Wednesday 18th June 2014 cont'd

Arrived on time and set off for Vancouver. Roads were quite busy and required full attention driving. It wasn’t helped by the fact that there was a new section of road which the satnav didn’t know about. In the end it was quite easy to follow the road signs to the car rental and we took the car in with no trouble. We asked them about getting to the city and were told a cab would be C$50 but the train would be C$5 each. We followed directions and found ourselves on the train platform. We struggled with the ticketing but a lady from the railway immediately came up and helped us.

The train was quite good with level access, although it got crowded as we went along. We’d worked out that the best thing to do was to get out at Vancouver City Centre Station. It was all quite easy and there were lifts from the platform to the concourse and from the concourse to the street. We’d intended to take a cab. We watched a few go by and waved at them but realised that we had no idea whether they were occupied or for hire. We decided to walk across the street to a hotel in the hope that we could ask how we could tell if a cab was free and also in the hope that they might be a regular drop off point and thus have empty cabs. The lady on the concierge desk told us to walk through the foyer, and got to the bell desk at the back where they would get us a cab. When we got to this entrance we found that there was a Bentley, a Ferrari and another posh car there. The staff all assumed that we were guests at the hotel and were going somewhere. We said no and explained and the man in charge said

 "Oh if you were guests we’d have run you there in our Bentley". He sent a man to walk to the street and hail a cab, but then called him back and said "We’ll run you there in the Bentley anyway." What a marvellous end to the day.

We got in the Bentley and sat there while we were driven a few blocks to our hotel. We must’ve looked really grand pulling up in the car.  Checked in and came up to our suite (15th floor). We have a bedroom with a King size bed, a lounge/kitchen/diner and a separate bathroom. All very nice, although it probably has seen better days. In terms of size we think it’s bigger than Ian & Sheila’s flat.

They told us there was a grocery store two blocks away, so after some unpacking and a cup of tea we strolled down there. Grocery store is a bit of an understatement. It’s called Market Place and it’s on two floors and has pretty well everything you could want (except beer of course). We bought fruit, bread, spread and jam for our breakfasts for the next three days and for tonight we bought salad with a veggie lasagne for Anne and some cooked salmon and chicken for Les.

Came back, downloaded pictures and typed this before dinner. Dinner was nice. Afterwards we went down and sat and had a drink in the bar. We noticed that they serve ‘drought’ beers - how many years have their menus been like this without anybody noticing?

Thursday 19th

We must’ve been really tired. We went to bed about 9.30pm and didn’t wake up until 8.30am. Breakfast in our suite was good. Almost like being at home - fresh fruit, toast and jam and coffee. Tidied up and settled down to chat to Tracey and Niamh and tell them our exciting news about seeing orcas and being chauffeur-driven in a Bentley. When Tracey answered she said she couldn’t talk as she was just parking the car outside the dentists where she was due.

We thought over our options about buses etc and decide to walk straight down Burrard St to the bridge and then make our way along the shore to Stanley Park. We did this and it wasn’t too bad. We slowly made our way along Sunset Beach, English Bay Beach, etc. Unfortunately the coffee shop we’d been aiming for wasn’t open - summer hasn’t started yet.

Having got to the start of the Park we decided to cut across to the northern shore by going past the Lost Lagoon. In retrospect we seem to have taken the wrong path along the eastern shore of the lagoon rather than the seawall path along the south.  It was very nice and informative nevertheless and we saw racoons, although too briefly to photograph. At this point we were gasping a bit so we started heading back east along the waterfront towards Canada Place. During our walk we saw three Great Blue Herons.

At Coal Harbour we found a nice restaurant and went in for lunch. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Les) they sat us in the bar where all the screens were showing England v Uruguay in the World Cup. At least Les saw England score a goal to bring them level at 1-1 - this may be the only goal they score in the whole tournament, so that saved him watching anything else.

We carried on walking and watching the seaplanes land and take-off and eventually got to the Convention Centre and Canada Place. We went into Canada Place East and had a cup of tea and then walked along it looking at the few displays about Canada and looking at the cruise ship that was moored. Unless we missed something we can’t quite see what the attraction of Canada Place actually is - except perhaps the ride ‘Fly over Canada’!!

