Winter Olympics, 12th-28th Feb 2010

February 12th was the start of 2 weeks of absolute madness in Vancouver. Olympics you say? They are just the Winter Olympics! Well that's what we initially thought anyway, its strange. I guess coming from a country that mainly focuses on the Summer Olympics, you forget the Winter Olympics are actually something important as well. Now I'm just sounding ignorant but actually I'm not haha, 2 weeks before the Olympics it felt like any other city, then all of a sudden a week before the city was starting to buzz and so were we.

Friday was the opening ceremony, I had finished a night that morning and Cam finished work at 5.30pm, we didn't really think about this day. Thought we would just head out and find somewhere to watch the opening ceremony, however every man and his dog was doing the same thing. After heading around for ages and not being able to find anywhere, we decided to join all the other people with the same problem and watch the ceremony on the street, in the rain, being projected onto the side of the sears building. It actually worked out quite well and it was a great atmosphere.

So its the end of the ceremony and we find out unexpectedly that they are going outside to light another cauldron, so we are watching the guy (Wayne Gretzky) with the flame travelling in the back of the car. We can see what streets he is passing and realise he is coming towards where we are all standing. Its funny you look around and see the expression on every bodies face, its like one big penny just dropped. People are looking at the screen, then down the street to where the car is going to drive past, then back to the screen. When the flame finally goes past the street everybody just decided to start running, they're running down the middle of the street after the flame and the car. I'm not just talking about a few people, this is about 10-20 thousand people, running down the middle of the street, a street which is open to the public I might add. The cars just don't know what to do, there are thousands of people in the middle of the road, they just have to sit there ofcourse. It was the most fun and crazy experience ever!! Everyone is yelling out, screaming and running down the street, reminded me of the scene in Jumanji where they are being chased by animals, it was madness, but awesome!

We finally arrived at the waterfront after a 1-1.5 km run, unfortunately the cauldron had already been lit, but we were just in time for the fireworks. There was a huge pile of people yahooing, and singing the national anthem, with the cauldron and the fireworks in the back ground. This, I could tell, was going to be the start of 2 awesome weeks. We headed off for dinner and a few drinks after this to Cactus club.

I was off for the weekend so we decided to head out and about to experience some of the fun. Saturday our first stop was Granville Island. Most of the teams in the Olympics had a venue set up all around Vancouver, it was called their house. The Swiss house and Atlantic Canada were set up on Granville Island. The Swiss house was too busy to sit down in so we headed to Atlantic Canada where we had dinner and several drinks before heading on.

We were told NZ didn't have a house but there was a bar called Sin Bin where the athletes were hanging out so we walked there. Unfortunately it didn't look like any Kiwis were there, actually it didn't look like they were supporting Kiwi's at all. Oh well we still watched some of the moguls, had a few drinks and met these Canadian girls that had friends in NZ. After a few photos with them we left for town.

Once again it was very difficult to get into anywhere with out having to queue for ages, so we just wandered soaking up the atmosphere, town was crazy! Every night they had special events on at Robson square. This is an area right in the middle of town that they hadset up for the Olympics. This night Jeremy Fisher was playing so we stood around listening to him for the rest of the evening. We did attempt to get into the Irish house, but as it was 1pm and it closed at 3pm we didn't really want to pay $20. So we went home.

Sunday was Valentines day, we had a booking at Seasons in the Park a beautiful restaurant at Queen Elizabeth Park which over looks Vancouver from the top of a peak. During the day we went to Plaza of Nations, an area set up with foreign foods and a big screen for watching the Olympics of course. We hung out and had lunch, watched some Olympics and took a stroll around the waterside. Of course there were loads more people as there are a few Canadian Province houses down here. We couldn't get into the Russian house so queued for the Canadian Houses.

After walking around the Ontario and Quebec house, we stopped in the Saskatchewan house (easy to draw, hard to spell) for a drink and some music. A nice relaxing day so far. We didn't have too much time till our dinner booking so went to Doolin's for some drinks and to watch the final of the Mogul's (my favourite event in the Olympics). It was pretty awesome the Canadian came through in the end to beat the Auzzie, pretty good we all thought! We weren't even in a room filled of Kiwis either. After this it was time for dinner, as usual the meal and view were fantastic from the restaurant, we even got to see the fireworks from Livecity Vancouver from here, a bonus. All together another great day.

