Ben’s Musings

There are too many smushy gushy cards out there wishing others well and reminding us to be happy - eurgh! That’s why I like Mean Cards, here’s a few of my favourites:

Wednesday 20th May

Yesterday we went back to Stanley Park to go on the Miniature Railway and to the Childrens Farmyard. Toby was excited when we were on the miniature train which Mary-Lou also enjoyed greatly. I liked the animals in the farmyard which included alpacas, llamas and bunny rabbits!

On our way out of Stanley Park, we stopped at a bicycle rental shop to ask about when we rent them. They don’t attach buggies to Tandem bikes so we would have to have 2 seperate bikes, but Mary-lou can’t ride a bike. However, she had a go and did really well. She and I were both very pleased and proud of her!

Today we went whale watching. It was amazing! Killer Whales are actually Dolphins, I didn’t know that and was a bit disappointed to learn so! We took a boat from Granville Island and it took 1.5 hours to get the whales, then the boat engine broke, so we were floating around for an hour while the guide tried to entertain us with stories and books about Orca’s. The captain managed to fix the engine and we headed back to the whales and saw one breach (jump out of the sea), Mary-Lou was so excited. Because the engine wasnt working propetly it took 2.5 hours to get back and they took us to Stevenston harbour where we got taxi’s back to the house. We got in tired but happy at 9pm.

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This is part of my Vancouver holiday journal. To see all our holiday pictures click here for our Flickr set.

Monday 18th May

Ulrike and Craig were with us yesterday and we all went to Granville Island Market. The Public Market is very big and exciting with all sorts of fresh food. We also saw live crabs and a live Lobster waved at Toby!

One public performer at the Market did juggling on top of a stack of a box, a stand, another box and a skateboard. I found him quite funny and his mannerisms reminded me of an old friend, Isaac. We all went to Bridges for lunch which was very nice then Craig and Ulrike bought some food for our English Breakfast dinner later that evening which was yummy!

Today has been a “mooch” day. Ulrike and Craig left this morning so we went up to Commercial Drive to have a mooch around. We had lunch at a Carribean place called The Reef. Mary-Lou REALLY enjoyed her dish, but I didn’t think the flavours of mine went together. Toby just ate his without fuss, as usual! Then we went shopping for some more stuff and came home to watch the finale of 24 in the evening! A nice relaxing day.

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This is part of my Vancouver holiday journal. To see all our holiday pictures click here for our Flickr set.

Saturday 16th May

We went to the Museum of Anthropology this morning - it was a BIG dissapointment! It is undergoing expansion so they’re charging half price, but the museum is very small. It is trumpeted as a highlight on Vanocouver but it really isnt. I was expecting something like the Natural histroy Museaum in London and I was looking forward to learning about the history of the First Nations in Canada, but all it had were lots of totem poles, nice as they were! We then tried to find something to eat and ended up eating a Subways sandwich in the Students Union of the University of British Columbia - not one of our best meals! 

Afterwards we took a bus to Kitsilano and walked to Kitsilano beach which was nice with great views. Toby didn’t like dabbling his toes in the sea, but he did like the swings in the park! We took a walk around the Kitsilano pinicula with great views of the tall buildings in downtown and walked over Granville bridge on our way to “nu”, a nice restaurant which we felt very under-dressed for! Before we got to “nu” we took a rest in a park where I lay down for a rest and  Toby enjoyed watching some cute dogs play.

This morning we headed to Stanley Park to go to Vancouver Aquarium. It was really awesome compared to the Museum of Anthropology! We all really enjoyed watching the fish and turtles and sharks and Dolphins and Beluga whales and everything else. The new baby Beluga snorted water over Mary-Lou, which is quite an honour!

Afterwards we went to Commercial Drive to get some food for us and Ulrika and Craig who have come this evening for a couple of nights. I’m looking forward to learning a bit more about living in Canada from them.

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This is part of my Vancouver holiday journal. To see all our holiday pictures click here for our Flickr set.

Thursday 14th May

It was a long, long journey from Manchester to Vancouver. A Flight to Amsterdam, then Minneapolis then on to Vancouver. Toby was wonderful during the journey, he didn’t moan too much and was jolly most of the time. I was a bit nervous of flying, particularly the take-offs and landings, so I carried a bar chart of the deaths per billion kilometers from the different forms of transport from a New Scientist article. It showed 0.1 deaths per billion km for airplanes, somehow it made me feel safer!

When we emerged from the cloud layer on our approach to Vancouver Airport, it was night time and the city lights looked very clear and sparkly. The sight raised a feeling of excitement and the hope of something new in me. We got a taxi to the apartment through East Hastings, which is where the homeless and addicted hang out. Even at midnight there were alot of people on these streets and we past a few Salvation Army centers and other charities.

The Apartment we are staying in is very swish and not very baby friendly. It has been done up since the photos on the websites were taken which is a bonus. It feels very comfortable and homely as well as luxurious and special.

On our first day, Wednesday, we chose to mooch and walked to Commercial Drive to see the shops and cafes that Deanne (the owner of the flat) has recommended. We had breakfast at a great cafe called Uprising Breads which is a bit like Unicorn, they make and package all their own products, mainly baked stuff like bread, cookies, muffins, pies, etc, all organic - Mary-Lou loved it! In the evening, once Toby was in bed, we snuggled and watched the LOST finale which was AWESOME!

Today we took a bus into Downtown and walked up Robson street, the main shopping street. We ate lunch in a nice restaurant called BREAD GARDEN then walked down to the north shore. The Mountains are so beautiful to look at and we felt safe and comfortable in Downtown. Vancouver has no litter, it’s lovely!

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This is part of my Vancouver holiday journal. To see all our holiday pictures click here for our Flickr set.