By this time we’d been walking for several hours so we slowly made our way back up Howe Street. On our way we found the Post Office tucked away in the basement of the Waterfront and found that there is also a Food Court there. Howe St is between the two more major streets of Granville and Burrard and was nicer to walk up as it has much less traffic with wide lanes devoted to bicycles. We were obviously amongst some posh shopping here and we also passed the Art Gallery. May explore more tomorrow.

We were so shattered that we came back in and just slumped for an hour or so and then actually lay on the bed and dozed for half an hour. About 6pm we walked down to Market Place and got food for this evening and more fruit and juice for tomorrow and Saturday’s breakfast. As we walked back we were sure we could feel the odd spot of rain. We were right because as we sat and had our meal in the lounge the rain started. At one point the hills to the north had completely disappeared. By about 8pm the rain had eased a little and the hills had reappeared. This is the first real rain we’ve seen for the whole holiday apart from stuff we’ve driven through. Even now it hasn’t actually stopped us doing anything so even if it rains all day tomorrow we won’t have done badly at all.

Downloaded photos and typed diary after dinner. Anne found the latest Archers Omnibus on the internet and listened to it. Les found a TV station showing a Midsomer Murders - it must’ve been a public station as there were no adverts. Annoyingly, after 45 mins, it ended with ‘to be continued’. Maybe tomorrow night?

Friday 20th

Up around 7.30am and had breakfast. Les managed to listen to last overs of the Test Match on iPlayer. Noticed from the Capliano shuttle timetable that there’s an additional shuttle that actually starts from our hotel. By the time we’d done everything, including talking to Tracey & Niamh, we were able to go down and catch the 10am trolley. It got us there as promised at 10.30am. It was impressive to go over the Lions Gate Bridge on the way.

When we got there we found it was C$35 each to go in but having got there we thought we might as well do it. Inside it was all very well organised with a really good display about the history and development of the attraction. We looked at all this and had a coffee and then it was decision time. We really didn’t like the look of the bridge - 140m across and 70m above the river - and it was moving visibly as people walked across. After taking a few photos we decided there was nothing for it but to try. We started very gingerly and neither of us were happy to let go of the handrail/suspension cable. At about a quarter way across we were almost ready to turn back but we carried on and eventually, somewhat shakily, got to the other side. Some people were happy just to stroll across but we found we couldn’t keep our balance without holding on as the bridge was perpetually twisting.

Once across it was great. There was a very long walk along the edge of the canyon with loads of interpretation boards and it took you to some excellent viewpoints. After this we did the Treetop Walk which consists of about 8 sections of narrow pedestrian suspension bridges strung between trees, about 40m above ground.

After this, of course, we had to return. It was slightly easier going back - mainly because we’d done it before and knew we could do it, but also because it was slightly less crowded and we were able to keep moving albeit slowly. On the way over we’d kept having to stop because of people taking photographs etc.

When we got back we went to one of the food outlets and shared a toasted cheese salad sandwich. We inadvertently bought a bottle of cider thinking it was apple juice - nowhere on the bottle did it mention cider, but it did mention it was 7%.

A quick tour of the gift shop and a short wait and we were back on the shuttle. We chose the one that went to Canada Place. Having found the correct entrance to use for the Skytrain tomorrow we went round to the Harbour Cruise terminal just in time to get on the 2.45pm cruise. Quite enjoyable as there were very few people on the boat. A slightly different harbour tour as it took you around the docks and you got close up to some very large boats, as well as seeing the waterfront buildings and the skyline. A pleasant way to spend an hour.

When we got off we decided to walk back up Burrard St, but first went into a Gelateria which had been pointed out by the driver on the return journey. This had a won a worldwide ice-cream competition held in Italy in 2012. It was certainly very nice ice-cream and sorbet.

Walked back up Burrard and went into the foyer of the Marine Building - a really splendid example of Art Deco. As we walked back up Burrard we saw all the usual posh shops - Tiffany, Occidental etc etc. Finally got back to the hotel around 5pm.

The weather had been kind all day. It started out cool but warmed up. It clouded over a couple of times, especially when we were getting on the boat, but by the end of the afternoon it was bright sunshine, and when we returned to the hotel we actually opened several windows to get a breeze through the suite.

