As predicted we had a little rain during the night and, along with a the wind, it had cleared the skies of smoke. We can see the other side of Vancouver Harbour and the mountains to the north.

Is this Willy?

There is a constant line of people outside the gelato shop, hundreds of different flavours and combos.

On the way up to the waterfront along Granville Street you cannot but help to pass by some of our overnight neighbours. It’s  more than a bit sad that these people need to live on the street, some of them are quite spaced out. But we seem to be a 3 or 4 blocks short of the line that divides the upper and lower town, afeature of many of our big cities. After a short interlude at the Anglican Cathedral for a church visit we headed off to the waterfront to sign up for the ‘Flyover Canada Journey’. The first available ‘flight’ was 4 pm, quite a wait. So we had some lunch and a wander around, including a stop at the Old Steam House. This old establishment is now a craft brewery and restaurant complex. Allthego partook of a flight of 4 beers. It was a real flight 250 ml glasses and not the usual ‘splash and dash’ of other places.

4 pm arrived so it was back to the Flyover Canada Journey. Up a flight or two of steps and into a theatre type set  up where you were strapped into your seats, rows of about 10 people. Lights out and the floor seems to drop away from you so that your feet come off the ground, maybe our seats are raised a bit. Hard to tell. The screen also seems to drop away so that you are looking down, it is a big curved screen of several stories. Homealone was feeling a bit average about all this and was trying to keep her eyes open as ‘whoosh’ and away we went. The show seemed to flow from east to west  across the country. Zooming around Niagara Falls, bit of misty spray falling on us, up and over the east coast mountains and across the central plains and rivers. At times seemingly only metres above the ground but going like the wind. Finally up and over the Rockies, along canyons and rivers. Then down into Vancouver and along the coast. Quite a ride , the 20 minutes went very quickly. After some deep breaths it was up and out!

We headed off to Gastown.  Gastown is another one  of these old industrial commercial areas that have been  ‘reclaimed by the people’. The old brick warehouses and offices, built in the late 1880s after Vancouver’s Great Fire of 1886, have been refurbished to house modern-day retailers, art galleries, cafes and restaurants.  There were a couple of cruise ships in the port so there were people everywhere.

Gastown clock, driven by steam and plays a tune every 15 min with puffs of steam out the top.

This ‘speakeasy’ specialised in steaks.

It was dinner time and the Flying Pig  called us in for some of their offerings. There was more than pig on the menu  and they did have a Poutine side for your meal, the standard one as a base with pulled pork on top. We avoided this. Allthego had some fish and Homealone a veal.

We are now into our 4 th day and Allthego is heading off by himself to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park which is a 30 minute  bus  trip across the Bay to North Vancouver. Homealone had long decided this was not for her and after lunch she headed for the shops.

The Suspension Bridge has its origins back in the 1880s , when the first version was built  450 ft across the canyon from rope and wooden planks. It is 250 ft down. There were masses of people there, all wanting to go across. Allthego stood and observed for a while. There was a line going over  and a line coming back, could have been a hundred or so going each way at times. The bridge was swinging around  and some people looked a bit put out. One had frozen mid walk and more or less had to be dragged off  by her partner. An elderly Chinaman just kept his head down and walked. Homealone would not have enjoyed this at all! About 4 pm the crowds had dispersed somewhat and Allthego crossed over,  pausing from time to time to try to take some photos, but impossible to steady oneself. A couple of lads jumped up and down a few times which didn’t help either. On the other side there was a tree top canopy walk among the maples and big Douglas Fir trees. There were some other walks around the floor of the forest and along the edge of the canyon.

The Bridge and the people!

Harris Hawk

North American Kestral

Back on the other side the attraction is a suspended walk way along the canyon wall. This is a one way trip, but again there people lined up for  the experience. The walk way is quite stable with some good viewpoints.

Canyon wall suspended walk

And from another angle

Allthego managed to complete all the ‘experiences’ in the Park and had his ‘passport’ appropriately stamped. This entitled to him to a ‘I Made It’ certificate.  What an afternoon!

Allthego made it back to the hotel just on 7 pm, the appointed hour that had been agreed with Homealone and after which she was to send out a search party. She was suspicious that Allthego had loitered in a bar nearby so as to just make it in the door at 7 pm. This was not the case, just good timing!

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