Unfortunately work got in the way of things again, it was back to work for the week. Monday night we did head down to Robson Square to watch the firework and display there. We didn't realise until the Sat night that they actually did this show every night at 9pm, we had arrived just near the end of it that night so came back to watch the whole display. It was actually really good, can't believe they can do things like this every night, must have cost quite a bit.

We had a few days of rest then went to Live city Yaletown on Thursday 18th to wander around. Live city are 2 areas that had been put together so people that couldn't go to any of the games cold hang out there, drink and watch the Olympics. This one had a coke tent which gave you free coke and you got to participate in some activities, quite fun actually. There happened to be a Canadian band playing that night also, they are Marianna's Trench. I really enjoyed them, think I may have to get the album. Kind of similar to Green day we thought. After that we enjoyed the fireworks display, once again another thing that was put on each night. This one comes with music and a visual presentation while the fireworks are going. North America really does know how to do fireworks.

Friday night Paula from work joined us for a walk around Robson Square, we watched the fireworks again as Paula hadn't seen them, this night happened to be particularly busy, people just filled the streets. We attempted to be on camera, standing behind one of the news stations, we may have been on there, but I guess we'll never know. After a few drinks at the Art Gallery Cafe we headed for a walk along the waterfront to see the cauldron. There were still loads of people walking around and getting photos with the cauldron. It was hard to get a nice photo as there were plenty of barriers surrounding, and the only way you could get a good view was by standing in another huge queue. I swear if we had waited in every queue we would never have seen as much as we did.

The next week we didn't really get up to much Olympic stuff. I guess work was getting in the way. Plus we had, had some full on Olympic days. We decided to just watch some events on the TV.

It was coming up to the last weekend of the Olympics and I am glad I

happened to have the weekend off. Vancouver was absolutely packed this weekend, it was great to see all that effort put in to organising stuff for the city paid off. Friday we went to the other Livecity Vancouver, it happened to be raining lots that day, we stood outside and watched the semi final, I think, of the hockey. Canada won anyway but they were very lucky. After this we went inside to listen to some music and for some drinks. There was a crazy but nice guy there from Montreal who provided a bit of entertainment. A relatively quite night for us I guess.

Saturday we went to the Rowing house can't remember who they were supporting, maybe Austria can't remember. There wasn't much going on here just some drinking and food. We wanted to find somewhere to stay for the night as it was the Saturday night and we knew it would be difficult to get in anywhere, which it turned out it already was. In the end we just found a good sports pub where we could watch the Olympics and drink.

Sunday 28th was the last day of the Olympics with of course the match of the Olympics. Today was the final of the Ice Hockey and the game was Canada vs USA, don't think you could wish for a better game really. Once again everyone was up super early to get a spot somewhere for the game, we thought we were up early enough but it appeared this was the one thing people wanted to do today, felt like the place had stopped. We found a place finally in front of the big screen at Plaza of Nations. What an amazing game!! It was so intense, including the times that the big screen failed and all we could do was listen to the game and not see it except for a tiny corner of the screen. I thought a riot would break out, luckily for them they got the screen working, however this happened several times throughout the game and always at the worse possible moments. So with not long till the end of the game the score was 2-1 to Canada, very intense. With about 1 minute to play USA pulled their goaly to have one more player on attack and they scored a goal with about 20 seconds to play which forced overtime. Overtime is 20 mins and its the first to score a goal. Of course the screen decided to turn off one more time in this moment, lucky not for the final section of play. Cam was filming the end of the game. It was very tense and both teams had shots on goal. Finally Canada got the winning goal and the crowd went absolutely nuts, screaming and jumping about, us included. Cam got so excited with his jumping that the camera turned off. Oh well the memories are more important.

