I thought I had overcome my travel sickness.... I have not. I greeted our landing onto Canadian soil throwing up in a sick bag, with a very sympathetic Sam to my right and a very small, very puzzled French Canadian boy to my left. Welcome to Canada!
Thumbs up to our first impressions of Vancouver. Its a beautiful city with snow topped mountains on one side and the crashing waves from the Pacific on the other. The sun shines brightly here across a brilliant blue sky... but it's still a tad nippy. Coats are an essential! The air here has a cool, crisp feel to it. We pass drains on the sidewalk that eminate steam like a boiling kettle whilst having cold fingers from the frosty air. It's a real oxymoron for the senses.
Vancouver uses a grid layout so everywhere is referred to in blocks. It's certainly cleared up the lingo in 'Friends' for me if nothing else. Because of the block layout you hit crossroads all the time. You're constantly confronted with either a green man or a red hand. The problem being that everything is silent. So when the elusive green man does eventually appear we're often not even aware of it. Standing stationary with the traffic. Plonkers! The city is all sidewalks, grocery stores, trash cans and looneys ($ coins). In fact the city is so clean and neat with its straight lines someone with severe OCD could happily live out their days here.
Fun Fact: The population of Vancouver is only 578,040. There doesn't seem to be many inhabitants here at all. We have so much space when perusing around the city center. It certainly makes a refreshing change from the bustling streets of Maidstone.
Canadians certainly know how to live with their maple syrup flavoured baked beans and bacon. Breakfast anyone? In fact you're bound to find something maple syrup flavoured in all the major food groups. I hasten to add it has become one of our favourite past times to scan the grocery store with it's isles of perfectly piled shiny fruit in precise pyramids. We have found cartons of egg whites (for the lazy meringue maker) and peaches and cream flavoured sweetcorn (for.....)
This week we also managed to get a hold of some tickets to see the Vancouver Canucks. Coconuts Go.. or.. Go Canucks Go! (The two sound awfully similar when chanted by hoards of enthusiastic Ice Hockey fans.) They were playing the Buffalo Sabres and I was pretty excited for my first Ice Hockey match. As we entered the Rogers arena we were awarded with 'my first Canucks game' badges and we promptly took our seats. The whole experience did not deviate from any expectations created from big blockbuster movies. In fact the whole match was visually spectacular with it's theatrical lighting and projection of images onto the ice. The organ and commentator also stayed true to all stereotypes. Bizarrely they even changed the ads around the ring during intervals. I felt like we witnessed a lot in our first game... hockey sticks snapping and pucks being flung into the audience. Players caught fighting were pinned to the ice by referees before being sent to their respective isolation booths like naughty school boys. The whole arena created such a great atmosphere, all encouraged by killer whale mascot 'Finn' who spent much of the match cheering on the crowd and firing free t-shirts into the audience. I'm sure you're wondering.... the Canucks won... 4-2 Result!
Also this week, Sam and myself took to the saddle on one speed no breaks included Vancouver bicycles. Stanley park was our destination... 'pedaling backwards slows you down' was our philosophy. It was a surprisingly enjoyable ride through the park. We took a pit stop at some totem poles before we stopped for lunch at Beaver Lake. No beavers to be seen here.
All in all a really positive first week. The weather has got a bit drissly of late but we have been kept well informed by the forecast. In fact the forecast does not hold back on personal opinions when relaying information. Kindly sympathizing that although it's 6 degrees.... it feels like 4! Next stop...Vancouver Island. Although I am certainly going to miss our nautical themed hostel here. Inventing meals with only a microwave, toaster and kettle at our disposal has likened to a daily episode of 'Ready Steady Cook'. I must elaborate that our hostel is only nautical in the sense that every available wall space is crammed with pictures and posters of ships that all look uncannily like the Titanic. I sure hope that's not an omen.
Vancouver uses a grid layout so everywhere is referred to in blocks. It's certainly cleared up the lingo in 'Friends' for me if nothing else. Because of the block layout you hit crossroads all the time. You're constantly confronted with either a green man or a red hand. The problem being that everything is silent. So when the elusive green man does eventually appear we're often not even aware of it. Standing stationary with the traffic. Plonkers! The city is all sidewalks, grocery stores, trash cans and looneys ($ coins). In fact the city is so clean and neat with its straight lines someone with severe OCD could happily live out their days here.
Fun Fact: The population of Vancouver is only 578,040. There doesn't seem to be many inhabitants here at all. We have so much space when perusing around the city center. It certainly makes a refreshing change from the bustling streets of Maidstone.
Canadians certainly know how to live with their maple syrup flavoured baked beans and bacon. Breakfast anyone? In fact you're bound to find something maple syrup flavoured in all the major food groups. I hasten to add it has become one of our favourite past times to scan the grocery store with it's isles of perfectly piled shiny fruit in precise pyramids. We have found cartons of egg whites (for the lazy meringue maker) and peaches and cream flavoured sweetcorn (for.....)
Also this week, Sam and myself took to the saddle on one speed no breaks included Vancouver bicycles. Stanley park was our destination... 'pedaling backwards slows you down' was our philosophy. It was a surprisingly enjoyable ride through the park. We took a pit stop at some totem poles before we stopped for lunch at Beaver Lake. No beavers to be seen here.
