A Day and a bit in Vancouver...

The last time we were here we visited our friend Lance, and covered quite a bit of ground...Stanley Park, Capilano, and even Whistler.  But we also had our share of rain. This time Lance is out of town on vacation so we've had to make our own fun - not that we had any trouble doing that.

We arrived yesterday, Friday, and got settled in at the Hotel Vancouver. Then we went for a bit of a walk down to Canada Place and along the Seawall Walk as far as Coal Harbour. One thing we both noted was that Vancouver reminded us of Sydney, Australia but on a somewhat smaller scale. Stanley Park vs. the Botanical Garden, the 9 O'Clock Gun vs. Mrs. Maquarrie's Chair, Canada Place vs. the Sydney Opera House, but the same orientation to the water and dependence on it to get around. The Alaska cruise season hasn't quite finished yet, so of course we had to have a photo of a ship...yes, a cruise ship is leaving port WITHOUT us on board!!

We booked a seaplane flightseeing trip for Saturday afternoon while we were out, and had dinner at one of the locations of the Cactus Club Cafe, a Vancouver restaurant chain started by noted local chef Rob Feenie. After that it was back to the hotel and an early night.

This morning, having awakened around 6:00 since we're still not acclimatized to the 3 hour time difference, we decided to make an early start. We had complimentary tickets to the Vancouver Lookout, the city's answer to the CN Tower, but only about one third as high at 553 feet. We got there so early that there were only about a dozen other people with us, making for a relaxed wander around.

After that, we thought we would work off breakfast by taking a longer walk around the Seawall Walk. The walk actually goes all the way around Stanley Park, under the Lion's Gate Bridge, around English Bay and farther...we only had a couple of hours before our seaplane tour so we walked almost as far as the 9 O'Clock Gun so we could get some nice photos of the Vancouver skyline, and then back again. We made our 10,000 step count before 11:30 in the morning!!

There are a few houseboats in the Coal Harbour Marina; we liked these.
Probably cheaper than the condos that overlook it.

Looking back from Stanley Park

The Vancouver Rowing Club - you can take
lessons too!

A water park along the Seawall Walk. Quite popular in the
hot weather.

Our seaplane tour was only about 20 minutes long, but gave us an idea of just how big Greater Vancouver is and how close the 'mountains' are to the city. We were in a small deHavilland Beaver carrying 5 passengers plus the pilot - Larry was in the co-pilot's seat and found it a little tough to get into, but nice for the kind of tour we were doing. Here are some photos and video of the sightseeing.

Our plane and pilot

The Lion's Gate Bridge coming out of Stanley Park

Once we walked back to the hotel we were pooped, to say the least, and spent a nice hour at the hotel's pool area. We had dinner at Coast, a seafood restaurant about a 5-minute walk from the hotel.

We had a second floor table overlooking the bar/seafood bar.

Larry's Lobster Pot Pie...Lobster Mac'n'cheese, eat your heart out!!

It was so good that we're thinking of going again when we get back to Vancouver after the train tour. Well, it will be an early start tomorrow - see you on the train!