Throughout the Olympics there was a intersection

that everyone decided was the area you would just go, have music playing, do the conga, dance and sing. It was a massive street party every night. None of the nights however compared to tonight. I have never seen so many happy and excited people. There were thousands of people just everywhere you looked. So much fun! We sat at the art gallery over looking Robson square and thousands of people. We sat there people watching, chatting and drinking. Why pay to go somewhere when you could have this. The big screen happened to be back up on the Sears building which we could conveniently see from where we were sitting, so we watched the closing ceremony here. Finally we watched one last fireworks before heading home once everything had finished. There were people playing hockey in the streets, dancing and of course singing the national anthem. It was one big city street party.

Overall this was one of the most busy and amazing 2 weeks. Definitely a once in a life time thing. If you ever get the opportunity to be part of something like this do, don't head away to be out of the madness just join in!

Bits and Pieces - 28th Jan - 7th Feb 2010

After our visitors left things slowed down for a little while. Along with that it was back to work after a short amount of time off for entertaining. Nothing much happened during this time but I'll give you a little run down.

Thursday 28th we went to Granville Island for our first taste of theatre sports. This is a non-profit organisation that has different shows every week on certain nights. Its a great evening out and reasonably cheap. We loved it and will have to go back again some other night.

Sunday 31st Jan we headed to Whytecliff Park at Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver. This area is on edge of Howe sound and has beautiful views to the mountains and out to the ocean. The day was a little over cast but we were still able to take some nice photos out here. We walked around the waterfront and onto the beach. We were going to go over to a little island area via rocks in the water, but as the tide was coming in we decided against this. Even though I would have liked to have the night off work, I didn't particularly feel like spending a cold winter night out there. As I had to work that night we headed toward the bus to get home. Its always nice going to different parks around here, they all have their things that make them slightly different from the next park.

On Wednesday we headed out to Doolin's for dinner and somedrinks after Anna's nursing exam. Another fun night at our local, mind you it was a bit tame for us as Cam had to work the next day and I had a study day at work.

This weekend was very exciting, it was the weekend before the Olympics so we thought we'd get a weekend of snowboarding in before it all began. Friday 5th Feb I was off work and headed out to a little cafe with Paula and Lynne a couple of friends from work. It was really busy and a great place to eat. After this I headed home to pack for our weekend away. Once Cam got home from work we left for the bus station. We decided to go in the evening to get a early start the next morning.

So on the Saturday morning we got an early start, ate some breaky and then headed up the mountain. What a beautiful day, the sun was out today which was nice as it didn't look like it would be the best this weekend. Today I was on fire, I think the best day on the snow in my life, for some reason it was like I had been snowboarding for years, Cam unfortunately wasn't having the best day, always seems to turn out this way for us. This didn't stop him however, why would it we were snow boarding on Whistler mountain!! Well actually blackcomb but same difference really. They really don't know how lucky they have it here, there is no such thing as ice, well there is but not the same kind of ice we have in NZ. Even being early in the morning the snow was pretty good to us, actually it was pretty awesome. We thought it would be quite busy being the last weekend before the Olympics but it was actually the opposite, there were no queues well if you count 2-5 mins as a queue then there was. It wasn't just nice in the fact we didn't have to wait for a chairlift, but you could be snowboarding down a run, then just sit down on the ice in the middle of the mountain, surrounded by trees with a fantastic view of Whistler, and hear absolutely nothing!! It was like we were the only peopleon the mountain, absolutely stunning!!

We headed out for some dinner at the Old Spaghetti Company, it was a nice meal, nothing to rave about but I guess it had to be done at some stage. We were pretty tired at this stage so headed back to get an early night for our next day on the snow.

Sunday we packed up, put our luggage in storage and headed up the mountain again. Like I said before we always tend to have opposite days on the mountain and today was no exception. Cam had one of the best days on the snow today, and I had a pretty average day. Most of the time I put it down to fatigue but today it could have also been the weather. The day started out reasonably good but toward the afternoon first the snow came down and then some rain, along with this came the poor visibility. We were getting pretty tired by now and had to get a bus back to Vancouver, so decided to call it a day. We were pretty close to the top of the mountain and headed all the way down. Its nice to finally be at the stage where you can go down the learner section and zoom past all the learners feels great!!

Overall an awesome weekend, think we'll be heading back here more often next year now we have had a taste for Whistler. Just awesome!!

