Well today has been a day of mixed emotions. I was feeling quite disheartened this morning. It was absolutely chucking it down. We left the hostel, were soaking wet and didn't have a clue what we were doing or where we were going. We managed to find the train station (which is right next to the biggest mall in Vancouver! It is huge!!) We caught the skytrain to Metrotown and then decided to catch the sea bus over to North Vancouver which takes around 10mins. It was really lovely walking around the harbour. It's beautiful here; you look one way and you see mountains and trees, you look infront of you and it's water and boats and you look the other way and it's a built up city.
The sun came out in the afternoon and we went and had a really nice lunch. I was glad to be finally seeing things to take photos of and my spirit started to lift. After lunch we took a bus to Grouse Mountain-The peak of Vancouver. We had to take a sky lift up which took 8 minutes and that wasn't even to the peak so it gives you some idea of how high up we actually went. The views from up there were breath taking and my photos just do not do it justice.
We saw 2 grizzly bears- how an animal so beautiful can be so dangerous is beyond me. They were both orphaned and now are homed in Grouse Mountain in a 5 acre wildlife refuge. There were also squirrels and dear roaming around up there.
We saw a lumberjack show which was good and had a nice walk around taking in the sights. The only disappointment was the fact that they closed off the ski lifts (posssibly due to fog) which I really wanted to go on. They took you to the peak and up there they have a wind turbine which has a lift inside that takes you to the top to a viewing deck. It's the only one in the world and it gives you 360 degree views of the city.
It turned out to be a really enjoyable day in the end. Looking forward to tomorrow now, just hope it doesn't rain!!