Marina at Coal Harbor

This is part of Day 4 and all of Day 5 of our San Francisco/Seattle/Vancouver trip. (See first albums under Albums, United States, California, San Francisco, Feb. 21–23, 2005 and under Albums, Washington: Seattle, Feb. 24, 2005.) This is my second trip to Vancouver, the first one before I started this website. The photos I took on my first trip are long gone.

Day 4: From Fremont, Washington, we drove to Vancouver, which is usually about a two–hour drive, but which took us longer as we got into rush hour traffic. We were staying at the Westin Bayshore Resort and Marina at a quite reduced rate for this four–star hotel. Daughter Britt told us that the Westin had a special offer of $99 per night, which we were very surprised to learn that that was $99 Canadian dollars, which was only about $85 U.S. dollars. Quite a bargain and the hotel was right on the harbor and beautiful.

Day 5:  Keith and I had a great buffet breakfast at the Westin. Then, he took off for a meeting and I joined the early morning walkers going to Stanley Park. I passed the marina near the Westin and watched a number of sea planes getting ready to land.

Heading toward Stanley Park

The Rowing Club House and the Seawall Walk.

Geese

I saw quite a number of geese on my walk. It will take you about three hours to walk the seawall around Stanley Park, but I was going in the other direction to find Lost Lagoon.

Lost Lagoon

After asking another walker directions, I found Lost Lagoon. The lagoon is a tidal flat and previously would drain out, which inspired a poet to write a poem about it entitled Lost Lagoon.

Lost Lagoon

Another view of Lost Lagoon. There is still a Christmas tree on a float on the lagoon.

Swan

Swan floating on Lost Lagoon.

Ducks

Ducks floating on Lost Lagoon.

Great Blue Heron

I was greatly surprised to see this bird and thought it was beautiful. I also thought that the colors of the vegetation being reflected in the water were also beautiful.

Great Blue Heron

Close–up of the great blue heron.

Nine O’Clock Gun

I walked back from the Lost Lagoon and met Keith at the Westin. We then embarked on an on–and–off trolley tour of Vancouver which picked us up at the front of the Westin. The trolley gave us a very good tour of Stanley Park. We passed the nine o’clock gun, which is fired each evening at 9 p.m. according to my guidebook (we didn’t hear it last night or the next night). Originally, it was fired for ship captains to set their chronometers to the exact time.

Girl in Westsuit

A sculpture that commemorates Vancouver’s links to Japan. I don’t think its designers considered the addition of a seagull to it.

North Vancouver

Our trolley gave us some time at Prospect Peak to admire the view. That is North Vancouver across the water.

English Bay Beach

Our trolley next drove us around English Bay Beach. This photo was taken through the trolley window, making it look like it was getting dark outside.

English Bay Beach

Another view of English Bay Beach, also taken through the trolley window but coming out differently.

Granville Island

We got off our trolley at Granville Island, which has a collection of colorful buildings housing shops and restaurants. On our way out, we found a culinary school––before the sign and on the left. We had pastry and coffee here and the pastry was delicious. They also serve lunch and dinner and may be a very nice place to eat if you are in Vancouver (make reservations).

Granville Island

Part of the village at Granville Island.

Granville Island

Enjoying the sunshine on the dock.

Aquabus

From the dock, Keith and I took a boat ride on an aquabus (one shown in the photo) around False Creek, the body of water that Granville Island is on.

Seagull

Close–up of the seagull in the last photo.

Science World

The round building is the Science World, the building also known as the Golf Ball. Notice the number of new buildings going up. We were told that these were new condos––going up all over Vancouver––and that all the units are bought even before the buildings are finished.

House Boats

We saw these houseboats on the way back to the Granville Island dock.

Granville Island

Coming back to the Granville Island dock. You can see the sign for the Granville Island Public Market.

Public Market

Inside the public market. Lots for sale here––seafood, fruit, vegetables, clothing, prepared food, etc. It’s not as big as Seattle’s public market but still looked like a very interesting place to shop.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

We next visited the Dr. Sun Yat–Sen Garden in Chinatown. The Dr. Sun Yat–Sen Garden is the first Ming Dynasty style classical garden that has been created outside of China. This photo is a statue of Dr. Sun Yat–Sen at the garden entrance.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

One of the pagodas in the garden.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

Another of the pagodas.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

Someone was taking a professional movie of this girl.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

The reflections on the water were quite nice.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

Rock sculptures and beautiful tree.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

View of the garden through a trellis.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

Artistic walkway made of small stones.

Chinatown

After visiting the garden, we walked a little bit around Chinatown, but after visiting San Francisco’s Chinatown, I found Vancouver’s Chinatown not that interesting to walk around (or maybe we were just getting very tired). Photo of one of the Chinese street lamps.

Chinatown

The building on the right of the bigger building is the Sam Kee Building, known as the World’s Narrowest Office Building––it is 1.8 meters wide and is in the Guiness Book of World Records as the narrowest building in the world.

Chinatown

Chinatown street scene.

Chinatown

Food for sale in Chinatown. Sea cucumbers are in the middle bin.

Chinatown

Gate to Chinatown. We had gone back to the garden to catch the trolley to go back to the Westin. The trolley never came. Keith pulled out a tourist map and was looking it over to figure out how we should get back to the Westin and a wonderful girl came by and asked if we were lost. (If you are ever lost, this maneuver seems to work to get someone to offer to help you, even if you are not doing it on purpose to get help!) She told us just to walk one block to Pender Street (where we had been) and catch a bus there. The bus took us right to the Westin. The bus driver told us that there had been a very bad accident on Lion’s Gate Bridge and traffic was stopped for a couple of hours in that area––which means that our trolley was probably stuck in it. Photo of the Gate to Chinatown