When we got back to our room we downloaded our photos and typed up the diary. As it was our last night we’d decided to eat out and as the hotel restaurant menu looked good we decided just to go there instead of walking around looking for somewhere else. Very nice - Anne had the best piece of halibut ever, just plain grilled and Les had a very tender steak.

When we got back to our room after dinner it was time to check in for the next evening’s flight. This we did and put .pdf files onto a memory stick. Went down the Guest Amenities Room where there is a printer. Discovered that the computer there wouldn’t read Acrobat files. Les went to fetch our laptop to connect direct to printer, but the Mac wouldn’t see it. In the end we found a solution - converted .pdf to .tiff files, then opened Pages and dragged .tiff files onto a blank document which was then exported as a Word document as the hotel computer could open this. The Word docs were put onto memory stick and then printed - all in all a long time to perform a simple task!

Saturday 21st

Up around 8am and had usual breakfast. Les was then able to listen to end of day 2 of the Test Match. Then gathered all belongings into bedroom for packing for flight. Once all this was done we had another coffee before going down to the lobby. We checked out around 10.45am and checked our luggage for storage until we had to leave for the airport later in the afternoon.

We had planned to visit the Vancouver Library which we had driven past on the bus previously. We walked there in lovely warm sunshine. On the way we walked through Robson Square where they were setting up for a Jazz Festival. We also went into the Vancouver Art Gallery lobby but as there is an admission charge we decided not to go in - not enough time to see much and weather too nice. We arrived at the library - the building is built to resemble the Coliseum in Rome and is very impressive. We went inside and had a quick look round, then went down to the lower level where there was a special exhibition. One of the exhibitors had worked in a rock gang on the building of the Canadian railways and had written a book all about it. He had in fact worked at some of the locations where we’d marvelled at the achievement of putting a railway in such challenging terrain.

We then walked down to Canada Place again. It was lunchtime by then so we went into the Food Court we had walked through a few times at Waterfront. Shared a nice egg salad sandwich and apple juice.

Afterwards we walked across to the Convention Centre and went in and up to the 2nd floor and sat in the public area watching the world go by. There were different cruise ships in today and one was being refuelled from a huge barge. We watched this and a massive container ship slowly go up the channel towards the docks. We could also see the ferry going back and forth to West Vancouver, the float planes taking off and landing, as well as private craft. It was also interesting watching all the people walking past below especially as they couldn’t see you watching them - a few odd ones!

When we left there we went back to the cafe at Canada Place for a cup of tea before setting off back for the hotel. On the way we paused briefly to listen to one of the jazz bands at the Festival. Would’ve liked to have stayed longer but running out of time by then.

Got back to hotel just before 4pm and collected luggage from storage. Talking to one of the hotel staff he suggested we should go to Yaletown Station to catch the Skytrain as we would avoid some of the traffic jams caused by the closure of roads for the Jazz Festival. He called us a cab and we went to Yaletown. Caught Skytrain - 25 mins journey to airport.

Check-in already very busy although 3 hours before flight. Managed to get an upgrade but some problem when we got to the Cashier to make payment. Eventually transpired she was typing in ‘O’ and not ‘0’. We got a Fast Pass through Security and Les of course had to be frisked because his knee had set off the alarm.

Went to Airport Angel Lounge - very nice and lots of hot food as well as cold - all free. Anne went off shopping to gifts for family and friends. Very nice spacious and airy modern airport. We seemed to wait a long time for our flight to be called but eventually we were told it was boarding. Our gate was the furthest from the lounge and as we neared the gate the final call for boarding was made and stating that all passengers should now be in their seats! A bit worrying as if we’d missed the only announcement in the lounge we might have missed our flight!

Left on time and a comfortable, relaxing flight - managed some sleep.

Sunday 22nd

Landed at Heathrow at 1.30pm - through immigration and luggage hall very quickly. Joyce and Bruce there waiting for us. Set off for home and stopped at Fleet for a bite to eat. Traffic ok until we got just beyond A303 junction where we ground to a halt due to an incident ahead. We did not move for half an hour - turned out it was an overturned vehicle recovery. After that rest of journey trouble free.