Vancouver minus the rain...

Trip Start Jan 09, 2004

Trip End Jul 14, 2004

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Where I stayed

Global Village Backpackers Toronto

Westin Grand Vancouver

Flag of Canada Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Monday, February 23, 2004

We headed back to Vancouver after a couple of days in Victoria, and it was much more welcoming than previously. Helen and Marty headed up Grouse Mountain, which I would have liked to have done, but their day of skiing was thwarted by a bear that decided to park its butt on the middle of the slope. Only in Canada!

I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about going to the aquarium as I've been to Monaco and San Diego so I don't think there's too much on offer in terms of captive marine life I haven't seen. We went to a beluga whale show and saw a shark feeding (the frenzy was the mass of schoolkids), and it wasn't bad. I met up again with Lorisa, who we'd come across at the Global Village hostel earlier in the week. We'd gone on a hostel pub crawl and got roaringly drunk and silly together, and she was still in Vancouver so came along. She'd been 'slumming it' with her sister in a hostel for the weekend before settling at the Westin hotel on the harbour for an IBM conference. We went up to her hotel room and I began to understand why people love Vancouver, looking out at the mountains just beyond the marina. Vancouver is a very clean and friendly city - if you're in the right part of town. We went out for dinner at a restaurant on the marina that was worth the splurge. We were lucky enough to have a flawless blue sky for our entire stay; there was no evidence of the famous rain at all. It's no wonder us Aussies flock there.

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