Vancouver

After getting the Rocky Mountaineer back to Vancouver, we were dropped off around the corner from our hotel, Rosedale on Robson.

We had booked a 2 x queen bed room with breakfast for the 4 nights, and were upgraded to a two bedroom self contained unit.
It was beautiful. This is the second bedroom - with a TV.

 This is the main bedroom - with a TV.

Look at the floor to ceiling windows!

The living area and kitchen. 

 
The view from the bedrooms.

These beautiful Victorian houses are heritage listed.

There are a lot of heritage building around the hotel and most have plaques stating why they are listed. 

Canada is made up of 10 provinces and 3 territories and is the second largest country in the world in area. Vancouver, British Columbia and Alberta, are the locations for many movies and TV series, including the The X-Files.

  The original peoples of the Vancouver area are the Squamish, Musqueam, and Burrard peoples. They had villages in the area, including Stanley Park. 

The first Europeans came in 1791 from Spain. 

Vancouver city started in Gastown and grew into one of top cities in Canada (according to locals). Today, Vancouver has many restaurants and cafes.
We got a two day hop on hop off to explore the city.

Historic Gastown was the birthplace of Vancouver (1867). It is named after a steamboat captain 'Gassy' Jack Deighton, from Yorkshire who arrived in 1867 and opened the first saloon. The town grew quickly establishing a sawmill and seaport, many saloons and inns. The area became an area of cheap beer houses until the 1960's when the people of Vancouver wanted to preserve this historic area, as they did with nearby Chinatown. It was declared an historic site in 1971, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2009.

 While we were there, the Women's World Cup Soccer was taking place, one block from our hotel.
 
Canada Place is where the cruise ships leave from.
We changed buses here and had lunch here one day. 

There are many sculptures around Vancouver. On Beach Road, English Bay, are the 'Laughing Statues' - 14 giant bronze statues in different poses, all laughing.

 Further around English Bay, another public art is the Inukshuk.
It was a symbol for the 2010 winter games. This one was created in 1987 for World Expo

The other end of town, near Science World on False Creek, is another piece of public art called 'Trans Am Totem'.
It signifies the history of the area from trees to transit. 

We saw many, many homeless people of all ages on this trip.
This fellow has a lovely patchwork quilt.
 
As part of the Hop On Hop Off bus, we had a free ticket on the False Creek Ferries to Granville Island.

Granville Island is a man made island of 38 acres, and consists of market places, craft and food shops all weaved together by narrow lanes and alleys. Many are housed in historical buildings. It was originally an industrial estate, but today is a busy tourist area. 
It was made by joining two sand bars. Read the history here.

It also has a fabric shop! 
I didn't buy anything here, two reasons - I was totally ignored when I was in the shop, even though there were two staff there chatting; and the fabric, although lovely was the same price as home.

 

There was still construction going on and we thought the humour in the building site suited the area.

We had driven through Stanley Park a few times on the bus, but when we picked up the rental car for our trip through the Canadian Rockies, we decided to stop at Stanley Park first. It was originally home of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Burrard peoples, and is one of North America's largest parks of about 1000 acres (404ha). 
It was named after Lord Frederick Stanley, the Governor General of Canada in 1888 and was opened that year. It has lovely rose gardens and large, old trees and  totem poles. 
It has Canada's largest aquarium.

 

You lose sight of things… and when you travel, everything balances out. 
Daranna Gidel