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On the ever winding road of the Craig and Quince adventure, we stumbled across Vancouver. Well, that's at least how it felt after the coach journey through the night. Upon arriving in Vancouver, we dumped our bags at the hostel we were due to stay in and freshened up, though an awkward situation nearly befell us when a hostel employee narrowly missed the site of 2 British Backpackers changing in their baggage store room. Nevertheless, now feeling slightly more human, we embarked on an exciting journey around Vancouver's famous Stanley Park. With Vancouver being rated the 'Most Liveable City in the World' by the Economist Intelligence Unit in early 2009, we had high expectations of the British Columbian City; it did not disappoint. Stanley park was an enchanting place, with great walking and bike paths in the park, and along the edge of the park that was adjacent to the Burrard Inlet and English Bay. We chose to cycle around the edge of the park, encountering many boats in the harbour, resplendent arrangements of flowers, and even a game of Cricket hidden amongst the trees - well, it is BRITISH Columbia after all. After finally 'hitting the wall' due to the sleepless coach journey and many kilometres cycled (or 'Bicycled' as they say over here) we returned to check into our hostel and promptly crashed for the night.
The following day we travelled to Vancouver Island to meet up with the delightful Dave and Penny, who we'd been put in contact with by Alec back in Gananoque. They in turn introduced us to Keeva who accompanied us for the remainder of time on Vancouver Island. The first port of call was to the state capital Victoria, where we took in the delights of the waterfront as well as the street entertainment offered. The place did strangely remind of us the motherland, due to the overcast skies with sporadic sunshine, and the various influences of British history too...oh, they had a fair few Union Jacks dotted around the place too. That evening, Quince sampled the delights of the Victoria nightlife with Keeva and friends, while I decided to catch a few hours more sleep after not sleeping too well since Banff. However, the next day was when Quince and I encountered the beast that was Hot Yoga! That's right, this was not any type of Yoga, it was Yoga in a room that was at 40C! It was a recommendation from Keeva to try this 'different' exercise regime, and it certainly lived up to its billing as 'different'. 'Sweaty' 'Painful' 'Boiling' and 'Even Sweatier' would also have sufficed. The session lasted 90 minutes, the stretches and positions were for the more supple of the human race, and the perspiration was the equivalent of standing in a shower for 90 minutes. However, we both survived the experience, felt a little better having done it, and could quite possibly be something Quince investigates when he returns home. The remainder of time on Vancouver Island was taken up watching Ice Age 3, and touring the delights of the island.
The following day we departed the island after saying our Goodbyes to Dave, Penny and Keeva, and headed back to Vancouver. With our bus departing to San Francisco at 8:30am, we spent most of the preceding time wandering the streets of Vancouver and taking in what it had to offer. When nightfall came, and having already seen the late night showing of Public Enemies, Quince and I settled down for a night in Blenz Coffee in downtown Vancouver. Thankfully, it had free WiFi and a great German guy called Jay running the place all night, so we were perfectly content until the rising sun hit the Western Canadian province.
With little sleep, full bags, and a fistful of dollars we boarded the bus to San Francisco...only another 1082 miles until we had a bed again...
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