Another day in Canada
Trip Start
Nov 11, 2008
1
15
22
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Vancouver,
British Columbia,
Canada
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Saturday 13th December
Hello again from Canada! I was passing an internet cafe and thought I'd pop on to check out the X Factor results (yes I'm sad) and do a quick update since I won't get online tomorrow.
Last night I was so tired from travelling and my afternoon in the city so I had a quiet evening, having a quick bite to eat near the hotel and checking out the seafront. I chilled watching some TV in my hotel, checking out the Canadian TV which is similar to US cable but has lots of French channels rather than Spanish channels. As the hotel is on a main street there was a bit of noise in the night as people left bars, but on the whole I got a good nights sleep ready for my day out in Vancouver today.
This morning I woke up glad to see blue skies and no more rain! It was still pretty cold - around 4 degrees C - but I put on my coat and ventured out. After an omlette in a nice little French cafe, I walked down Robson St - Vancouver's answer to Oxford St. I got some xmas gifts for family and friends and checked out some cool shops along the way. I didn't spend too much money... talking of money, Canadian money is more like English money than US dollars. Their notes and coins have the queen on them, and unlike US dollars that have 1 dollar bills, Canadian dollars are in 1 or 2 dollar coins that look a lot like 1 and 2 pound coins... it's a lot like being back home! The city has more of a European feel to it, a bit like being in London (but much smaller) and almost like being in Paris as there are a lot of French speaking people and French shops (even though we are nowhere near French Canada!) The town is so easy to explore as the downtown area is pretty small and there are loads of buses as well as the airtrain and ferries.
After my shopping trip, I walked across the bridge to Granville Island which is just across the bay. The bridge was quite long, but so worth the walk just to take in the views of the city, the bay and the mountains in the distance. I took lots of great photos. Once on Granville Island, I checked out the famous market. It's very pretty, with lots of xmas stools, carol singers, arts & crafts for sale and a large food market. I browsed for a while then had lunch in a nice restaurant which overlooked the bay.
I then got the ferry back to Vancouver mainland and am making my way back to the main shopping streets. I saw a cinema earlier so I might go back there and check out what's on, and I saw some cool gloves in Urban Outfitters that I will get if the long queue has gone down by now! Then I'm getting an early night as tomorrow I have to be up early as my bus back to Seattle leaves at 8am (I'm so not used to early starts any more!) then I arrive at lunchtime and have a few hours there before getting my flight to my third and final stop on my tour of the west coast! Clues to where I'm heading? It has a famous bridge, a famous old prison and known for being foggy... I wonder where?!
