Jet lagged, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and had difficulty
staying in bed. My movements woke Rae
around 8:00, which was 11:00 at home, and we got ready to start the day. We had planned to walk the downtown area of
Vancouver, getting a feel of the city.
However, after I took my shower and got dressed, I was feeling very
groggy, and decided to lie back down for a few minutes. I woke up FIVE hours later! I was totally exhausted from the travel and
the time difference. This time, after
getting up, we went downstairs to an underground food court and got some
breakfast -- an apple fritter from Starbucks and coffee from McDonald’s. Then we began our walk at noon, local
time.
The concierge at the hotel had mentioned that one of the
most interesting sights in Vancouver is an area called Yaletown, in the far
Southeast section of the downtown area, so we headed in that direction. It turned out that the hotel was located in
the financial district of Vancouver, and it reminded us of the financial
district in New York, with many tall banks and other financial buildings. Like Lower Manhattan, this financial district
is also located on the tip of the peninsula by the cruise port, the ferries,
and marinas. Vancouver had also built an
elegant convention center on the water front, with five tall “sails” on the
building, denoting the five provinces of Canada. The convention center is also the cruise
terminal, and a Silver Sea ship was in port.
Slowly, we made our way south, turning when we saw a
building or street that looked interesting.
When we got to Robson Street, we turned east, toward a large indoor
stadium. It turned out that Robson
Street is one of the most important streets in Vancouver, running east-west
through the entire peninsula. Businesses
line the street from one end to the other.
Along the eastern part of the street, most of the businesses were Asian
-- Asian restaurants (Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, and others), and Asian
stores. Throughout our stay in
Vancouver, we were struck by the large Asian population there; it seemed that
almost half of the people were Asian, and I will have to look up the percentage
when I can. Many Hong Kong residents
came to Vancouver when Hong Kong reverted to China from Britain.
After reaching the large stadium at the east end of Robson, we
turned south on Hamilton and walked through an area of high-rise apartment
buildings. Rae spotted a foot massage
salon, and we went inside where she decided to get a foot massage. While she was there, I went for a walk and
discovered Yaletown, which turned out to be an area in which old warehouses
along two streets had been turned into upscale restaurants and shops. The area was very interesting in appearance,
although I did not enter any of the shops or restaurants. At one end of one of the two streets, a
farmer’s market was underway. After a
half-hour, I went back to get Rae, and we walked to Yaletown again, where we
wandered through leisurely. I was
pleased to have visited the area, although we did not find anything of
particular interest. We were told that the
area is very lively in the evenings because of the restaurants.
We made our way back in a northwesterly direction, passing
hundreds of small shops, which were everywhere in Vancouver. We noticed that everywhere we walked,
everything was neat and clean; there was no trash on the streets, and no
graffiti. The entire downtown area was
very clean and neat. Slowly, we made our
way back to the northwest until again we arrived at Robson, where we decided to
turn west. Again, Robson was filled with
small shops, many of which were Asian, as were many of the people walking on
the streets. And so many young people
everywhere -- people in their 20s and 30s.
Vancouver seems to be filled with young people. We walked almost to the end of Robson,
stopping once for gelato.
Toward the end of Robson Street, we turned to walk along the
waterfront all the way back to our hotel, and that turned out to be a really
wonderful walk. A wide pedestrian
sidewalk zig-zagged along the waterfront all the way back to the convention
center near the hotel. All along the
waterfront, high rise apartments had been built, and the area reminded me of
Naples Florida. I could easily imagine
living in that area. It was really
beautiful, and the green park areas all along drew people into them to sit on
the lawns or benches next to marinas and all of the activity on the water. As we walked along, the Silver Sea ship
pulled out of the port and made its way out to sea. People lined the walkway to watch.
After the long walk, we arrived back at our hotel at 6:30
p.m., having walked for 6 ½ hours. I did
not have my pedometer with me, but I guessed that I must have walked 8 or 10
miles. It was a really great walk, and I
felt that I had really “been” to Vancouver.
Later, we went out to eat in an area called “Gastown”, another old area
that had been renovated and is now an upscale area filled with restaurants and
shops. It was a really lovely area, and
we stopped to eat at an Italian restaurant that was filled with people,
indicating a good restaurant. After
eating, we went back to the hotel to pack up and get ready to leave the
following morning to go to Vancouver Island, to visit the Butchart Gardens and
Victoria. We were notified that our bags
would be picked up at 7:30 a.m., and the bus would arrive at 8:00. I asked for a 6:00 a.m. wake up call, and
went to sleep.
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