly the saddest thing I saw on my whole trip occurred on the bus leg of the trip. On the opposite side of the highway a bike and truck had just had a collision, first aid was being applied to the motionless cyclist and the trucker was going through shock. No one deserves to be where either of them was, no matter how stupid.

Jimi Hendrix Shrine

After my meal in Chinatown things got distinctly seamier as I found myself in 'Gaslight Town' - where all the junkies emerge with the night. A bit wary, I cut back through to the edge of Chinatown and came across this!

The Jimi Hendrix Shrine is the building where he grew up with his grandmother while she fried chicken and he learned his art. Not open in March, I did never the less feel a sense of completion for my Vancouver excursus as this was the one landmark I had wanted to see and hadn't.

Chinatown

After my excursion across the harbour I continued on foot through the pot zone and into Chinatown. I got there after 5pm and it was basically shut down, about the only part of the city to do so at that civilised hour. Says a lot about the Chinese!

It's the largest Chinatown in North America and, when I visited in the middle of the day the day before, had a real sense of 'somewhere else'. On this trip, I had an excellent meal at a Vietnamese restaurant (of all things).

Sea Bird

On my last day in Vancouver, after leaving the motel, I had over twelve hours to kill before catching my bus to the west. So I went for a ferry ride across the harbour to Vancouver North and watched the birds for a while. At first I thought their seagulls were rather large, then realised they were albatrosses and some kind of sea eagle. This guy was the dominant one of the flock.

Vancouver Harbour

Vancouver is Canada's busiest port, and one of the busiest in North America. You wouldn't guess that from this view over the yacht marina from near Stanley Park. Downtown is just visible to the right, North Vancouver is out of shot to the left.

Robson St at night

On my second night in Vancouver realised just how beautiful the city is, even when it's raining. This is another view from my balcony, looking down Robson St, one of the main downtown shopping strips.

Stanley Park

About 10m off the main track in the park one could feel that was in a primal forest. This picture was taken with my camera on a timer. If you can see my expression I look totally chuffed with the world. That's exactly how I felt!

Stanley Park

My first day full day in Vancouver resulted in me going for a bit of a walk through part of Stanley Park, total trip of about 8km the way I went. The park actually felt very 'special', was no surprise when came across these modern totem poles. I took some photos of a chinese couple on their camera, they took this of me.

Arrival

I got to Vancouver on March 17, time to celebrate St Pat's second time around (I had crossed the dateline). Wandered up through town where they were dancing in the streets, got to bed reasonably late. The next morning, this is what I saw from the balcony on my tenth floor motel room.