Vancouver, B.C.

Two flights (Munich to Montreal 8h30 and Montreal to Vancouver 6h00) brought us to Vancouver in British Columbia - due to the weather in Munich & Montreal and strong headwinds we arrived only after midnight and we checked into Barclay Hotel on Robson Street at 1:30.

Starbucks on Robson

Nonetheless, we were awake quite early and had breakfast at Café Crêpe. Besides this franchise, we saw a lot of Blenz Coffeeshops and uncountable Starbucks. As we found out later there 47 Starbucks in Downtown and about 250 in all Vancouver. On Robson Street there are at least 5 and two are facing each other on one crossing. So enjoy your coffee.

Entrance to Marine Building

Stomachs filled, we headed to the waterfront looking for some landmark buildings: Marine Building, Canada Place, Vancouver Lookout. Canada Place is formed like a cruiseship and functions as a terminal for the same. From there we saw a seaplane start and head off to Victoria on Vancouver Island (capital of BC).

Canada Place

Back downtown we joined a guided tour run by Steve from TourGuys who led us through downtown and Gastown and told us a lot of stories and history. So if you ever go there, check out their website www.tourguys.ca. It's free and they only work for tips.

According to Steve Vancouverites like to protest and have a riot from time to time - most interesting: public weed smoking in a central place on Victor's b-day, naked cyclists block a bridge once a year (the other months they do it with their clothes on) and the riots took place after the Stanley Cup losts in 1994 and 2011.

Tourist shop in Gastown

The tour ended in Gastown - named after Gassie Jack (a pub owner who brought the first alcohol to Vancouver. It's the oldest part of town, but not everything that looks old is so. Much of it was put there to keep the image with the tourists up. The steam clock is a good example - it's neither old nor running by steam. A lot of the older city buildings are heated by steam and as this builds up pressure you will find everywhere in the city steaming poles, tubes, flower baskets and the steam clock.

Steam Clock

After the tour we moved on to Chinatown. There, the preparations for Chinese New Year were on and a lot of people were at the bank where we cashed the traveller checks. Then we took a break and entered Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Classical Chinese Garden - a serene spot in the middle of the city.

Chinese Garden

We found another old culture on the premises of the University of British Columbia next to the Museum of Anthropology - the totem poles of the Haida and other first nations villages on the coast of British Columbia.

Museum of Anthropology

Haida totem poles

Granville Island Public Market

In the evening, we walked passed the neon signs of Granville Street to the water and strolled from Coal Harbour with the private yachts to Stanley Park. On the way back to the hotel we did some grocery shopping at a Safeway - prices for food are quite high in Canada. So we just bought the essientiels for a quiet dinner in our room.

Granville Street

Coal Harbour