More Visitors

On Thursday the 7th Pam and Kev arrived from London. They were tired and I was working so we took it easy on them. On the 8th Anna, Alex and Webb all arrived from NZ. Anna and Alex had a very brief stopover on their way back to London. Webb was joining us for a week 'on his way to Mexico' (???). Rach was able to go out to the airport and pick up Webb and grab a quick coffee with Anna and Alex before they had to catch their next flight.

On the 9th the weekend finally arrived so I was able to spend some quality time with our visitors. Rach was on night shifts so I put on my tour guide hat and went for a walk around Stanley Park trying to find all the Canadian nature I could. I think I did pretty well, found a squirrel and raccoon and I think I saw an eagle but everyone else seemed to miss it.

When Rach woke up we headed back to our apartment - after a mojito at English Bay. It was also time for Pam and Kev to get ready for the wedding they were over for.

Webb, Andre, Nerissa, Rach and I went out to catch another Vancouver sight... The Cambie. They claim to have the cheapest beer in town and I think they might be right. Also being near Vancouver's downtown east side it attracts an interesting crowd, this night was no different. We ended up having boat races with some European tourists (can't remember any more than that sorry). It was a fun night out, and from experience very typical for a night at the Cambie.

For some reason we weren't feeling 100% on Sunday. Pam had arranged a birthday present for Kev downtown so they were up early for that, we slept in a little. When we eventually dragged ourselves out of bed we decided to make the most of the cheap transit on Sundays and take Pam and Webb over to North Vancouver on the seabus. While we were there we found a nice lunch at Burgoo - great feel good food for a typical winter day. We then picked up Kev and completed the tour by exploring a bit of Gastown and an evening stroll home around False Creek before Pam and Kev had to race off for dinner.

It was an early start on Monday, we caught the early morning greyhound up to Whistler. The weather didn't exactly cooperate and kept most of the scenery out of sight - this wasn't the end of the world as a few people were struggling to stay awake anyway. After we checked into our accommodation we decided the best way to make the most of this weather was to grab something to eat, grab some beer and sit in the spa for a few drinks - we were so right.

Rach and I had a small surprise organized for the evening. All of us had got engaged in the last 6 months so we arranged a nice dinner out for us all to celebrate. Its just a shame that Niki couldn't be there too. We had a nice bottle of bubbly and some real good Alaskan King Crab - it was such a nice night.

Tuesday was Rach's birthday so we had to have a bit of adventure. We headed to the Whistler tube park, the same place Rach and I went at Christmas. We were a bit confused to start with because the signs at the base of the mountain said that the park wasn't open. Luckily Rach went inside and asked, it was open and the sign meant that it was nice and quiet for us.

When we were tired of climbing up and down the mountain we caught the bus back to Vancouver and went out for dinner. We ended up at our local favourite, The Templeton. Typical North American diner food in classic diner style.

Wednesday was another miserable wet day so we found something inside to do - explore the museum. I had to work so I was secretly glad they weren't doing anything too exciting. When the weather cleared up a little they had a wander around Granville Island and false creek again. For dinner we headed to a great restaurant right on the water in Coal Harbour called Carderos. They have great food, great drink and an amazing view.

Thursday was a quiet day for us. Pam and Kev headed down to Seattle and Webb caught his flight down to Mexico - I went to work. It was so great seeing Webb again, he's one of those friends that no matter how long its been, we pick up as though it was only yesterday that we saw each other.

On Friday Rach had a nice walk to enjoy the sun that had finally arrived then later Rach and I headed to the movies to watch Avatar (average story but great effects in 3D) while Pam and Kev were coming back from Seattle.

Saturday was the day Pam and Kev headed home. We said goodbye to them early as they had another day planned with other firends in Vancouver. We then headed down to Yaletown for a nice brunch in the sun before a games night with Emily.

It was a crazy busy week with all our visitors but it was so much fun and exactly what we needed. You're welcome back anytime!

New Years

We were a little disappointed to discover that New Years is a bit of a non event in Vancouver - no fireworks, no concerts.  Most people here seem to pay $50+ to go into clubs all night, we weren't so keen on this plan.  We decided to to find a nice restaurant to celebrate the end of 2009 and join people in Granville Street to see 2010 in.

