Vancouver – Day 7

I rose early and went in search of breakfast and the departing Chris. I managed to find both and we were joined by the gorgeous Svea who had been on Erik’s Monday tour. Svea comes from Saxony in southern Germany and looks like a Norse goddess – blonde hair, blue eyes, etc. Anyway we all had a chat over a leisurely breakfast and Chris & I managed our email exchange. According to his plans he should be in New York around the end of October/beginning of November – about the same time I will be there. “Hey cool man, we’ll have to hook up for a laugh & some beers.” He said. “Sure” I responded it would be fun to do so, although he won’t be staying in the hostel in New York he will be staying with one of his mates in the city. He asked me to let him know what Alaska is like (it was that or the road trip for him and the casting vote went for the road trip to Mexico) and I asked him to keep me posted on the monster fuel guzzlers trip down south. I warned him not to “do an Ozzy” and emulate Mr. Osborne’s antics of having a piss up the Alamo as he got arrested for it.

After Chris departed I chatted to Svea for a while. She was saying how she had met a German guy in the hostel who came from the next town from her, approximately 20 kilometres away. It can be a very small world can’t it? (Perhaps we shouldn’t have tumble dried it after putting it on too hot a wash!)
Anyway, Svea was off to hire a bike and cycle round Stanley Park and then over the Lions Gate Bridge to Horseshoe Bay where the ferries sail for Bowen Island and Ninaimo. This would be about a 40 Km round trip. I wished her well and said I was heading for the Sightseeing bus (for which I have a pass) and then the Vancouver Lookout (for which I also have a pass). We wished each other a nice & enjoyable day and parted company.

I had a mixed day as I strolled around downtown Vancouver as I managed to miss the sightseeing bus on several occasions, and for a few silly reasons – like they drive on the other side of the road here! The last one was because I was sitting in a restaurant eating – but that was a perfectly valid excuse – and the trick to this was to stay still and let the bus come to you!

After giving up on chasing the bus I decided to head for the Vancouver Lookout. This, as its name implies, is a viewing platform perched on top of the harbour building alongside the Canada Centre. (The Canada Centre is the main conference centre in Vancouver and has been built to resemble a cruise liner. It was also the Canada Tent when they had the Expo here in 1986.) As a building I feel quite sorry for it as it just gets obscured & dwarfed by the condos which have been built all around it. It just struck me as being bullied into insignificance. Having already been to the top of the CN Tower in Toronto didn’t help as this is half the height of it (or less). Having said that, from the top of it one does get some wonderful views of sprawling Vancouver and the surrounding mountains.
I wandered around the viewing platform, which it is possible to do, (the CN Tower had a restaurant in the way – unless one goes up to the Skypod) reading all the information plaques identifying various buildings & landmarks. I was happily snapping away like a Japanese tourist on mogodon when I heard “Hello Phil” and looked up into the electric blue eyes of Svea. [Fear not: the fantasy that she had been waiting for me to show up all day just to share my scintillating company passed in about .65 seconds – which, as Mr. Data would tell you, “for an android, is a very long time”.] She had been on her cycle ride – and back again – and I hadn’t even managed to catch one bus! Nevertheless we wandered around the observation deck for a while waiting for the sun to set. [As the last golden rays of the sun burst in a halo around the distant mountain turning the sky a burnished orange and the few scattered clouds crimson we fell into a passionate embrace... Sorry that was part of the .65 seconds. The bit about the sky was real though!]

I got some lovely pictures of the setting sun and the rising moon. I also got some good pictures of Vancouver by night, but was mighty pissed off I hadn’t brought my tripod. I did the best I could and relied on the cameras IS (Image Stabilisation) ability. Some of them came out really well. Although I am no photographer I am not stupid – so why are lots of other people as soon as they pick up a camera? I couldn’t believe the number of flashes going off as idiots tried to take night scene photos, from 100 metres up through armoured glass! I usually have the flash setting on my camera set to “Auto” and after one shot when the flash went off the picture was awful – all I got was a vague smudge of “city at night” through a white sheet of reflected flash light. After turning the flash off the pictures were much better (obviously) so why didn’t any of these idiots view the picture they had just taken – they were all using digital cameras after all! Anyway, after getting some good & some bad shots (the really bad ones I erased) I decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel. Oh, if anyone’s wondering; my company was so scintillating that Svea was writing her postcards! [Well one couldn’t smoke in the observation area.]
After leaving the lookout I attempted to find the Canada Centre in order to check out the IMAX cinema which is inside it. I know it was dark but could I find it? Could I buggery. I ended up heading into an underground car park and then gave up. I ambled off in the vague direction I thought was right, and it wasn’t. I ended up in a very dark and deserted part of town. I mean that literally; suddenly there weren’t any street lights and there was no one about at all. If I had fallen asleep reading “Day of the Triffids” and woken up where I was, I would have thought it was a true story and started hiding from plants! No matter, I was once a Boy Scout and although I didn’t have my compass with me (I travelled light hence; no tripod & no compass) I could see the moon, so I headed away from it and ended up in Gastown. I knew where I was from here especially when I found the steam clock. I waited about for five minutes until it piped nine and then set off for the hostel.

Having returned I finished the last beer the Geordies had left me and read my book for a while and then headed for bed.