Vancouver "Holiday" still.. 22/06/09-28/06/09

This week was mostly cruisy well in some respect. We had a few relaxing days but the few days we did do things were quite tough.

Monday we headed to Yaletown to have a look. Yaletown is an old brick-warehouse district in Vancouver which has been changed into apartments, swanky bars and cafes, and boutiques. This is where people come to be seen, especially at night when bars are often packed with designers and visiting celebs. It still shows some of its industrial past with railway lines remaining on the roads. Today was a bit of a cloudy and threatening to rain day which was a bit cooler so we stopped off in one of Yaletowns cafes for a coffee and waited to try and spot some celebrities. Unfortunately none were out this day. One day I keep telling myself, one day. I will continue to wave at all limousines that drive past me in the hope that one day Robin Williams will stop and jump out to say Hello. After a little walk through Yaletown which isn't that big we headed for a walk along False Creek not to do anything in particular other than to walk, we did however spot a seal in the water, it took us a while to be convinced it was one as no one else seemed to take notice, after a while of watching an waiting for him to pop up again we finally got photographic evidence.

This evening we went for a walk just around the road to an extremely rich area. It is a hugh one way round about street filled with really old mansions. Most only seemed to have one or two people in them and a small light on in one small part of the house, seems like such a waste that would be awesome for a family.

Tuesday was a tough day. We decided to head to North Vancouver and do the Grouse Grind. Now for sain people you can catch the gondola up the mountain but we decided to walk/hike, along with many other people that day, and to add to the amount of people who have already done it. I have climbed a few mountains or hills before and have done the Tongariro crossing but this hike it truly tough. Its a 3km walk which no doesn't sound far but make that 3km walk climbing 853 metres at an average grade of 30 degrees and it now appears much harder. I think if I had read that before hand I may have thought twice about it hehe. It took us 1 hour 40 mins which I thought was a good effort considering they say it takes about 2 hours for a novice hiker, not just walker but hiker. The fastest official times were set in 2007 for both men and women in the official Grind mountain run event, but the overall unofficial record was set in 2004 by Jonathan Wyatt a New Zealander, his time was 24 mins 22 secs. Now I have no idea how this is possible, stuff that.

Now half way up you think why the heck am I doing this and once you get to the top you get to find out why, the view from up here was amazing, unfortunately a bit of a hazy day but still beautiful. A little tip from normally one of the most prepared people I know remember to take a jersey as even though you are freakin hot when you get up there, it soon gets extremely cold, especially when there are still small amounts ice/snow up the top (in the middle of summer might I add) and you are 1128m high.

While up Grouse mountain there are also many things to do and see, once again we opted for the free options which were actually really good. We watched a lumberjacks show which had the former fastest tree climber in it, quite humorous. Then we watched the birds of prey show featuring eagle, turkey vulture, owl and the famous peregrine falcon. This show even had a touch of Kiwi in saying the turkey vulture and the kiwi were the only 2 birds that use there sense of smell to find foods (this is debated however). Then we visited the bear enclosure which has 2 grizzly bears. There are also chair lifts up higher, helicopter rides, zip lines across mountain tops and tandem parachuting but all of these cost money so maybe another time. After we had finished up here we headed back down on the sky ride to the bottom for only $5 compared to $25 if you don't do the grouse grind so I guess another positive for the climb.

Wednesday was another work day for me as I headed into the hospital to sort out my roster for end of September through October. Also a buy some scrubs day. All around not a very interesting day but necessary.

Thursday was a yuck cold and rainy day so we decided to hang around at home. Nothing else to report really.

Friday I headed to the HR office to fill out some forms for work before we headed out for the afternoon to the Police museum and for the 'Sins of the City' tour. The police museum was very interesting, showing some old police uniforms, signal boxes, and boards talking about the history of police in Vancouver. It also had sections on drugs found through Vancouver, counterfeit money, guns and various home made weapons confiscated from civilians some of these were really gruesome looking, its amazing what people come up with. Then you went thought to the old morgue and autopsy room which was very interesting, a little disturbing and a bit yuck/gruesome. Built back in 1932 this building was built as the Coroner's Court and City Analyst's Laboratory. The coroners facility was moved in 1980 to Vancouver general hospital and this became a film location between 1980-1986. The analysts lab was last used in 1995 at this site. The morgue area had actual stories in Vancouver about robberies, murders and a family killing. Some of these cases were solved but some weren't, I can't believe they actually had real photos from the houses where the killings took place it was a bit airy and weird.

Then for the even weirder part: The autopsy room which was equipped with silver body beds, tools that used to be used for autopsies, and then there were the body parts that had been inspected during an autopsy being preserved. These had descriptions next to them of what they show, this was a bit yuck but also very interesting.

After this we headed out on our 'Sins of the city tour' this is a tour around the oldest parts of Vancouver. Check out the sins of the city link to see a video on the tour. There were only 3 of us on this particular tour so made it very intimate. We learned about the prostitution, alcohol and drug history of the city. Along with this we were told about the general idea of how Vancouver came about and the racial and labour tension, particularly against the Japanese and Chinese for different reasons. I found this particular tour very interesting, we walked across one of the bad street here a couple of times. The guide told us that sometimes he has homeless people that come up and ask if they are talking about them, he tells them no I'm talking about the history of the city, sometimes he said they stick around to listen as they find it interesting. I would recommend this tour to others if you come to visit.

This mosaic was put here to commererate the racism and riots in 1907 against the Chinese and Japanese. It is depicting a stick breaking windows which happened in "Japtown" and Chinatown in 1907. This mosaic is on Alexander Street in Vancouver. It says Noodle House on it.

Today (Saturday) was an opening day of one of the completed sections/stops of the new Canada line (train from Vancouver airport to the city), due to open early September and for the Olympics. This was at Oakridge center, we headed down to the new train to have a walk on it, got free juice, walked around the mall there, and sat down to listen to music. Then after this we headed to central park to have a walk around, through the forest and around a couple of small lakes. We then caught the sky train home for dinner. After this we went out for another dessert at a different just dessert and coffee shop. Apparently the death by chocolate restaurant franchise was developed in New Zealand in 1991. Unfortunately I wasn't too impressed with mine and had better at the cheesecake shop down the road, but Cam liked his. May just have to try something different, my expectations for Baked Alaska were quite high as I have tried some nice ones back in NZ, thought this would compare if not be better considering we are close to Alaska hehe.

Sunday was another relaxing day of rest to end the week.