We started our evening at Al Porto Ristorante in Gastown.  Here we had a nice Italian dinner and a few drinks.  The place was very busy, everywhere we pretty much booked out being new years eve.

It was a rainy miserable night so when we finished dinner we weren't sure whether to head up to Granville Street or find somewhere dry to wait till closer to midnight.  There were already a few people gathering in Granville street at 10pm so we decided to wander around taking it in.  The whether got worse before it got better and we were both cold and tired.  Fortunately there were people dancing around with drums providing entertainment and a little bit of warmth.  It was also fun watching the police 'manage' a few people that had started the night a little early.

The major flaw with having an unofficial countdown in the middle of Vancouver is that the clock doesn't have a second hand.  This made the countdown rather disorganized.  There were at least 3 different countdowns separated by several minutes as people noticed their watches.  The one around us must've been about right, the clock hand moved to midnight at about the right time.

We were both pretty tired after a long day after a snog and making a mess of Auld Lang Syne we headed home to bed.

Grouse Mountain and Capilano Suspension Bridge - 30th Dec 09

Today was an amazing day, perhaps one of my top 10 days since arrival in Vancouver. Cam had won some tickets to see the Christmas lights at Capilano suspension bridge. We had decided to go with Emily from work, as she was working around Christmas time, we planned to go on this evening for a friends Christmas Day.

The weather was pretty crappy today unfortunately but I think this added to the day in some way. We headed over to North Vancouver in the morning around 10am, initially we had decided to eat lunch up the mountain however it was booked out, so we went to another of our favourite winter/comfort restaurants, Burgoo. After another beautiful lunch here we caught the bus and went up the mountain. We decided to get an annual pass this time as we have now been here 2 times and pretty much would have made back our money by now. Anyway we jumped on sky-ride, its was raining down the mountain but as we got higher up it was snowing and quite heavy as well, it looked beautiful. They do sleigh rides up there, but these are sitting on a thing which is being towed by a tractor like thing, not very authentic but fun none the less.

Now it was snow fight and snow angel time, soooo much fun, even did a little woop woop woop Homer fun in the snow going round n circles, ah fun times being a kid. We walked around in the snow, this was pre snow-boots time and my feet were freezing and soaked, but it was well worth it. We headed up to the little cafe and sat down for a hot chocolate and beaver tail. A beaver tail is not actually from a beaver but this really nice, fried dough (pastry) type thing, covered in all sorts of things depending on what you feel like. I had a sugar and cinnamon one, delicious. Just beautiful, sitting on the top of a mountain in the snow drinking hot chocolate. Then it really started snowing and we decided to do some ice skating, well Emily and I ice skated and Cam watched again. It was so funny Emily was using the zimmmer frame (the type of frame the elderly use), very good when you are just learning though, she then left this behind and ventured out on her own, I thought she was pretty good for someone who has only done it a few times.

It was getting later, dark and really starting to snow now. We were all quite wet and getting cold so headed back down on the sky-ride, bound for Capilano Suspension Bridge. There weren't many people around which was nice, we got to take our time and walk around. It was really airy walking across the suspension bridge which is 70m high from the river below and 137m across, in the pitch black. When you look down you can only just make out the water and rocks below, it was also really quiet which made it more airy. We walked around for a while, looked at the lights twisted around up in the trees and then walked back across the bridge. Cam also won 2 tickets to try glass blowing. This is no easy thing, however we did have professionals there to try and fix the messes we were trying to make, well actually I don't think we did too bad they just had to help us out a few times. We got to keep the glass as well which was pretty cool. We had to hang around and wait for these to cool a bit so we sat round listening to the carol singers. As it was getting late and we were quite cold being wet, once we had our glass we headed back towards Vancouver.

On our way home we stopped for a quick drink and bite to eat at Doolins. What a fantastic fun filled day!!

Christmas 2009 - 24th Dec - 27th Dec

So this year we were very excited about Christmas time, there is just something about North America and how they celebrate Christmas, there are lots of lights all over the place and fun events to go to. Well not so much at Christmas time but prior to Christmas as you may have seen in the last blog.

