Vancouver

Wow, what a gorgeous, fabulous city!! I can see why it is routinely voted as one of the top three cities in the world to live in. We met up with Keira at her flat on Friday evening and spent a wonderful weekend with her. So great to see my lovely, bubbly cousin again! She lives in a very nice flat downtown that is really central. We got to sleep on her bed; she on the floor. How's that for family spirit! She absolutely rocks as a guide and showed us all the sites with great relish. We had a fantastic time visiting Granville Island and Stanley Park and slogging up the "Grouse Grind." Also went shopping to capitalise on the power of the mighty pound in Canada - and had our first true "sushi" meal - a very fishy (and delicious) "all you can eat" affair.

Stanley Park

Stanley Park is a beautiful park just a stone's throw away from Keira's flat in downtown Vancouver. Its got it all: beautiful beaches, dense forest, a hidden lagoon and great rollerblading trails. Had a very refreshing swim and we hired blades - Keira is as fearless as me on two wheels so we passed a lot of cyclists on the way down the hills. The park also has some stunning "rock on rock" sculptures to add to the ambience. How the artist manages to get some of the rocks to balance I'll never know.

Granville Island

Granville Island is the "Covent Garden" of Vancouver with lots of markets and street shows. Had the best cappuccino of my life here - the Canadian sure know how to make good coffee. Ally was in 7th heaven with all the arts and crafts.

Hiking "The Grouse Grind"

We hiked up to the top of Grouse Mountain for beautiful views over Vancouver. The name of the hike "The Grouse Grind" should have been a warning. Three kilometers of straight up. Made Skeletons Gorge seem like a kids' picnic. The elation (and relief) at reaching the top was worth it though. Not to mention the $90 we saved on cable car fees. Was also a good warm up for all the hiking that's to come. There was an animal sanctuary at the top for wolves and bears. Got to see the wolf but the bears were sleeping.







Enjoyed a bird show featuring some impressive flying antics from a falcon and an owl with the most beautiful eyes. As you can see the zoom on our new camera (one of our purchases in Vancouver) was put to good use.




We also watched a "lumber jack" show with an awe inspiring demonstration of "log dicing" and"log climbing" from three world champion lumber jacks and some hilarious gags.