Day 2 in Vancouver started slowly for the hub. Bit of a lie-in, then downstairs late morning where the doorman talked me out of going anywhere until after midday due to a half marathon being held and road closures relating to that. So, after midday I went down and waited for a hop-on, hop-off bus to Stanley Park. This park is 150 acres larger than New York’s Central Park. After about 50 minutes, decided there might be some problems with the hop-on, hop-off bus, so got a taxi to the Park. Walked around a bit and then got on a horse-drawn trolley for a 1 hour tour of the eastern side of the park. Beautiful percheron horses to pull the trolley which held 26 people, but was not full.
Interesting fact about the Percheron - they are born very dark grey, sometimes black and lighten as they get older until they are completely white. The two pulling my trolley were Con and Prince. Their usual day as described to us and it seems they have a very good life indeed and are very well looked after.
Stanley Park is basically a park but with some lovely 500-year old western red cedars and the firs I am in love with over here. There was an interesting section with totem poles.
Interesting fact about totem poles - they are basically carved to tell a family story or legend and it is considered very bad for someone to carve a story or legend that does not belong to their family.
After the trolley tour, I wandered up to the Aquarium and fell in love with the beluga whales, but felt sad that they were confined to a small space to swim around in instead of being out in the open ocean. I spent a long time watching the otters - so crazy and gorgeous.
I also spent ages watching the jellyfish. It was fascinating to see how they moved and propelled themselves through the water. Perhaps I am just easily amused, do you think?
It turns out that tomorrow is the day for going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and Grouse Mountain. There are lots of ways I could challenge my nervousness about heights - tree-top walks, the suspension bridge itself and the cliff walk, which is built out around the side of a cliff over a canyon. It looks quite a way up and has a glass floor, so stay tuned to see how I do with that.
Vancouver itself is a city, with all the problems of a city, traffic-wise and bustle-wise. I would not recommend Vancouver except as a stepping stone for the Suspension Bridge Park, Grouse Mountain and that sort of thing. Unless of course you really like the urban life of a city.
So that’s day 2 in Vancouver. Be back tomorrow with an update of that day’s happenings.
Few more odds and ends of photos of today.
