Adventuring: West End and Downtown Vancouver

My friend LK is headed to Vancouver for a girls weekend at the end of the month and having just got home from a visit to this superb city I’m honoring her request for a little write up. There’s a lot to do in Vancouver and I barely scratched the surface.

I flew direct from Anchorage on Air Canada which was delightful, even if they didn’t have a fruit and cheese tray. I sat next to some charming Australian ladies who had just finished a tour of Alaska. They shared my Twizzlers with me as they’d never seen red licorice before. We also had a nice chat about The Thornbirds.

Totem Poles at Stanley Park

There’s a sweet train from from the YVR airport named either the Skytrain or the Canada Line, I'm not sure of the exact distinction. Either way it was so easy to hop on and downtown. I spent the majority of my time exploring the West End and Downtown neighborhood but mostly Stanley Park and English Bay.

Stanley Park is amazing and you could easily while away a whole day or more there. We walked the majority of the 8.8 km perimeter catching the views of ships, totem poles, sculptures and that whole great mountain-ocean thing. There’s another great map here. We took an inner park trail (Tatlow) through the park on the way back and it was equally stunning. It was Canada Day and the park was crowded but we still saw many ducks, geese, herons, and a racoon.

Stanley Park Seawall

Interior of Stanley Park, post ice-cream

In the evening we cruised by The Sylvia Hotel for adult beverages and to people watch. It was Canada Day, so I enjoyed a Caesar which is a distinctly Canadian version of the Bloody Mary with Clamato Juice. When we were grilling we watched as twelve Herons swooped and perched on the other building tops.

I can’t speak for all the markets, but the West Van Farmer’s Market was amazing. I was astounded at the multitude of options, the reasonableness of the prices, and the tastiness of the cherries and blueberries. There was also fresh caught fish, Australian meat pies, tea blends, and bakery booths (including fig oat bars and butter tarts).

Next up was the Vancouver Artgallery for the Picasso: The Artist and his Muses exhibition. No comment on that man’s personal life other than that he had a thing for noses, am I right? Walking downtown afterward yielded a long list of restaurants I’d like to try next time. We spent the rest of the day at the Vancouver International Jazz Fest. The highlight was for sure Wil Campa who despite not speaking English to the crowd managed to get everyone up on their feet and keep them there. Check out this video of their current big song (Me Gustas Tu). He has one song available on Spotify as well.

I found it very easy to get around but I did have two expert tour guides in my Aunt and Uncle who in addition to being unreasonably fantastic and thoughtful hosts are skilled at teaching Euchre.

Other notes:

• There a new, gender-neutral, Canadian National Anthem
• There’s still no penny, which at least I remembered this time
• I finally watched The Last Waltz and man oh man does Levon Helm let it rip on The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Thanks for reading! If you have Vancouver recommendations for LK or for my next trip, because there will be one, post below.

And they were delicious. No pictures of the Sausage Roll, Butter Tart, or Date Squares....gone too fast