Vancouver, Canada

September 6th – Saturday - 2008:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: As our final destination in our Alaska Southbound Cruise, I found Vancouver to be just as foreign as if I was in Europe somewhere. The ambiance and athmosphere definitely has a strong European influence, Half of the natives spoke French and half in English which was a relief for any American Traveler/Marveler.

September wind in Vancouver is on the chilly side, just as Alaska is ending their fall season, Vancouver just started theirs when we arrived in the Port of Vancouver.

As we disembarked from Princess Cruises, we were greeted by a myriad of tour vendors right on the port, we searched for what I thought was the most prominent in their advertising and was able to book a city tour in a private Van tour.

We were greeted by a young gentleman named Gary, who surprisingly was originally from Downey, California and has since moved to Vancouver to join his family there. He spoke with a slight Canadian American Accent and were delighted to have him as our tour guide.

The tour package consisted of historical City sights, Gas Lamp District, Stanley Park and Granville Market and a drop off to our hotel on the southwest end of the city.

We first started the tour by going to the downtown district of Vancouver, skyscrapers, Starbucks, MacDonald’s, the usual franchises, then we were given a tour of Vancouver’s China Town, consisted of 4 square block on the north end of the city, most of the shops were closed and on to the Zen Garden.

The historical Gas Lamp District was the most exciting part of the tour, we actually got to walk the streets where the gold miners once trekked on their way to the Yukon, the main building where the miners slept and lodged as well as the Gas Clock, one of the only 2 that exist in our modern day.

Followed be a tour of their famous Stanley Park, where the 100+ North American Indian Tribes are represented by their tribal Totem Poles and City Gates displayed prominently throughout the park as well as American Indian Dancer performing his bag pipe.

The tour ended in the Granville Market, used to be their manufacturing of cannery row, building exteriors were kept intact and the inside were renovated into shops and bazaars, not surprising to find that their market produce looked exactly the same as we have in California, but the ambiance due to the French Canadian speaking locals were enticing and exciting to a first time visitor.

As we finished the tour, we were dropped off right in front of our Hotel, the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel where we stayed for the evening. That evening we asked the concierge to the nearest Chinese Restaurant that offered their best.

September 7th – Sunday – 2008:

We had the entire morning to take a cab back to explore more of the residential parts of Vancouver and spent more time at the Granville Market, where we had lunch and shopped for about 4 hours. We took a cab to the airport for our 6PM departure.

We arrived in Los Angeles Airport approximately 8 PM, called the parking lot shuttle to pick us up at the center aisle of the airport and picked up our car. The trip home from the airport was very short and free from traffic since we came back on a Sunday evening.