| Vancouver |
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| After
I'd slept off my jetlag, my first day was spent exploring Downtown
Vancouver. It has a population of 2 million and is surrounded by
mountains, forests and the Pacific Ocean. Natives are friendly :-)
The walk around Downtown Vancouver included breakfast - Canadian
style, a walk round the harbour, Gastown (where the town was originally
founded and which has an amazing steam clock!), Chinatown, a walk
up their equivalent to Rodeo Drive, photos from the Tower at sunset
and a trip to the big IMAX cinema. Intro | Rocky Mountains | Southern Alberta | Toronto & Niagara | Vancouver to Banff | Vancouver | Vancouver Island | Whistler |
Day
2 it was really hot & sunny so I opted for a somewhat energetic
option for the day: hiring a bike and riding round Stanley Park.
Established in 1888 and named after the Governor-General of Canada,
Lord Stanley, Stanley Park is a 405-hectare cedar forest flanked
by beaches and located within a 10km seawall in the north west of
downtown. Riding round the 10km seawall is spectacular and you get
treated to some breathtaking views of the mountains and oceans.
From Prospect Point you get good views of North Vancouver and the
Lions Gate Bridge (built by the Guinness family of Irish fame).
Within the park is also a Totem Pole Park, with err well totem poles
;-). I also had encounters with 5 of the park's raccoons. I cycled
round the seawall twice (so that's 20km by this point) before cycling
off to Granville Island. The island (actually a peninsular) on the
south side of false creek (an inlet south of downtown) was originally
an industrial island but is now better known for its large public
(predominantly food) market. Unfortunately I didn't get to spend
too long here as I had to be back for my evening entertainment -
ice hockey. Still I managed about 32k and was quite saddle-sore
once I'd finally finished ;-)