Thursday 12th September 2019
After waiting our turn for a taxi and using the small amount of cash to get to the hotel (we had like $15 in CAD but they took credit card so we weren’t worried) we dropped off our stuff because we knew the room wouldn’t be ready at check out time (sold out hotel & early arrivals don’t always help). That was fine with us as we had plans for what to do.
Change out our jackets and off we went to get some money exchanged. See every year my folks keep sending me Australian cash for things like birthdays etc and if I convert in the USA I get horrible rates. But if I keep it for the times we visit Canada, the rates are usually almost even. Today it was a little bit of a loss but the rates were good in comparison to the USD. It meant that for the next few days in Vancouver everything would be at the thanks to my folks.
We had lunch at one of our favorite little sushi places (Rue 909) in the middle of the city. It isn’t fancy but its quick, cheap and delicious. It is a working mans place right in the middle of all the office blocks, downstairs below street level, but they pump out some tasty eats. It was a good fortification before heading over to grab my free attraction pass (the benefit of being a travel agent) and heading out to Capilano.
The moment we got on that bus to capilano though, the heavens opened and the rain started pouring, and I mean pouring. It was coming down solidly. This meant a soggy time at Capilano but it was ok. Here is the thing though. I was fully in to going to out to the park and checking it out. But the moment I stepped onto that bridge, i REALLY started to panic. I have never had a problem with heights before, but the height of that bridge, the movement, the amount of people bouncing around on it and the slipperiness from the rain and I was freaking out. I tried twice to cross that bridge and I just couldn’t do it. The afternoon was a wash because I was too afraid to do it. It meant I was fully chicken to do anything but it didn’t stop Heidi from enjoying herself (thankfully).
We came back to the city on the free shuttle and walked back to the hotel and headed up to our room. I was now soaked and Heidi was pretty wet as well. But we dried off and went off to dinner downtown at a place called Mooses Down Under. It was recommended to me by a friend and it was an Aussie Pub in the middle of Vancouver. Sold! The menu looked great and they had lots of true aussie foods, including Chicken Salt and Bundy Rum. Dinner was delicious and most of the staff were either Aussies or Kiwis. It was funny to find so many aussie accents in Canada.
We strolled back to our hotel and passed out early after a long day.
Friday 13th September 2019
Woke up early as we had an early meeting and went out for a walk. We walked down to a bakery in the West End area of Vancouver that was an outpost from a chain back in Australia. Bakers Delight in Australia is called COBS in Canada. We got there right as they opened and everything was warm and fresh! We stepped into the Safeway next door to check the price on a few items before we walked back to the hotel to clean up etc.
Our meeting got moved to a different time but that was ok, it allowed us to run a few errands (picking up stuff for the cruise) and then we headed over to Waterfront Station to meet up with our tour guide. We were scheduled to do a movie tour throughout Vancouver looking at some of the locations that the “Hollywood of the North” has provided to tv shows and movies. There was a few spots I immediately recognised but then others I had never even noticed before. The sillyness of some of the places not even changing items in the production (such as street signs etc) or the downright crazy of adding buildings that don’t exist while keeping others that do.
After the tour we had a Japadog for lunch and walked back to the hotel for a quick rest before the meeting. The meeting went well and we rested a bit before walking up to Canada Place and doing the Flyover Canada. Think of Soaring California at Disneyland but all about Canada. This place was a shit show and although we got in, it was not easy having to deal with the people who were waiting (or running the show).
After finishing Flyover the two of us were pretty tired. We stopped off for some Nice Cream (non dairy banana ice cream) and grabbed a sandwich or two for dinner. It had been a long day and we were both pretty tired and had an early night. Tomorrow would be stressful as it was technically a travel day. Back to the USA tomorrow without even leaving the city.