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Day 285, 15 April 2013, Vancouver, B.C. Skytrain to Yaletown, Davie Village, Robson Street Mall, Passport collection (legal again!), Lunch on the waterfront, Waterbus to Lonsdale Quay - shopping and tastings and the bus through Highland (North Vancouver), magnolias and cherry blossom everywhere.
The best deal you can get in any city is quite often an all inclusive travel pass for single or multiple days. In Vancouver, where a single bus ride can cost $2.75 - $5.50 depending on distance, we figured this was a must. Today we bought a couple of day passes for only $9.75 each and set about getting good value from them. First off we took the sky train to Yaletown - where the original Vancouver rail yards were. The skytrain is mega-cool - especially in the very front seat of the fully automatic train. It's like being in the front row of a geriatric rollercoaster and zooming through the earth like a pepped up earthworm. Yaletown is incredibly pretty this time of year (see cherry blossoms lining Davie Street - pictured). The rest of the year we reckon it gets by on good looks & charm - and possibly by having the highest concentration of hair salons and nail bars in the western world. And don't forget sushi shops - Vancouver's main cuisine. Davie Street was proving so pretty with the blossoms we kept walking until we arrived in Davie Village - and decided to keep this area in mind - every cuisine imaginable available and most with "all you can eat" lunch buffets. From Davie Street we meandered down Robson Mall - labelled by the tourism department "Vancouver's Runway". We can confirm everyone was wearing clothes. But the Champs Elysees it was not. Main purpose of a couple of days in the big city was to collect James's passport from the Brazilian embassy where it's been having a relaxing visa-cation. We both felt much better when he was legal again! Harmless kiwis (like me!) don't actually need a visa for most of South America - but we were super keen to get to Brazil as the difference in airfare between flying to Iguassu Falls (Brazil) and Iguassu Falls (Argentina) was over $1300 - and it's only 30 minutes cab ride between the two airports. There is definitely more than one way to skin a South American airfare. After a quick picnic lunch on the waterfront (bagels & sockeye smoked salmon), we took the waterbus to North Vancouver. For one reason only - it was "included" in our travel day pass (and you all know how much we adore "included"!) Lonsdale Quay was huge fun - even better than Granville Island actually - perhaps they have to try harder. It was a gourmet's delight and we pottered about for an hour or two sampling food and wine. There was even a clothing store on it's last day of operation - sad for them, but it would have been un-Australian not to have bought a couple of things with an eye to the forthcoming summer months. We figured out the longest possible bus ride to take us around North Vancouver and back over the bridge and through Stanley Park was the "Highland" route. It was such a long run (and we did stay on the whole way) the driver eventually asked if we knew where we were going... With mock indignation we replied - "but of course - the end of the line", back to town. The route was through some exceedingly well-gardened neighbourhoods - magnolia trees were dripping massive, creamy white and pink blossoms everywhere. Between 3 months in Africa and then the European winter and Canada, it's been a long while since we've experienced the scent of so many glorious flowers!
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