I finished work at 7am on Christmas eve and Cam finished at lunch time which gave me a short time to have a sleep while Cam was working. He managed to get home a little earlier which was nice, we checked skype to see if any family were online, however being Christmas Day in New Zealand I think everyone was having a good time and no one was there to chat. It was a beautiful day in Vancouver, a little chilly however the sun was out so we made the most of it and headed down to False Creek on the waterfront and went for a walk. It was beautiful and there were plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine.

This evening we had been invited to Paula's house (a friend from work), to spend the evening with her family for dinner. After a quick chat with family we headed out to Paula's, with a Kiwi Pavlova in tow. Paula went and picked up Emily from work while Cam, Chris (Paula's husband) and their 2 girls watched some old fashioned Tom and Jerry, wow what a blast from the past. We feasted on roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, and veges accompanied by a few drinks. Not to forget doing the North American thing and opening a present from each other. It was such a great evening and nice to be surrounded by great company, especially with other family and friends so far away.

The next day of course was CHRISTMAS DAY!! We got up pretty early at 6.30am, well early considering we had no younger children around. It looked like it was going to be another beautiful day in Vancouver, actually the forecast for the rest of Christmas looked pretty good. We turned on all our Christmas lights and sat down to the Jordan family tradition of Croissants and orange juice, unfortunately we forgot to get out the eggnog we had bought, oh well maybe next year, still haven't tried it yet. Anyway next we sat down and opened up a few presents from santa before opening several more presents while skyping the McConnochie's. Our pile of wrapping paper looked quite impressive for 2 people, however as that pile got higher the present pile got lower :( Thank you everyone for all your gifts and not too mention the chocolate we received, I think we'll be eating this for several months, we pretty much have a one shelf in the fridge and one shelf in the cupboard full of Chocolate, not that I'm complaining YUM!!

We decided the weather outside was too nice to be sitting inside for the rest of the day so headed out ice skating, well I did some ice skating and Cam just watched/video'd the fun. This was probably my 2nd or 3rd time Ice skating and considering this I thought I did pretty well. I did have to hold on to the rail for several trips around, but never fell over so thats a bonus. Cam went to do some videoing somewhere else which gave me the opportunity to pick up some snow to surprise him with on the next trip round, ah don't think I ever get tired of snow fights. It was a bit busy to really feel comfortable but by the end I didn't have to hold onto the rail, until next time...

We were lucky enough to be invited around to Mel's (a person from work) house for Christmas dinner. She is from Ontario and invited a group of people who don't have family or know a lot of people in Vancouver around to her house for dinner. She had cooked up a huge turkey and veges and everyone bought something along to share. It was a huge feast!! there was soooo much stuff left over that Mel had to give stuff to everyone to take home. It was a beautiful meal and time to spend with new friends. Everyone headed off reasonably early, as some had to work the next morning. Cam and I didn't drink too much as we were off early to Whistler in the morning, how ever we did stick around to play some board games with Emily, Mel and another person who's name I forget. As always we were one of the last ones to leave but it wasn't too late after all. Overall a great first Christmas day in a different country.

We were wishing for a white Christmas in Vancouver however once we realised that wasn't going to happen we had to go and find the snow ourselves. We booked a night in Whistler and headed there early on Boxing Day morning. This was our first visit in Whistler in the Winter, the trip up there was just amazing. There was snow and icicles in the trees and the sun was shining, we couldn't have picked a better day to travel on the sea to sky highway. We took our snowboards with us but once we got to Whistler and had brunch it was already midday or so, price of a pass vs amount of time on the snow was the decision, we decided it was going to cost too much for the amount of time we were going to get so the snowboarding would have to wait till another time. A very tough decision to make.

We headed up to the tube park on the mountain instead. Imagine going flying down the mountain on a large plastic tube, kind of like a sea biscuit. It was awesome!! They push you from the top and you go down either straight or they make you spin around, the track is calved into the snow. I felt like a little kid again, great fun!! We headed back to our hotel after this for a nice swim in the spa pools, theres something about sitting in a spa, with snow surrounding the spa pool, where its freezing cold outside and your toasty and warm in the pool. The only downside is having to get out. Unfortunately we had to do this at some point, so thought we would head out for dinner, can't remember where we went but I'm sure it was nice anyway. Another great day.

