As for English English or American English spellings, there seemed to be no consistency. Centre/center, harbour/harbor etc. Possibly there was more English English used in British Columbia.
We were left to our own devices in the afternoon and of course we wanted to see the main tourist area of Vancouver. Off we wandered and the weather was pretty warm so we had slipped into our slow stroll mode.
An odd building.
Canada Place and the Convention Centre are on the harbour edge and attract many people. They are near to this area called Burrard Landing.
This stage like building seemed to always have people inside but I don't know what they we doing. Note the whale (orca?) sculpture. It is not out of focus but was made to look like it is made of Lego. The Women's soccer World Cup was being played in Canada with a couple of matches scheduled for Vancouver. One evening we came across a couple of girls in red soccer outfits having a pash in the street. Australia's own Matildas did not fare too badly in the competition.
I remember finding out why Australia is dominant on this map. Ummm, maybe Canada's first timber export went by ship to Australia.
Pretty tree sculptures.
Good roof insulation.
Cruise ships come and go, don't they Victor.
Bagpipes were invented by someone who heard the noise made by an asthmatic pig being carried under a farmer's arm.
Look! A trolley bus. I have never travelled on one and still haven't.
An articulated trolley bus. My city of Melbourne and Vancouver vie against each other for the title of the world's most liveable city. Good public transport is part of being a liveable city and I believe Vancouver's public transport is very good.
I was very impressed with hanging flower baskets in Europe and England but they have nothing on the hanging flower baskets in Canada.
A steam powered clock? What an extraordinary thing. It is not old, being built in 1977 and dealt with a problem of a steam vent in the street. We were now in the historic area known as Gastown, named after 'Gassy' Jack, an early town pioneer who talked too much.
While we did not hear it, apparently it plays music and whistles at the appropriate clock striking times.
Here be Gassy Jack.
We were now in Water Street, the prime tourist area. We found a quiet cafe for lunch in a cul de sac with a nice view of..........train yards.
It was quiet and restful off the street and in the shade. The weather was very warm and so far we had only worn short sleeved shirts, although we had packed an equal number of long sleeves expecting to need them in Canada. I kept my jacket nearby for a couple of days but then packed it in the bottom of the suitcase, never to be worn in America. We were cold only twice. Once on a glacier but we were only there for fifteen minutes and once when I turned the room air con down too low when we went to bed.
This one is just for you Fen, the John Fluevog shoe shop. Btw, my feet soon adjusted to my newish shoes and so I was able to throw away my old shoes I had brought along in case I had issues with the newish shoes.
This amused me in a shop, which had the same name as Sister. We strolled along the street but it had been suggested to us that the street was not so nice after a certain point. We had been along the street in the coach in the morning and certainly Japantown and Chinatown were not the most spotless of streets. I think we walked as far as Columbia Street and returned mostly along West Cordovia Street. Homeless looking rough types were pretty obvious.
Vancouver's own little Flat Iron building.
Some attractive buildings.
A mist of water emanating from and for what reason, I do not know.
A place for premium APT travellers to stay.
Sister warned me about Canadian coffee. Surely, I argued, with the French influence the coffee will be ok. It wasn't, not anywhere we came across in Canada or New York. I even tried a double shot espresso but even that was not to my taste. We did kind of get used to the coffee though.
Yes, I can well imagine people would hang things from sprinklers.
We had pre dinner drinks at our hotel bar and the service was desultory, to say the least. We did not feel like tipping but we did. We received some helpful advice from someone. If you are unhappy with the service, don't just walk out without tipping and be thought of badly by staff, or just another bloody Australian. Leave a small tip, say 5%. That tells the staff something. But we weren't taking on the system and tipped the normal amount.
We strolled down to the waterfront and had a nice dinner at Mahoney and Sons and again R did battle with the card machine when paying. Hard life, what!
We would have liked to stay in Vancouver for another couple of days, but tomorrow it is suitcases outside the hotel room by 6.30 for collection and be ready to board the coach at 7.00 to begin our Rocky Mountaineer train trip.
We would have liked to stay in Vancouver for another couple of days, but tomorrow it is suitcases outside the hotel room by 6.30 for collection and be ready to board the coach at 7.00 to begin our Rocky Mountaineer train trip.