Thursday, January 18, 2007
16 January, 2007
We arrived in friendly Canada and spent a while at the tourist information since we had no idea, once again, where we were going to stay or where we would ski and how it all worked. Eventually we left the airport with the local bus and got downtown quite near to our hotel- the YWCA. It was really clean and neat and well-located. We dropped our luggage and headed out in the freezing cold (from the sun, sand, sea and surf to snow and hopefully not sniffles). It felt like any biggish city and we couldn’t really see much because it was so cloudy and gloomy outside. However, it could have been worse and it could have rained but it didn’t! Well, we walked around Gastown and Chinatown and downtown but we didn’t really see a whole lot. There are lovely buildings, some modern and some old, and the streets are broad and kept very clean with great shops and malls. Everyone is extremely friendly wherever you go and whatever you do and this really makes up for the bad weather. People go out of their way to help and there is no way you can get lost! Unfortunately Stanley Park is closed due to the recent snow and wind storms which is very uncommon here. I guess it is not that safe so they are waiting to make sure the trees are all cleared. We did pass by Canada Place (the waterfront) where one is supposed to get splendid, panoramic views of the park and the mountains but unfortunately visibility was too poor to enjoy the view. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and the streets were dead. There was nobody around except for quite a few beggars which we were surprised to see. I guess it was too cold to be walking around like us crazy South Africans.
We arrived in friendly Canada and spent a while at the tourist information since we had no idea, once again, where we were going to stay or where we would ski and how it all worked. Eventually we left the airport with the local bus and got downtown quite near to our hotel- the YWCA. It was really clean and neat and well-located. We dropped our luggage and headed out in the freezing cold (from the sun, sand, sea and surf to snow and hopefully not sniffles). It felt like any biggish city and we couldn’t really see much because it was so cloudy and gloomy outside. However, it could have been worse and it could have rained but it didn’t! Well, we walked around Gastown and Chinatown and downtown but we didn’t really see a whole lot. There are lovely buildings, some modern and some old, and the streets are broad and kept very clean with great shops and malls. Everyone is extremely friendly wherever you go and whatever you do and this really makes up for the bad weather. People go out of their way to help and there is no way you can get lost! Unfortunately Stanley Park is closed due to the recent snow and wind storms which is very uncommon here. I guess it is not that safe so they are waiting to make sure the trees are all cleared. We did pass by Canada Place (the waterfront) where one is supposed to get splendid, panoramic views of the park and the mountains but unfortunately visibility was too poor to enjoy the view. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and the streets were dead. There was nobody around except for quite a few beggars which we were surprised to see. I guess it was too cold to be walking around like us crazy South Africans.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 10:23 PM 
