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Old 13 Jan 20, 07:59 PM  
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Scruffette
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O Can-aska - Day 2 - Vancouver & Stanley Park

O Can-aska - Day 2

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Saturday 31st August 2019 - Vancouver & Stanley Park

As expected in any different time zone, we woke up a few times during the night!

The first time I woke up, I was sure it was the morning – it was actually 11pm! Only 2 hours since bed time, back to sleep then.
I then woke at 3am when Ollie came back from the toilet. This was the only downside of the shared bathroom – the middle of the night toilet run! As one of the conditions of booking a shared bathroom, Ollie promised he would walk down the hall with me. It was actually surprisingly well lit, but a promise is a promise 😊

Anyway, it was soon back to sleep where I slept until almost 7am. Ollie woke up a bit earlier, but he’s one of those odd people who always wakes up early.

View from our hotel –





We both took showers and got ready (some of us taking longer than others) and headed down for breakfast, which was included in our hotel stay.

It was quite busy in the breakfast room, but we found a table. There was a decent selection of yoghurt and various pastries. Ollie liked the cheese croissants and I enjoyed toasting the waffles.

We got chatting to two older ladies on the table next to us all about cruises. They were off on one the next day and were from the Toronto. People always have an interesting perception when you mention you cruise with Disney. The first question was ‘Did you get a good deal?’ They were friendly, despite making some border line racist comments about Toronto.

We popped back up to the room to grab our bags and set off walking for Denman street.

It was raining outside over breakfast and was still looking a little grey, although you could tell that it was going to turn into a sunny day. We were in shorts at breakfast. You could tell the people who had travelled form warmer places – they were in trousers and big coats. We did get so lucky with the weather in Vancouver, it reached highs of 24 and sunny during the day.

Our first stop of the morning was a bakery called Breka, to get some snacks to eat around Stanley Park. I noticed Breka is open 24 hours - good to know for those middle of the night pastry cravings.



We bought a savoury Italian pastry ($5) and this giant apple fritter, which was a bargain as $2.75. We were still eating it two days later!





It was then over to Yes! Cycle rental (complete with exclamation mark), ahead of our cycle around Stanley Park.

Now, whoever says that you never forget how to ride a bike is a liar. I have dubious balance at the best of times, and really lost all confidence on a bike. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ridden a bike for about 12 years.

When we first talked about Stanley Park, I assumed we would walk it. However, looking at the size on a map, it would have taken more time than we had. Ollie was keen to ride and somehow talked me into hiring a tandem.



We rented a bike from Yes! Cycle rental, there are an abundance of bike rentals along Denver Street and this one was one of the cheaper ones. All bike rentals included helmets, a basket and a lock for the bike. The guys in the shop were very friendly and we tried a few bikes before Ollie found a seat tall enough. I don’t quite have the same issues!

We were soon cycling our way to Stanley Park. The only issue is that you have to do a short cycle on the road before getting to the park, which wasn’t the gentlest start.

By the time we reached the park I had relaxed a little and could enjoy the views. In fact, with Ollie checking that we weren’t hitting anything, it left me free to have a good lock around. The plan was always to stop and start plenty along the route.

We got lots of attention en route with the tandem – they were available for rental in lots of places but I think they are a bit of a novelty.

The plan was always to stop lots on the way round –













We spent some time in the totem park –













Saw the diver (that I thought was the Little Mermaid at first…). Apparently she frequently has a seagull on her head!



The Lion’s Gate Bridge, which we would be sailing under on our cruise on Monday –





We thought the cycle round would take about 3 hours, but we actually only took two to cycle all around the sea wall, even with stopping plenty. The two hour hire cost $32.

We returned our bike and could see the bike rental shops getting a lot busier now the weather had brightened up a bit, In fact, it had turned into a very warm day and I was feeling quite glad we had shorts on.

We like to walk as much as possible when in cities to see the sights, and found Vancouver very walkable, clean and easy to navigate (even with my bad sense of direction).

We had a vague idea of where we wanted lunch, so started walking east(ish) in the general direction of the hotel.

On the way we ‘popped’ into a gift shop, Grand Maple Gifts, as Ollie liked the look of one of the tshirts in the window.

This ‘popping’ in ended in us buying tshirt each! I wasn’t planning on getting one as I didn’t think I’d get the use out of it. Ollie persuaded me and in fairness I have worn it a few times since.

My cute bear –



Ollie’s tshirt –



Our tshirts were $21.99 each.

We also saw this bag ($4.99), which after our morning was just too perfect –



And of course, the obligatory magnet ($3.99) –



We were soon heading towards the main shopping area on Granville Street and Ollie spotted an Old Navy that he thought I’d like to look in. He was right, however, I didn’t find anything for me. Ollie did get a couple of bargains

Tshirt with dinosaurs ($8.49) –



Shorts ($10.49) –



We also had a look in Urban Outfitters, where I concluded that I am definitely not trendy enough for this shop! Ollie however found this tshirt for $12. If I’m honest, I really don’t like this tshirt. Ollie got offended when I said this and then I felt mean, so somehow I ended up convincing him to buy it!



