Notes from the Pacific Northwest - Installment #1

Hello from Vancouver!

Here I am, sitting in an Internet café, after a long and busy day. I’m trying to upload pictures from the past two days from my digital camera so I can take some more … I need to fix them a bit, but that will come later when I’m back home in Toronto. In the meantime, you can check them out at http://photos.yahoo.com/noisypond (the album starts with "First Stay").

After a sleepless night of packing and cleaning, I caught my way-too-early flight (mental note, NEVER again book a flight for 7:30 AM!!!). Due to complete exhaustion, I was able to catch some sleep on the plane, so I had a bit of energy to catch a couple of sights yesterday after arriving in Vancouver. First stop was the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen classical Chinese garden in Chinatown. I loved it there. It’s an elegant, quiet place with lovely detail that would continually reveal itself with repeated visits. The gardens were modeled after those created in China during the Ming dynasty, and was the first of its kind ever created in North America. A compound with several buildings/structures as well as the gardens, every piece of wood and rock was imported from China. Rugged stone worn into weird and wonderful shapes was selected to contribute to the natural feel of the garden. Buildings were constructed of beautiful veneered wood, and without a single nail or power tool. Our tour guide was an octagenarian named Andrew Clunan, who spoke rather slowly and sometimes forgot words, but nonetheless was a mischievous character with a twinkle in his eye. He has been a volunteer with the gardens since they opened 19 years ago, so he was very knowledgeable. At one point during the tour, we were discussing the various elements of the garden that were meant to ward off evil spirits (e.g., the foot-high threshold placed at the entrance of every building), and Mr. Clunan told us that once in a previous tour, in a similar discussion, a gentleman had asked him, “Do [these elements] work [in warding off evil spirits]?” “Well,” Mr. Clunan said he replied, “in the 19 years that I’ve worked here at the gardens, I’ve never heard anyone complain of evil spirits, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions!” LOL

After the gardens, I made my way to the Vancouver Art Gallery. Disappointingly, two of its floors were closed to prepare for upcoming exhibits, but their permanent collection of Emily Carr paintings was open. Carr is perhaps Canada’s best-known female painter, who used a style also used by other Canadian artists known as the “Group of Seven”. The subject matter is usually nature (landscapes), the colours somewhat cartoonish, and the style tending toward the abstract. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it was educational to read more about Carr and her philosophy concerning nature (she was greatly influenced by the poet Walt Whitman, and felt that nature was part of the divine).

After that, I crashed at my hostel for 11 hours of nearly unbroken sleep … (angels singing)

Today when I woke up, I decided I was going to go for the gusto and try to get as much sightseeing in as possible. Since navigation and transportation are time-consuming and distracting, I signed up for two bus tours. The morning tour was of central Vancouver – a drive through Gastown and Chinatown, a ride up the Harbour Lookout Tower, a whirlwind tour of Stanley Park, and a brief shopping stop at Granville Island. I felt like a bit of a dork, as all but one of my fellow tourists on the bus was a senior citizen. LOL But they were amazing … They made friends easily as they compared notes about cruise trips, high blood pressure, diabetes, and real estate. LOL There was a couple from New Jersey who were particularly interesting and funny, although they didn’t seem to like each other much. Ah, marriage!!! LOL

The afternoon trip had a much younger group of people, and together we went to the Salmon hatchery, Grouse Mountain, and the Capilano Suspension Bridge, all in North Vancouver. The scenery was breathtaking, and the Capilano Suspension Bridge was superb!!!! One of the benefits of traveling alone is that you often make friends that you wouldn’t make otherwise. In my case, I ended up hanging out with Rochelle from Richmond Hill, ON for most of the afternoon, and we had a blast!

The weather has been surprisingly chilly these two days, which led to the impromptu purchase of an oversized sweatshirt at the top of Grouse Mountain in order to avoid hyperthermia. LOL The rain held off until we got off the gondola at Grouse Mountain. As we were sitting in the parking lot, we saw a wedding party struggling through the pouring rain in order to take the lift to the mountain top for the reception. It was hilarious to listen to the commentary from the whole bus as the bride pulled up in the white limousine … from the collective oohs and ahhs to the suggestion that she should have eloped in order to avoid the awful weather … LOL By the time we got to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, the rain had eased up somewhat, and whatever mist was able to make its way through the tree canopy just added to the wonderful atmosphere of the place.

Well, my photos are halfway done their upload, but I just don’t have much more energy to write any more, so I will post this and then putz around a bit while I think of the dinner that I left behind at my hostel … LOL Hope everyone is doing well!!!!

Eclecta