Where on earth..?

Vancouver

After LA and San Francisco, out city hopping continued to Vancouver. Too late had we discovered that this is one of the cities that fill up quickly, so we ended up staying in a slightly more expensive place than planned. We did however enjoy the rare luxury of a TV with more than a hundred channels in our own room! (Food channel became my favourite =) This was our second own TV during the whole trip!!

The weather forecast promised rain, rain and rain, so every day it did not rain, we felt obliged to run around the city, in case it would rain for the rest of the week. Of course, it hardly rained at all... We got to see the city well though =)

Someone told me Vancouver resembles Helsinki a lot, back then I didn't belive it. But it's actually true, the climate and the feel of the city, especially at the coast, is very similar. The smell of the sea, the sounds of the seagulls. And the people are very outdoorsy in a similar fashion to people in Helsinki. But it is of course much much bigger and more cosmopolitan. We didn't expect such a big asian population.

The week was spent walking around the city, using the free gym with swimming pool that our hotel provided(!), shopping, walking along the shorelines and Stanley park in the north. We explored the different downtown neighborhoods; Yaletown, Gastown, Chinatown, Kitsilano, Granville island and more. We drank the great great hazelnut brew coffee that they served even in seven elevens. We happend to be there during Canada day, which was very different from the finnish independence day, more of a carneval. Of course the history differs a lot, and beeing in the middle of summer must help. Personally, I loved the Granville island market on a hot day with fresh berries of all kinds and very good outdoor musicians. The public library in a huge Colosseum styled building with free internet was also very nice. Last but not least; the Rockville road chocolate shop with their handmade caramel apples and enormous chocolate confectory of all kinds got me as a regular customer =)

Vancouver seems to be in constant change, as cities should, with lots of construction going on. The new architecture looks like it does in Helsinki now, only with higher towers and more volume. A good week, that only a little was outshadowed by anticipation for New York to come =)

posted by Carina @ 9:04 AM