Planning a stay in Canada

Day 35 - 23/8/12 - Vancouver

I thoroughly enjoyed today. It was raining in the morning but I was determined to do the Downtown tour. It was just me, the previous guide, a German bloke and an elderly lady from Ottawa.

Today’s tour was downtown architecture, old and new. Unbelievably, the first building was some shitty ‘modern’ 70s building that had replaced a neo-classical courts building. That kind of behaviour should be illegal! Fancy Vancouver doing something like that when their oldest buildings are no older than 150 years!

There are plenty of lovely, overwhelming neo-classical and neo-roman buildings with huge columns that I’ve walked past before and not realised were there.

The church down the road from me is a gothic revival, built late 19th Century. Apparently it was very close to being knocked down some time ago… seriously?!

It was more chilled this time around as we were talking amongst ourselves. The German chap was suddenly wearing these small, thick round frame glasses that cover just the eyeball. Very typical of a European. He mentioned the war as well, to which I said “don’t mention the war” as Basil Fawlty said, but no one seemed to get it. I then mentioned how I used to live in Plymouth and how the Germans flattened what was a beautiful city…

Anyway, after the tour, I headed out at dusk to Stanley Park to take some pics of the skyline. Something I’d been putting off out of laziness but I’m really glad I did it. I took loads of photos as the lights came on and the sun set. It’s a long walk so it quickly became night time.

What a great atmosphere there at night. At 9pm, there’s a cannon which fires a gun salute (I think it was donated by George III could be wrong though). Loud as hell - echoed through the blocks of downtown Vancouver. As it fired, a load of people cheered, proud of their city.

As I walked down the sea wall snapping away, the hairs on my neck raised reminding me how beautiful this city is. Two locals then pulled up on their mopeds, watched the city for a short while, and proclaimed it “the best place on Earth”.

As I walked back along the sea wall, I thought how lucky Vancouverites are. I walked past a couple, dangling their legs over the wall, having a bit of a cuddle. Which made me think how I’d love Chloe to be sharing this view of this incredible city with me…

Loved tonight. One of my best nights of the trip. Sometimes the simplest of moments are the most beautiful.

Day 33 - 21/8/12 - Vancouver

The no-show of the AIBC tour guide filled me with little confidence, but I really wanted to visit parts of Vancouver with a narrative, from an architect perspective.

AIBC do a number of tours but I particularly wanted to visit Chinatown and Downtown. Chinatown was really interesting. Plenty of buildings from late 19th Century and early 20th Century. Some revived, some in despair. I saw the world’s thinnest building at under 5ft, the Sam Kee Building. Vancouver’s oldest buildings seem to be of neo-classical, particularly the banks. One Chinese building which caught my attention was one which had a door going to nowhere on the second storey, I presume to dodge tax.

Interestingly, there’s a lot of pre-Communist Party Chinese influence here. I’m sure I heard that some of the dynasty overthrow was planned here. There are buildings here which serve to represent the Republic of China (Taiwan), not so much the PRC. I had the correct the tour guide on that one… ouch!

…and here’s some more photos of Day 29 & 30 in Victoria BC!

Day 29 - 17/8/12 - Victoria

Victoria is BC’s capital, and is located on Vancouver Island, which, confusingly, has nowt to do with Vancouver. I got there like a true poor backpacker- skytrain, bus to Tsawwassen port, ferry to Vancouver Island, bus from Swartz Bay and on to Victoria and rock up in a hostel.

The plan was to arrive in Victoria for 1pm. I turned up at 3, as the buses have stupid timetables. The ferry was great. I was starboard on deck, eating a beautiful cinnamon bun from Marketplace IGA,  in the glorious weather as we approached Vancouver Island. Very pleasant location with inconspicuous wooden houses nestled in trees as they lead steeply to rocky beaches. Plenty of leisure boats. What a life people must have here… shame about the dickhead on that jet ski boat thing fucking about racing the ferry.

The bus to Victoria was packed. I arrived at the hostel - laid back, very colourful. I had a private room, the room just slightly bigger than the bed, and no window. Vented apparently…

I headed straight out to the waterfront to check out the beautiful architecture there. The Parliament buildings in their baroque style, green coppered roofs, and the Empress Hotel designed by the same young Francis Rattenbury fella, who lied about his portfolio which landed him the job of building some of the most impressive buildings in Canada.

The gardens of Parliament are immaculate, with Queen Victoria watching over those who pass by. I went on the tour there, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Amusing seeing a portrait of old Liz and Philip, wielding their power over this province from thousands of miles away. Fascinating building.

