If Seattle is the cool, cynical kid of the Pacific Northwest, Vancouver is the girl next door: effortlessly beautiful, unassuming and nursing a slight self-esteem complex. Sure, the Canadian city landed the 2010 Olympics, but some locals
feel let down because the slick
With Glowing Hearts Olympics commercial doesn't use one of its many great homegrown artists but instead British band Doves. Come to think of it,
complex is a great way to describe Vancouver.
Though the middle leg of my vacation, Vancouver is by no means a middling city. Any time you can stand on a busy beach and look one way to see a thriving city and the other to see snow-capped mountains, you're somewhere special. (See this
Facebook photo album for more images.)
I was also in Vancouver to see my very favo[u]rite band
The Tragically Hip play live at the Orpheum Theatre. My friend
Laura scored good tickets from someone who had to unload a pair at the last minute. Didn't realize how good until we got there and saw they were second row, right on the aisle! I had the next-closest thing to a front-row seat for lead singer Gordon Downie's zany antics and the band's magnificent musicianship. Close enough even my iPhone in low light could grab
some superb shots.
We also spent an afternoon at Granville Island, a funky artsy community that features, among other things, the excellent
Granville Island Brewery. I recalled seeing the area and brewery featured on a Travel Channel show and, while the brewery tours were long booked up, we did sample some of the local flavo[u]r.
In a previous entry,
I chronicled our visit to the Guu Japanese restaurant, which is as much of a show as it is a meal. But so many places in Vancouver are full-sense experiences. Laura lives right near the culture-rich vein Robson Street and the city's constantly pounding pulse throbs through the pavement. But she also lives a few blocks from English Bay and Stanley Park. The first photo comes from my walk around the seawall that circumnavigates the peninsula, one of many great views offered in this seaside city.
Vancouver is most certainly not vanilla in any way. It's more like the green tea ice cream I enjoyed at Guu. It comes full of unexpected surprises, harbo[u]rs a variety of tastes and proves endlessly fulfilling.
Comments (3)
Some of the best Chinese food I've ever had was in Vancouver.
Golly... Glad you had a good time here!
'Twas fun having you :)
ps. next time the weather will be nicer, I promise.
Oh, I am so jeolous. I STILL have yet to get to seattle or vancouver. Hopefully in the not so distant future! I love hiking, I love mountains, I love good music, and I more than love the pacific NW! (and one of my fave people lives so close!)