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Day 196: A setting sun
Me, Tim, Alli and Steph travelled along the sea to sky highway to Vancouver, also referred to as the 99, pulling over at various viewing points to take in the magnificent views of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean that lapped at the mountain's feet.Tim and Steph, who were driving, pulled over at every viewing point that they came across to take pictures, much to me and Alli 's amusement.I'd definitely recommend this drive to anyone travelling in this area as it is only a couple of hours from Vancouver to Whistler and some parts are breathtaking.
After the majestic views of the Rocky Mountains the first signs of the city began to come into view in the form of various mansions and their jetties dotted along the coastline eventually culminating in skyscrapers jutting into the Vancouver skyline.Vancouver is an awesome and unusual city in my humble opinion.The familiar post-colonial metropolis make-up of tall buildings, pseudo Victorian fascias and mock Grecian pillars has a stunning back drop of the Rocky Mountains almost super-imposed onto it, this is then complimented by a lush forest area at the bottom of the mountains and the Pacific Ocean hemmed in by beaches and quayside areas dotted along the coastline of the city.
We said our goodbyes to Tim, leaving him to slip into the plush surroundings of his hotel in Vancouver where he was staying with his parents.It was an exclusive hotel and Alli and I hovered outside like vagrants while Tim and Steph went in.The pompous hotel told Tim, who looked reasonably smart in his usual, crinkled, un-ironed shirt and jeans that he could not wear blue jeans on their premises.
We had chosen to spend our first night in Jericho beach hostel, a slightly less exclusive location, a few meters from the beach.Steph by now was gripped with the same flu that had threatened to consume me a few days earlier leading me to believe I was the first case of swine flu in Canada.She covered herself up with a blanket and lay on her bed next to the window looking out at the sea like a little, old woman in an Eastbourne nursing home.Meanwhile Alli and I went out looking for fish and chips.
We walked through a lovely park running alongside the beach.People everywhere were making full use of baseball pitches, tennis courts and football pitches.Others flung Frisbees to each other, cycled, ran and played volley ball.A slight streak of guilt ran through Alli and I on our fish and chips hunt.As we walked down further along the beach the park fell away and we were left walking along the actual beach.It wasn't a particularly, large, sandy beach but this didn't seem to hinder the young Vancouverans who flaunted about the place in skimpy bikinis and trunks everywhere.The guys were pretty buff and the girls also had trim neat figures.I thought to myself it might be a while before I was scantily clad flinging Frisbees on this beach.
Our fish and chips hunt bore surprising, sudden success as Alli and I stumbled across a little hut on the beach selling fish and chips and ice cream.We got both.
It was nice and sunny and we sat and watched everyone, the mountains and the sea and had a good chat about our seasons.Alli or Allison, hailing from Shropshire, had had an up and down season in Whistler after having some bad experiences with my male counterparts who tended to be the knuckle headed types.I too had had an up and down experience and we both laughed about how nice it was to be out of the Whistler bubble.
We went back to the hostel and Steph had managed to force herself up and after our tales of the seaside and ice cream decided she wanted to see the sunset which Alli and I thought was a fantastic idea.We all walked down to the beach and settled on some logs.The sun didn't fail and put on a fantastic display of crimson, golden streaks as it dropped slowly beneath the horizon.After the madness of Whistler, I breathed a sigh of welcome relief.
It was a perfect end to our first day in Vancouver.
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