SATURDAY, MAY 18th:

Vancouver is one of the world's cities that has a majestic snow-capped mountain backdrop, but that was not to be seen amidst the mist and rain of this morning. However, by the end of the day when we chose to ride the Skytrain out to the farthest available suburbs Surrey and King George (very reasonable price of $1.75 for seniors) it was brighter and clearer and we saw some of the majesty of the mountains. The only draw back was when a man who looked older than me stood up to give me a seat!

   We had breakfast in the hotel and were all ready for the departure of our tour coach at 9.00am. As we waited there was good opportunity to begin to get to know the fellow members of the tour group, which is always  interesting as people begin to share their stories. Neil and Janet from Huddersfield confided that today was Neil's sixty-fifth birthday and this trip was to mark that. When we talked about schools we had both attended I mentioned that I went to Huddersfield New College and it turned out that he knew Les Baldwin who was at school as the same time as I was and a name and face from over fifty years ago came to mind!

    It transpired later that the local guide had not turned up and Oscar, our Spanish driver, did a manful job in deputising with Peter, our group leader, who had lead this tour before putting in additional snippets of information. Our first stop was in Gastown, one of Vancouver's oldest areas. The district grew up around a saloon, opened in 1867 by "Gassy" (i.e. talkative) Jack Deighton and the name has stuck. There also is the famous steam clock that is still maintained by the man who built it in the 1970s. It toots like a steam engine at the quarter hours and plays the Westminster chimes on the hour. Quite feat of engineering! On then into China Town the second biggest in North America after San Francisco. It is actually older than the city itself, beginning in 1858 when the first wave of Chinese immigrants were drawn to Canada by the gold rush. Then in the 1880s even more Chinese workers arrived to help built the new railroad. This is certainly evident in the Vancouver of today where almost half of the population are ethnically oriental. After China Town we were  driven along the waterfront up to Stanley Park, a magnificent area of tamed wilderness of over a thousand acres just a few blocks for downtown. It was originally home to the Musqueam and Squamish native Canadians, but in 1886 it was made a park by the local council and named after Lord Stanley who was the first Governor-General of  Canada. There are beaches, hiking trails and fir and cedar woods as well as wonderful views back across to the city , English Bay and the coastal mountains. There is a fine collection of totem poles (or story poles as they are correctly called). These are replicas, the originals being in the Museum of the University of British Columbia.

    The tour ended at Granville Island, once a down trodden industrial district where the warehouses and other buildings have been revitalised as markets, stores, cafes, restaurants, galleries and artist studios - fascinating to wander around. Apparently in 1886 a fire destroyed much of the fledgling city of Vancouver and drove people south onto Granville Island and beyond. Robert was very much wanting clam chowder for lunch and we found a handy little cafe that filled the bill very well. After lunch we took the little aquabus that does a water tour around False Creek and then took a slightly larger one that took UBS across the river to Hornby Street from where we walked back to the hotel. Our sightseeing ended for the day when we walked down to the Sky Train station and went to the end of the line out in the suburbs, as I described above. For our evening meal we went to Earls kitchen further down Robson Street from the hotel and had one of the nicest meals I've had in a long while. On paper it doesn't sound much: Cajun blackened hickey with potato salad and coleslaw, but it was absolutely delicious with each part complementing the other for taste.

       From Earls we wended our weary way back to the flopped out on the beds about 8pm. Waking at 10pm we got into pyjamas and went straight back to bed, so I reckon I had about ten hours sleep when I woke up on Sunday morning!