3 Days in Vancouver: Day 1 (Morning)

 Day 1, Part 1:

I got up pretty early with the worry about money on my mind. This was my first experience with the idea of paying up front for a hotel stay; so the previous night I had to hand over a substantial amount of my spending money for my time in Vancouver. However the hotel, the Vancouver YWCA  (see picture to left) turned out to be a perfect base, within easy walking distance of all the places I wanted to visit. Also the air conditioning and mini fridge were wonderful allowing me to cool down from the heat, as well as to have cold water to drink. My room had a view out at the Stadium which I found out when I arrived lit up various colours at night. I set off for my first day in Vancouver just before 10am.

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen public garden.

I started walking to China Town in Vancouver. I wanted to see the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden. I didn’t know that you have to pay to enter some of it. I decided to stick with the public areas that were lovely and tranquil. The only thing giving away you were in a city, being the large blocks flats on the skyline.

From China Town I began walking back towards the downtown district. The night before the hotel receptionist had given me a city map and promptly scribbled out an area I shouldn’t go. Well in typical fashion it seemed I had wandered there. It seem perfectly ok to me. Like most places in a city I feel it might have been a little more daunting at night, rather than in bright summer sunlight. On my wanderings back towards the city I came across the Jimmy Hendrix Shrine, passed by BC Place Stadium and took in this new and exciting city).

A friendly face in Vancouver

 My next stop was Gas town where I took in the famous clock and as you can see met myself a cheerful Mountie Moose (see above).  Then onwards to the Vancouver Lookout. Now this is a place that I would recommend to anyone visiting Vancouver. I got a student ticket that was less than  $10 (about £5), which allowed me to return at any point during the day.

View of the docks from the Vancouver Lookout.

The lift takes you up to a circular viewing room, which can be seen as a distinctive marker in the Vancouver skyline. One thing to note is that a certain point the lift moves from inside to outside which gives a little bit of a thrill. I noted that guides were on hand to point out sights and give further information to visitors. I headed back down after taking in the views and made plans to return later in the day.

Information on Day 1 in Vancouver will continue in my next post.

Gum Head

Whilst I was visiting Vancouver this summer, I was told to go and find this sculpture. It is a seven foot mould of the artist Douglas Coupland. The artist describes it as "a gum-based, crowd-sourced, publically interactive, social-sculpture self-portrait". People were encouraged to add their chewed gum to the sculpture until the face was distorted by it. I couldn't work out if this was a clever piece of art or be disgusted by the amount of gum on it, I guess at least the gum wasn't then on the floor for people to stand on. 

Gum Head, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver.

Vancouver nights

 Vancouver was my first time on holiday completely alone. I had travelled to Canada with my mum, but had taken the trip westward by myself.On my first evening in the city I returned to the Vancouver Lookout which I had been up earlier in the day in the hopes of catching the sunset. I may have arrived early but the wait was well worth it to see the mountains and the city lit up by the orange glow of the setting sun. 

Vancouver from the Lookout. Summer 2014 at Sunset.

Cycling the Seawall

One the best memories from 2014 was a 3 week visit to Canada, during this time I took a 3 day excursion to Vancouver. One afternoon whilst I was there on the recommendation of many travel websites I chose to hire a bike and cycle around the Stanley Park portion of the seawall. 

Cycling round a bend in the sea wall between Siwash rock and Third beach.