New to Vancouver, BC

The trip to Vancouver from Wilmington was only long, not adventurous. We arrived at the crowded Wilmington airport at 4:30am (yes, I was awake and dressed in the middle of the night!), and arrived at our hotel in Vancouver at 4pm, local time. The brand-new Sky Train took us, with great ease and little money, to downtown, and we walked about 5 blocks to our very conveniently-located hotel in the West End. We freshened ourselves, and walked along Davie Street towards English Bay Beach.

Davie Street is one of several 'eating' streets, and we stopped at a Greek pub for a beer and shrimp/roasted tomato appetizer. By then, we were starved and very much off schedule! We walked on to the beach, and discovered a pretty neighborhood overlooking the beautiful English Bay. Many high-rise apartment buildings, landscaped beautifully, beside a miles-long grassy park and bike/walking trail. The bike trail is separate from the walking trail, and both circumnavigate the entire peninsula. Wonderful planning! It was a perfectly beautiful afternoon, and many people were playing ball, or walking or roller-blading. Of course I had my camera, but unfortunately, the card was in my computer back at the hotel. Well, another day we'll get photos of the huge logs washed up on the beach, and the dramatic views.

I had picked out a restaurant for dinner, but we thought we were too tired to properly enjoy it, after seeing the location and the prices. So, we walked back to Davie Street, and had a MOST tasty meal at a Vietnamese Pho restaurant. Stuart ordered a curried noodle bowl, and I ordered a noodle/salad bowl, with grilled lemongrass chicken skewers. A tiny little place, with FOUR tables, and it was GREAT! The whole restaurant must have been about 10 feet wide. We sat in the window, people watching, and agreed that we stumbled onto a great meal. There was a 'head shop' next door, and we watched people coming and going there.

Our hotel is decorated in 1970's style...leftover from 1970's, not intentionally done. But, it is on a business street, which was almost totally silent last night. We slept very well (or course)! It's going to rain this afternoon, so we're going to the Chinese Garden this morning.

Oh, Funny Story...Stuart went back in our hotel to fetch his jacket when we headed out for our walk yesterday afternoon. He came back out, pulled the denim jacket on, and was vveeeerrry disappointed. He had grabbed MY jacket from the closet at home. It was a pretty funny sight!