JUNE 4, 2019
Another early start as we catch a 7AM flight from Juneau to Seattle and then to Vancouver, BC. There was a 2hour layover in Seattle but we were lucky to have a Priority Pass lounge that offered all the amenities of good coffee, good food, nice refreshing lemon/cucumber infused water!, and a bar. I passed but Thom had a glass of wine that was pretty good.
After fetching a key from several blocks from our flat we arrived around 4pm to find a terrific 12 story high view of the False Creek and the Vancouver Maritime Museum. Also the ships out before us reminded us of our flat in Istanbul Turkey. As it got darker and the lights came in it was a great scene.
We wandered to find groceries and other supplies. We have to keep reminding ourselves that the Canadian dollar is worth about US75 cents. Everything isn’t as expensive as it looks.
JUNE 5, 2019
Today we took a long walk. First we headed across the Burrard St bridge over False Creek where we saw the little ferries that ply the small inlet to the Olympic Village. We ended up at the Vancouver Maritime Museum where we first inspected the boats at the small marina there. Some really pretty boats and some seem to be lived on.
Once in the museum we were shepherded to the just started video of the story of the RCMPV St. Roch. It is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner, the first ship to completely circumnavigate North America, and the second vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. She was the first ship to complete the Northwest Passage in the direction west to east. The vessel has been preserved in the dry dock created for the museum. We boarded the land locked vessel and enjoyed the many parts of it. The table in the galley shows the partitioned parts to keep the crockery from sliding away!
The library had the sewing machine – I suspect necessary to repair the sails and maybe patch uniforms and other items of clothing. There were cabins where the occupants also had skis!!! There were crew members as well as Mounties. The whole exhibit was very well done!
The remainder of the museum was also nicely done. There was history of lighthouses, tugs, ocean liners, and others that wrecked on the rocky shores of British Columbia.
We left in a slight drizzle and passed baby Canada geese!! We walked along the waterfront and a number of marinas. There are lots of boats here! We ended up at Granville Island Public Market. What a place!!! A great presentation of an enormous amount of really yummy stuff. We bought some crab cakes for dinner and some beautiful and delicious BC blue cheese and duck and truffle pate. This stuff was incredibly delicious!!!
We took the little aquabus ferry to get across the creek and back to our flat. Great day!!!
JUNE 6, 2019
Today we figured out how to rent from the city bike share. We had to agree to wear a helmet and were lucky to find 2 bikes with helmets attached at the bike dock at the end of the block from out flat. Seems as we biked along, only about half the riders were wearing the city’s legally required bike helmets!!!
We headed down the hill from our flat in the West End to get to the seawall that goes to Stanley Park. This is like Central Park in NYC. It’s enormous!!! We got to the last bike dock before the park and dropped the bikes off. There were people swimming in the public pool. Amazing!! We decided to walk along the lagoon and to the harbor area so we could enjoy and see the waterfront.
We passed along by the rowing club and spotted a 26’ Nonsuch catboat. We entertained the idea of getting a Nonsuch a number of years ago. We then discovered cruising catamarans and changed our outlook.
We walked along the path and enjoyed so much of what Vancouver offers. There were lots of float planes landing and taking off. We visited the totem poles. Amazing!
Across the harbor was North Vancouver. The most remarkable sight was the large pile of bright yellow sulphur. Pure sulphur!!!
We turned around to head back to the city and continued on our walk and had lunch near the convention center. We walked along to Canada Place at the port for the cruise ships. There were great views of the harbor, the float planes coming and going and the helicopters and the ferry to N Vancouver.
