Thursday 4th May: Stanley Park Day.
It was another crisp and sunny morning but, if the weather forecast is to be believed, this might be our last non-rainy day for our time in Vancouver. So, with that in mind, Mark set off early for a ride to Stanley Park and I braved a walk along the seawall. I had aimed to finish my walk at the one of the waterfront cafes near the Yaletown ferry wharf but found, even at 8 am, the place was deserted. There had been a few people out walking their dogs and a couple of joggers but, considering the number of nearby apartments and how picturesque the area is, I was surprised by the lack of early morning cafe culture; if this was Sydney the place would be packed!
Our plan for the day was to visit Stanley Park and we thought we would do this by bike. I was a little concerned, given that I had not ridden a bike in the last 8 yrs or so, but Mark pushed me forward.
We set off around 10 am but Mark wanted to try the waffles at Cafe Medina and so we stopped back there, despite the 15 minute wait for a table. Mark was again impressed by the quality of their coffee but not so much the waffles. I’m not sure whether he is a good judge though because he is not known for being a fan or connoisseur of desserts!
It was around 11 am by the time we made it to the bike shop in Hornby Street, located in the CBD and about half away along the walking route between our apartment and Stanley Park. There was a designated cycle lane for our whole journey but the first few minutes involved riding out of the CBD and I found this quite bit daunting. It was then on through Canada Place and on to Stanley Park.
The view along our cycle route was nothing short of spectacular and I’m so glad I pushed aside my anxiety and embarked on the journey. My main fear had been that I wouldn’t be able to stop in time and I would hit either a person or a car. I hadn’t factored in the geese though 🙁 Yes, I hit a goose. Actually, I think I hit it twice. Once in the body, where it then fell forward, and then I think I ran over its neck! I was mightily traumatized and screamed quite loudly giving Mark, riding in front of me, a huge fright as well. Well, not as much as the goose I suspect. Anyway, there were bikes in front of me and behind me so I was not able to easily stop but Mark swung back to check on the goose. He assured me it got up and scurried away. A couple of other cyclists then passed me and asked if I was OK. I thought that was rather funny as it was clearly the goose that had come off the worse for wear. Anyway, on we went.
I must say, I have a new found respect for cyclists in cycling lanes though. There were a couple of times where we would be riding along only to find some idiot tourists ambling along on the cycle path rather than their designated footpath. There were even a couple of girls pulling large suitcases on the cycle path at one point. Mark managed to stop for them, but, not me. I just kept hitting the bell and screaming for them to move as I flew right by them. I do realize that I have to work on my stopping skills; if I were even to hop on a bike again!
We ended up doing two laps of Stanley Park, which is about 10 km around, and stopped off after the first lap for a lunch of sandwiches and water that we had picked up at an IGA en route. All up, we completed 24.8 km by the time we returned the bikes near 3 pm. It was a great day of riding in the sunshine and taking in the beautiful scenery of Vancouver Harbour and Stanley Park. I would highly recommend cycling around Stanley Park as it is such a great, and I would even say ‘fun’, way to cover the relatively large distance.
The day was made even better for Mark as he found a beer, Widowmaker IPA by Back Country Brewing, he was fond of at a pub along the walk home and then found later that it was for sale in a bottle shop just near our apartment. He also found two more pairs of pants at Lululemon which just added to the joy of his day.
It was then on towards home with one last stop to buy dinner supplies for, what we fear if the forecast is correct, may be our last roof top BBQ dinner for Vancouver.
Friday 5th May
Unfortunately, the weather forecasters were spot on! We woke to cloudy skies, drizzling rain and a forecast maximum of 120C.
We were both pretty tired, given the pace of the last few days, and decided to have an easy day. This started with a trip to the gym; where I even tried out the pool. After breakfast we headed out and caught the bus 6 stops downtown to Anthropologie, one of my favorite stores over here, but left empty handed. I was somewhat pleased that nothing really caught my attention as the prices were all rather high. We also picked up a SIM card for our spare phone to help solve the issue we had with being unable to make any voice calls on our other mobiles. It was then back home and to try and sort out my USA ESTA issues which involved making a whole new application. After warning others of the scam ESTA sites it seemed I fell for one myself 🙁
Our afternoon and evening plan involved a visit to the Art Gallery, that offered free entry on the first Friday of each month between 4 – 8 pm, and then on to dinner just up the road at Zeffirelli’s. This venue had been recommended to us and, indeed, looked rather charming when we had dropped in the day before to make a booking.
The Art Gallery visit was not all that inspiring. I’d read rather negative online reviews and feel I must concur. The gallery doesn’t offer any permanent collections and this contributes to the very mixed reviews. We took in two exhibits; ‘The Children Have to Hear Another Story’, an exhibition about the dark period of indigenous history and Shary Boyle’s ‘Outside the Place of Me’ a body of work of which part explores the issues of white guilt and white anger. We only spent about an hour at the gallery but it was a rather sobering experience, especially give that today, May 5th, was Red Dress Day; a day to honor missing and murdered indigenous women.
We left the galley at about 6 pm and headed to Gerard Lounge for a pre-dinner aperitif; this was a pretty cool bar located within the Boulevarde restaurant. There was only time for just the one drink before we checked into Zeffirelli’s for dinner. The place was packed and buzzing and we thought we’d be back another night soon. However, after some reflection, we decided that Capo at Yaletown had a much more relaxed vibe and better ambience and we agreed, then, that Capo would get our return custom over Zeffirelli’s.
