Woke up early this morning after the first full night's sleep to I've had all vacation to (partly cloudy) sunshine. Put on the shorts and headed to Granville Island (actually it's a peninsula) via one of the tiny ferries - the "Cyquabus" to get shuttled across the water. I was expecting a bit more of a ride, but 2 minutes later and we were on the other side already. I stopped by the Public Market, which is similar to Seattle's Pike Place only much smaller and less chaotic inside. It was all indoors and I walked through all the booths at least twice because they had so many mouth-watering bread and fruits and meats and cheeses and pastries. Had some lox for lunch (going to get sick of salmon eventually but right now it's all still yum). Then I got lost headed over to Kitsilano Beach - very popular for getting in the water - and hung out there for a bit.
Headed back to downtown by climbing through the Burrard St. Bridge and headed back to Stanley Park to try out some of the forest trails and to head up to Prospect Point (which I had completely missed yesterday on my outside trek of the park) for some of the best views of Vancouver. I was planning to climb through one of the smaller wooded paths when I heard someone say, "I wouldn't do that." I turned around and this older man started to tell me that a lot of homeless people were around that area. So I backed out and as I was talking and walking with him on the path he continued and said that that specific part up to 100 meters ahead was bad but once you got past that part it was okay. As we were walking he kept looking off to the left until he finally said, "Police found a body here last night. I think that's where they found it." I thought he was pulling my leg but he seemed serious. So I headed to Prospect Point on his directions (based on path splits, bird nests, the road, and the position of the sun) and finally made my way up to the viewing area where I rewarded myself with a giant scoop of pralines 'n' cream ice cream.
Afterwards I walked around downtown a bit more and headed to the Vancouver Lookout for some nice views of the skyline before calling it an early night. Some of the shine has worn off Vancouver as I've been walking around the city and passed by so many panhandlers and today a guy urinating in a wide alley in pretty broad daylight as a patrol car was driving by. Oh, and I checked out the news when I got back to my hotel room, and they DID find a body in Stanley Park. Awesome....
In unrelated news, tomorrow I am waking up early to get on the train to head to Whistler where I will be for the next few days. There should be some gorgeous views along the Sea to Sky Highway... except the forecast is rain tomorrow! =( Looking forward to finally putting on the hiking boots though and spending some money doing some nice outdoor activities.
