things to do in Vancouver before you age rapidly....

 

Arrived in Vancouver on Monday and went on a Backpacker pub crawl with some friends I made on the train, Cesar, Stephanie and Chuck....pub crawl was interesting...got in at 4am after being walked home by a lovely young gentleman who kept talking about those older cougar types of 28...tee hee.  Didn't have the heart to tell him my age, priceless.  I've also already had a difference of opinion with the night manager and I'm sensing it won't be our last hostile interaction before I leave.  For interest, this is the view from my room.<------

Woke up on Tuesday morning (slightly worse for wear) to go sightseeing with Stephanie (lovely Swiss girl from train).  Crossed across Granville Bridge and walked around the sea front and chilled out for a bit near the boat docks. Then it was back across Burrard Bridge (stopping for the most massive burger I have ever eaten)through English Bay Beach to Stanley Park.

 Kind of appropriate to be on English Bay Beach with the weather that is going on in Vancouver at the moment, mostly rainy and miserable.  Vancouver like Toronto and like most places I visited in the states just has art everywhere you look, sculptures and paintings, it's pretty amazing and I just can't stop taking pictures of all this creative stuff all around me. 

Stanley Park is pretty incredible and really huge, I would love to go back here and hire a bike and ride around. Lucky enough to see a bit of a wildlife and hug a tree or two.

Then we walked back to the city to enter the VAG on it's donation only night(Tuesdays between 5-9).  The Vancouver Art Gallery is located in an old court house has some pretty interesting stuff.  My faves were Fiona Tan's video installations and Kerry James Marshall's paintings about the invisibility of black people in America.  Very interesting stuff.  Go VAG!!!!

My honest intention of having a quiet night were dashed when I started drinking in the bar on the ground floor of my hostel. This was all good but, as I met and made some new friends, including Polish and German guys who had a very quirky mix of accents of Irish/German and Polish/Irish and a lovely local Vancouver girl who was very very cool.  So when last orders were called and I was practically asleep at the table I dragged myself upstairs to bed.

Today was another full day with Steph...I'm very glad and feel lucky I met somone so easy going to hang out and sight see with.  It was down to the Marina to catch the Sea Bus to North Vancouver where we caught the regular bus up to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. To walk across the bridge and around the forest it costs 30 big ones and is a bit of a tourist trap.  But it has to be said the view was incredible and the bridge and the tree top walk were pretty bloody awesome....(if you're not scared of heights).  I actually imagined myself doing an 'Indiana Jones' and wrapping my leg around the bridge cable, whilst hacking the supporting wires with a machete and trying to not drop the Sivalinga stone that has become hot and heavy in my hand...

Back on solid ground (and no longer a whip holding archaeologist) it was back on the Sea Bus to the mainland and for a walk around the Olympic village and past the Science Museum.  After another huge day of seeing so much stuff, tonight is definitely going to be a quiet one (saving myself for my birthday tomorrow) and a sober one...I know boring, but guys I'm aging remember.... ;)So what to do for my birthday???