From Whistler - Christmas 2009

Th 27th we just chilled, slept in and then went for brunch. We got the earlier bus back to Vancouver as Cam was going round to someones house from his work for a boys night of Ice Hockey and pizza. The Canucks won that night in a good game. The end to an awesome 4 days over Christmas, back to work for me tomorrow and more holidays for Cam.

Christmas Lights and leading up to Christmas - 14th Dec - 20th Dec

Well the week and a half leading up to Christmas was mostly full of food, drinking and looking at Christmas lights with a few days of work for me and normal days working for Cam. That's ok though as he gets 11 days off over Christmas and New Year.

Monday 14th I headed over to North Vancouver with Emily to meet Paula who picked us up from the sea bus. We headed up towards her house which is near Edgemont village in North Vancouver. This is a really neat little village full of cute little stores great for finding gifts and unique stuff you can't find in other places. Somewhere I will have to remember, to pick up special birthday gifts and other gifts. We sat down for a coffee here and then headed round to Paula's house for a look. It was very exciting as had been snowing the week before that and there was snow around this area on the ground as its higher up and closer to the mountains. There is something about walking around a rural community, up near the mountains with snow all over the ground. Emily and I were jumping up and down in the snow as it crunched underneath us. After this we headed to one of my favourite restaurants, Burgoo, this place is great in winter, it just feels so homely and cosy. Full of comfort food. A nice relaxing day with friends.

This evening Cam and I headed to a Canucks Hockey game, tickets care of someone from his work. My second hockey game and Cam's third, however my first NHL game. To be honest it was a great game and the Canucks won but as Cam mentioned in one of our other blogs, not as good I thought as the Giants (minors) game that we had seen about a week or so before. People just didn't seem as into it as they were for the other game. Think I will still have to go to another one before I make up my mind though. I'm sure it could be better depending on who is playing and what they are playing for, this game was near the beginning so it may get more exciting.

Tuesday evening we decided to head out for some drinks at our local Doolins, was just going to be a few drinks and then we were going to head home for dinner. Emily, Cam and I decided that we couldn't be bothered cooking dinner so we all headed to Sanafir, a Tapa restaurant on Granville Street. This place was great and I can't believe we haven't seen it before. When we arrived the lady at the door said "sorry but we only have a bed available". We were like, "what do you mean a bed?" She said "you haven't been here before have you?" So we headed up the stairs to find that when she said bed this was actually what she meant, so we sat on a bed with net curtains around it and everything and shared a selection of Tapas, it was a very unique and fun experience.

Friday the 18th we headed to Stanley Park to look at the lights that they set up annually for Christmas. We walked around and looked at the lights, listened to singers/musicians singing Christmas carols and looked at the animals, luckily we managed to get a ticket on the train just in time, as it sold out not long after. This turned out to be well worth the money, the train ride goes for 15 minutes all through the forest area with lights, actors and music all the way around. It was very festive and nice to see children running around the place. I only wish they would do more of this sort of thing in New Zealand, really make you excited for Christmas, as I was of course already, for some reason more than normal.

On the Saturday we went to do some more shopping at one of the malls in Vancouver, for some work shirts I think for Cam, can't really remember now. All I know is that we came back with a few things each. This evening we headed for a walk down to false creek to look at the lights along the waterfront which was really nice, we headed down toward English bay and stopped for a drink at a pub down there, then walked down Denman Street and toward Canada Place to look at the light show that was supposed to be happening there. We think that maybe we were too late as it wasn't really doing anything, just different colours. Still a nice evening stroll, its just so beautiful down there at night time with the lights reflecting on the water.

The Sunday was a wet day so what better to do than to go to the Maritime Museum. It was quite interesting actually. So far I have really enjoyed all of the educational places we have been to. Here you get to go on an old boat called St Roch which has been restored, it used to be used by the Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) AKA The Mounties, to serve as a supply ship for isolated arctic RCMP detachments. It was quite fun to walk around the ship and see the small confinements that the people used to sleep and live in for days on end. Think they would get to know each other pretty well in these sort of conditions. A good way to spend a rainy day.