After three midnight flights, two stop-overs and one week of frivolity in Hawaii, we finally made it to Vancouver and we love it! The city is beautiful, with the river and ocean to the south west, and snow capped mountains to the north. It seems that no matter where you look, there are something to be amazed by.
Apparently Vancouver has the mildest weather in Canada. But on our first day here, we couldn't believe how freezing it was! And it's meant to be nearly Summer? Josh turned to me, shivering and asked, "How can it get colder than this?" We started to think we might not be able to survive next winter, but we were just soft after a week in tropical Hawaii. Van's weather has improved everyday since and the sunny days are glorious. I wore a skirt for the first time the other day, and as I walked outside, I proclaimed, "Bare legs meet Vancouver. Vancouver these are my bare legs!"
On our first week in Vancouver, we stayed in the trendy and slightly grungy Granville Street. It's like a Canadian King's Cross, but better. The street, which was once lined with crack houses, now consists of night clubs, bars, restaurants, theatres, alternative clothing stores and pizza shops. And when I say pizza shops, I mean every second store is a pizza shop and most, like everything else, are open until the wee hours of the morning. Granville is the street that never sleeps, and consequently nor did we.
Despite the massive clean up of the city in the last 5 years, Vancouver still has the highest crime rate in Canada and there are homeless everywhere. But you have to give these people credit; they are very creative. But with so much competition, maybe they need to be. Each has their own angle to score a buck. Some take an honest approach, and say "Spare some change so I can get high?" While others use humour. One man we saw was holding a sign saying, "Need money for penis enlargement. I'm a little short."
We're really looking forward to our next few months in this great city. We've got lots on our to do list. We're planning trips to Whistler and Vancouver Island and want to spend the day at Stanley Park and go fishing at Capilano River. Since a lot of Hollywood movies are filmed in and around Vancouver, Josh has grand notions of doing some celebrity spotting. Work is the last thing on our mind at the moment. We want to put that off as long as possible.