For lunch, we had two places in mind and knew we didn’t have a lot of time to try both. Our solution was to get one dish from each and share.

First, we stopped by the 7eleven to get an x-large slurpee to share ($2.51). Good job we don’t have 7 elevens here, or we’d be frequenting them!



I think this one was blue raspberry on top and passionfruit on the bottom.

Our first lunch spot was Mean Poutine. Has to be done in Canada! We got one of their fancier poutines with extra toppings - Mean Supreme - Crispy fries, brown gravy, fresh cheese curds, certified angus roast beef, double smoked bacon, grilled onions & peppers and mushrooms -$10 and sat on a bench in the sun. Perfect.



Our next lunch stop was Japadog. This is a thing in Vancouver – Japanese inspired hot dogs.



We got a cilantro dog to share and a couple of tap waters ($8.07). They even cut it in half for us. It was a bit like a beef satay sauce on top, which was really nice.



Ollie was admiring the police motorbikes and made me take a picture –





We were both flagging a bit at this point, so headed back to the hotel for nap.

Dinner tonight was at a German-style bierkeller called Prost Haus. It was pretty quiet when we got there, although I think they are more of an evening/drinks venue.



Ollie tried another local cider ($5.87). I was umming and ahing over getting a wine, but Ollie soon convinced me. I chose a glass of Pinot Gris ($13.05).



To start we shared a cheese fondue that came with a pretzel and other accompaniments ($19). Very rich, but I’m for all things melted cheese.



For mains, we both had a pork schnitzel ($18). I had mine with fries and potato salad. Being slightly more sensible and not going for double carbs, Ollie chose mushrooms and potato salad.





After dinner, we planned to head to the waterfront to have a drink somewhere with a nice view. Quite often in a city, we will try and find a tall building to have a drink in. We couldn’t seem to find anywhere in Vancouver, but there were a few locations along the water with lovely views.

It was a bit of a walk to Lift (the place we had chosen), but we felt very comfortable walking around at night and it gave us a chance to see more of the city. We got seated straight away in Lift and got two seats by an open fire. Perfect.

To drink we both ordered a glass of prosecco ($13 each). In fact, they had our wedding prosecco on the menu which is our favourite – La Marca (also sold in Tesco). This was a lovely way to spend some time – admiring the view, drinking prosecco and discussing our plans for the trip.





Our server was from England and we chatted about our plans. She said we would like Victoria which would remind us of home. (We did like Victoria, but it didn’t particularly remind us of home!)

They did had blankets available – even though I was a bit chilly by this point I declined as it would definitely make me fall asleep. As it was, my eyes were definitely drooping and I may have briefly nodded off. Standard for me.

We decided to take the slightly longer route back across the waterfront, so we could see Canada Place lit up again.





Quite a late night for us considering we were still adjusting to the time difference. We made it back to the hotel not long before 11pm, so definitely ready for some sleep!

Day 3 - Vancouver & Granville Island

Edited at 07:36 PM.
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Old 13 Jan 20, 09:39 PM  
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Thanks for sharing, this is a trip I am really interested in doing so great to hear your thoughts and experiences
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Old 13 Jan 20, 11:37 PM  
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Another great day and a good read. I love the photo of the wine glasses, I can see what I presume is your reflection in one if the glasses and it looks kind of spooky.
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Old 19 Jan 20, 12:33 PM  
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You're brave to do the tandem, but on the other hand you could do less of the work! I love the T shirts and magnet - both of which are obligatory buys for us on holiday too Excellent day!
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Old 20 Jan 20, 07:25 PM  
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Scruffette
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Originally Posted by christybell View Post
Thanks for sharing, this is a trip I am really interested in doing so great to hear your thoughts and experiences
I would definitely recommend! Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by Vinniecat View Post
Another great day and a good read. I love the photo of the wine glasses, I can see what I presume is your reflection in one if the glasses and it looks kind of spooky.
I'll pretend that was intentional arty photography skills rather than an accident! Thanks for reading
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Old 20 Jan 20, 07:26 PM  
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Originally Posted by anji View Post
You're brave to do the tandem, but on the other hand you could do less of the work! I love the T shirts and magnet - both of which are obligatory buys for us on holiday too Excellent day!
I still can't believe he got me on a tandem. I did get accused on not pedalling at points! Thanks for reading
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Old 20 Jan 20, 07:51 PM  
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Really enjoying reading along, a great day all in. Not too shabby for shopping either 👍
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Old 27 Jan 20, 07:25 PM  
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Originally Posted by panspeep View Post
Really enjoying reading along, a great day all in. Not too shabby for shopping either 👍
Thanks for reading Ollie's never a shopping fan usually, but put him in North America and he's a different person!
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Old 6 Feb 20, 09:13 PM  
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Lovely second day, love the T-shirt’s !
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Old 16 Feb 20, 05:41 PM  
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Originally Posted by Tinkermom View Post
Lovely second day, love the T-shirt’s !
Thank you I've had a surprising amount of use out of my bear tshirt!
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