Back in November my mum had to travel away for a week with work, so my dad and I decided to go to Vancouver, considering how close and cheap it was to get there. I’d heard nothing but great things about the ‘Salt water city’ as some refer it to. The North shore mountains, the unique beautiful placement of Vancouver island and the mix of the unique high rise buildings from the stunning agriculture and wildlife was just some of the things I'd heard about it, this not including the rich ethnic diversity of the British Columbian city along with the lively art scene and friendly people. I was also looking forward to travelling to Canada for the first time (and seeing whether i could finally spot the difference from a Canadian and American accent).
Day 1 - We were up at 5am to catch the 7am Amtrak train to Vancouver from King Street Station. After 2 uber’s cancelling because they couldn’t work out the road leading up to the house, we arrived with surprisingly some time spare. The whole journey from Seattle upwards was straight forward and not stressful in the slightest, even with the 2 hour delay on the train the views passing the Cascade mountains kept your thoughts preoccupied with how stunning the views were. We arrived into Vancouver at around 11/11.30am, making our way through the border after having to throw away the food I’d brought :). Anyway we checked into the hotel and made our way out to have a look around the area. One thing i didn’t anticipate was just how big Vancouver was, so really it was hard getting around to all the places I’d taken down to go to because we walked everywhere. Vancouver’s downtown area though was really something else, the architecture of the high rise buildings took a mix from modern 21st century styles to traditional Edwardian styles. Beyond this was the extensive range of restaurants, coffee shops, cafes, independent and Canadian chains spread out all across downtown and the bay areas. One thing that I loved was how much cheaper it was compared to Seattle. It wasn’t until too long when I’d finally found the Vancouver art gallery, which was just opposite the UBC campus, and I spent a few hours in there. I really love exploring different galleries, especially seeing what the cities own artists have to offer. There was a stunning ‘Couture Beyond’ exhibition by a designer called Guo Pei who used traditional and contemporary design aesthetics to create ‘haute couture drama’, each design attributed to an archetype of female royalty. After convincing myself I didn’t need another Schiele book from the gift shop, the day was pretty chilled from there.
Day 2 - The next day Vancouver was blessed with sunny skies, so my immediate thought, head to the beach. We got some breakfast at a bakery ‘Tartine Bread and Pie’, which gave us good coffee and great granola (and didn’t charge $15 for some avo toast). After this we headed beyond China town, the area we were staying in and towards English Bay beach. Now being a beach fiend at heart, I’m easily impressed by any coast, but there’s something different about the Pacific North West. The cascade mountains stretch along the horizon line and whether its so clear you can see the peaks of the snowy mountain tops or the clouds are lying as a blanket on them, it takes my breath every time. We walked all the way along the beach front towards the harbor and south from where we were. We stopped off at ‘Tractor’, one of the many ‘health food’ chains in Vancouver but they did great sandwiches despite the over used slogan. When we headed back towards downtown, we ended up in the east side district, where the buildings were a lot more traditional to the high rise, modern architectural styles in downtown. Many of them had rustic stone work features and parisian styled roofs to them, and most of them were home to some Canadian brands I’d never heard of, my favourite being Oak + Fort which had the most amazing range of modern minimalist pieces.
Day 3 + 4 - The weather turned on the last day, so the walk around Stanley Park quickly became a drenched one. We moved away from the coastal trail and walked through the forest paths passing Beaver lake and the lost lagoon, and spotted a group of black squirrels so that was definitely a weird first. We took to shelter from the rain by bouncing from coffee shop to shop, and ended up in a lost maze that was in fact the CF Pacific Mall. Neither of us anticipated it to be so big, and we realised this after ending up underground, walking in a straight line past countless shops for a good 20 minutes. As the time rolled round to get the train back home, we were told by the train conductor that it’d been cancelled and the whole train had been transferred to a greyhound bus. This delay, nor the awful weather on the last day though ruined the trip in the slightest; Vancouver was a dream and is definitely somewhere I’ll be returning to!
