Our first day to explore Vancouver. We walk out of the hotel and the first thing we notice is that there are few people on the street for a big city. Then we find out its a holiday to celebrate BC. The second thing we notice are the amazing number of high rise condo/apartment buildings. I've never been to Hong Kong but this seems like extremely high density living. |
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The buildings in the picture above are mostly personal housing. |
Best way to approach a new city is to take a tour. We chose a 4 hour bus tour by Westcoast Sightseeing. |
They picked us up at the hotel and took us to the best places in the city. We drove by Canada Place (cruise ship terminal which had 2 ships docked), Robson Street (best shopping and people watching), Chinatown (2nd largest in North America and not a place I would like to walk on foot after 9pm), and Gastown (the charming historic part of town and a place I want to return to for a closer look). The tour also took us to Stanley Park (with stops at the Totem Poles and at Prospect Point for fantastic views), |
Granville Island (more later), and finally to The Lookout (like the Seattle Space Needle) for a 360 degree panoramic view of the city, harbor and mountains. |
I learned that although 40% of the Canadians speak French only 1% of the Vancouver residents speak French. Currently, the Canadian dollar is worth $0.96 in USD. Most businesses will exchange at a $0.95 rate. Sales tax is 12%. |
Vancouver is an international city with a large Asian population (35%), very few blacks and a growing Muslim population. In Canada, "Indians" are known as "Aboriginal People", "Native People", or "People of the First Nations". |
Tonight we explored Robson Street Mall. |
There were a lot of people out enjoying the holiday on a warm evening. We saw one chalk painting of The Mona Lisa that was outstanding. We had drinks at a sidewalk table (I think the place was called the Cactus Club) for el primo people watching. My potato skins were the best I've ever had. |
