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VANCOUVER CITY (before and after our visit to Vancouver Island)
The journey from the airport to the city in fading light,showed us a skyline of skyscrapers.This is not what we were expecting and subsequently on speaking to the locals it is not what they want either.Apparently, in the last 3 years the harbour front has just been filled with tall skyscrapers, thus blocking out the spectacular back drop of Grouse Mountain and its neighbours.
Prior to us coming,the region experienced its worst rainfall in history-the resulting landslips contaminated the reservoirs and compromised the supply of fresh water to the city.Consequently, there was no drinking water and we even had to use bottled water to clean our teeth. The following day when doing the sightseeing tour we realised that the tour guide was struggling hard to give us any history as most of it had been wiped out.l
However, the museums and cultural centres are outstanding and we have really enjoyed learning about the native indians as you will realise from our photos and jokes.The Vancouver Art Gallery has a superb exhibition devoted to the work of Emily Carr- a great Canadian artist who spent her life researching and relentlessly painting the lives of first Nation Indians and their totem poles!We are becoming obsessed with totem poles in every shape and size.
We spent 5 days here before going to Vancouver Island for a week.It took nearly 2 hours to get there by ferry-the boat meandered through the Gulf Islands-we thought it would be like going to the Isle of Wight! We discovered that the island is 300 miles longand 50 miles wide,with just one road going up the island.
On returning to Vancouver here was even more snow.Our initial enthusiasm was fading fast-well Sandy's was-I never felt totally in tune with such excitement - as it was starting to impede our activities and getting about was quite treacherous.Believe it or not, they are far worse at dealing wth it than we are.After 6 days,even the main roads and sidewalks were still icy and packed with snow,making walking nearly impossible.So what did we do-well we decided to go for a long walk in beautiful Stanley Park,which was knee deep in snow,with the inner part closed due to fallen branches(the trees in Vancouver are also not used to snow!)But guess what we saw in the park and had to stop to take photographs of-yes more totem poles!
So what else was exciting? Well over breakfast one day,Sandy fell into conversation with a true eccentric-no not Brian.He was a wildlife boffin( a younger David Attenborough and seemed nearly as famous).He befriended us and we ended up helping him put together a package for guided survival adventure tours to the forests of the Rockies( somehow he knew that this was one of our main areas of expertise). He was seriously taking in our every word! (however,his comments on the suitability of Brian's footware for mountain survival were I thought a little extreme).
We have been astounded by the number of beggars and drug addicts that we find on each street corner-far more than we ever encountered in the United States.They are aggressive and some stalk tourists. We have either become streetwise or remain naive,because we have had no particular problems. However, if the authorities do not plan to do something about the issues that lead to this situatiion,Vancouver is going to get a bad reputation and tourists will not want to come here.
P.S If you are wondering where Bertie,as we know you are Alistair, he is lying low at the moment, a little traumatised by his experience at the winery.
OUR TRAVELS SO FAR
Amazing,amusing,adventurous,awe inspiring to name but a few of our thoughts. We are about to leave Canada for Fiji and have been reflecting on the 2 countries.Before we travelled,for both of us Canada was one of those countries that we most wanted to see and United States was not high on the list. Well, our experiences show that you have to see for yourself and not be taken in by images portrayed to us in the media.We loved The States-the six states that we did visit offered very different things.We found Americans to be very open and friendly,having a lust for life and a great sense of fun(sometimes a little loud but you can forgive that, they are just so enthusiastic about life) It has to be said that our experience of Canada is restricted to 3 places - Vancouver,Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island(for 1 day) The Canadians that we have come to know are friendly and lovely,however our impressions on mass (especially when people watching) are of a dour,unfriendly and at times downright rude(especially in general manners) people. This is not what we were expecting and has slightly dampened our enthusiasm for the country. We guess we will just have to touch base and return in the future to get a more balanced picture.
FIJI HERE WE COME!
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