Sunday, June 27th, 2010

We left San Jose at noon, which was good because it meant we didn’t have to get up early and had lots of time to make sure everything was in order before the cab came. We were ready with our bags on the patio─amazing! We arrived at the airport the last day that the old terminal was being used, and ordered bagel sandwiches from the worlds least efficient bagel shop (although the sandwiches were at least tasty). Uneventful flight, with a brief layover in Seattle which was fine, that’s a very nice airport. We arrived in Vancouver at 5:20 to very cold and overcast skies, that’s no good! Took a cab to the very nice Sylvia Hotel, and after unpacking went to Milestones for dinner. After dinner the kids played on the beach even though it was cold. And because it got dark so late, we all went to bed at 10:00.

Monday, June 28th, 2010

The next morning it was raining, so we had a very nice breakfast in the hoteland then took a cab to the Vancouver Aquarium in StanleyPark. Very nice place, we especially enjoyed the dolphin show. Pacific White-sided dolphins are my new favorite! Because of the timing we had to have lunch in the aquarium, which wasn’t terrible. Then we caught a bus to the downtown area and walked down the Gastown area and into Chinatown in search of dim sum. But the area was dicey and we had no clue what we were doing so we took the bus back to our hotel.  That night we had a very nice dinner at Legendary Noodle where the chef makes the noodles right in front of you, very cool to watch.

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

The weather was better today, so we walked to De Dutch Pannekoeken restaurant for breakfast through a nice leafy area that backs onto Denman street. The breakfast was fantastic, these really flat pancakes with stuff in them that you rolled up and ate. After breakfast we started walking along Robson street and I got a nice pair of sweats at Roots. Wish they had that store in the US. Then we continued along Granville Street and up over the bridge to get to Granville Island. Don’t ever do this! Once you are on the other side of the river you can see Granville Island but you must go all the way around and over an exit to get to it. Charlotte was exceedingly unhappy. Once at Granville Island, we went into the Granville Island toy company to get toys to make the kids happy. They are getting old enough so they understand if they don’t find something they like just don’t get anything. So Genevieve bought animals of Canada and Charlotte happily got nothing. We had a nice lunch at a close-by restaurant, and finished touring the island, with a stop at the Market for a yummy desert. We took a little water taxi back to our side of the river and then walked along the beach to our hotel. This was a lot lot of walking for us, and there was very little whining from Charlotte, which was amajor milestone and turning point for our vacation enjoyment. We went back to the hotel to rest and then to Nook (zagat rated) for dinner. We had to wait a long time for a table but it was worth it. And then back to the gelato store for desert and then to the beach for our last night at the Sylvia.  We really liked this hotel, its location close to all the restaurants on Denman Street as well as Stanley Park, the style of it, and the story and books about “Mister Got to Go“, the cat that had once lived there. Next time we’re in Vancouver we’ll definitely stay here again.

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