I carried on to the BC Museum. To be honest it wasn’t anything special - I saw copies of the very bones of dinosaurs that I saw for real in New York just a few weeks ago. The Royal Family photograph exhibition they had there was interesting though. Still, a museum is a museum so I just had to go!

At night, the parliament is illuminated using rows of bulbs which line the outside and main features of this building. Looks ace!

My room… christ! It was like a sauna. The vent was shit, the fan was a bit bigger than a side plate. I slept bollock naked, no sheets, hugging an ice cold bottle of water, getting about two hours sleep max. However the room was clean and tidy, but the heat… maaaan.

As I woke up early, I had a Tim Horton’s breakfast, and headed down to the Architectural Institute of BC (AIBC) meeting point for a tour around James Bay, a really old neighbourhood. No tour guide turned up, so ended up chatting to a few old ladies, one of which visited Birmingham many years ago.

Victoria is beautiful, full of architecture that would be deemed ‘old’ for North America. Tidy, unspoilt. I took a quick look ‘round James Bay myself, full of well looked after wooden Victorian homes. Quaint.

The weather over the two days here was impeccable. As I walked to the bus stop to leave this pretty city, I watched the dragon boat races happening in the harbour, watched by thousands of people on what seems a well celebrated summer sunday in Victoria.

Day 27 - 15/8/12 - UBC, Vancouver

Today I took the bus down to the University of British Columbia and met up with Cassie again to have a look around the campus. What I like about the buses in Vancouver is that most of them are electrified, sort of like trams with tyres!

I was introduced to an Asian delicacy that is quite the hit here, especially with the large Chinese population here. It’s called Bubble Tea - cold, milky tea with a bunch of gelatin balls floating about in it. Bizarre. Not disgusting, but I wouldn’t do it again.

The campus, on map, is probably as big as downtown Vancouver. It’s huge! It has its own bus and road system, blocks of flats, museums, even a skeleton of a whale. Mental.

It was an interesting place to visit and can see its appeal. I particularly enjoyed the Anthropology Museum, looking at the First Nations art, craft, totem poles. I just love the geometry, the colours and exaggeration of human and animal features.

We finished the tour with a few drinks at a sailing club on Jericho Beach, as the sun set on Vancouver its high rises lit up. Love this city!

Here’s some more photos from Day 23 and 24 in Vancouver, spent mostly around Canada Place!

Day 23 - 11/8/12 - Vancouver

For some time I’ve been intrigued by Expo 86, when Vancouver hosted the World’s Fair. I decided to take a walk down to False Creek where it all happened.

For me it was of the very few downpoints of my trip. It was as if it was all but forgotten about. In fact, there seems to be three things left in the world that are from Expo 86 - the dome, which is now a science museum, the Pavilion, which is now a casino, and the monorail, which is now at Alton Towers (about an hour away from me).

It was so disappointing. Today was so warm and sunny, blue sky - much like the old photos I’ve seen of Expo 86. I was standing in the place where thousands of people had a great time 25 years ago. Now most of it is flattened.

Anyway, I walked to Gastown, passing the BC and Canucks stadiums, skirting East Hastings (as mentioned in a previous post, we drove through DTES at night which was scary. Though that said, I kind of regret not walking through in the day time). Went to a Chinese shop looking for cheap luggage, came out buying cheesy shit I don’t need. Went to a 7/11 for a Big Gulp and watched a lad hitting on a girl who I don’t think was really a girl…

Gastown’s an old neighbourhood that is now reinvented into this hip place. Named after ‘Gassy’ Jack, an English captain come Saloon landlord known for talking all the time about his tales, hence ‘gassing’ (which is quite an old English term for talking a lot). I admired his statue for a while, then checked out the steam clock, which sounded these cute, slightly flat chimes every quarter of an hour. The architecture is lovely in this part - brick streets, a flat iron building bringing two streets together, ornate detail, avenue feel with all the trees. Plenty of bars.

I then walked toward the waterfront. The skytrain station there is a beautiful, grandiose building with towering classical columns. Across the Harbour Centre with its 70s 360º observation tower.

I had a great look around the Canada Place, which is where the cruise liners dock. It has ten sails, which is a landmark of the west coast. Apparently one for each province? The paths have all the provinces, territories and main towns engraved in the lovely DIN typeface. Loads of info to read about Canada and Vancouver’s history, present and future.

The next day I visited again as they had a small exhibition on the 1812 war. A bit of a poor effort tbh, let’s hope Ottawa made more of an effort on remembering this very important piece of history!