After a quick breakfast at Tim Horton’s (and really, what would a trip to Canada be without a visit to Tim Horton’s?)  We hopped on the city tour trolley for some sightseeing.  The architecture around downtown Vancouver is so diverse it makes for an interesting and beautiful cityscape.  I was a bit amazed at the number of rooftop gardens with full grown trees!

Our first hop off the trolley was at Granville Island for the public marketplace.  The main market building is bursting with fresh produce, meat, seafood, and bakery items.  We grabbed a little lunch and sat by the water to listen to live jazz music.  Just like any seaside area, the seagulls are pushy and noisy. Some of them looked big enough to knock us out and steal our food.  Fortunately, some kids were tossing out crumbs, so the gulls were uninterested in us.

This is one of the bridges leading to Granville Island.

After checking out some of the little boutiques, we hopped back on the trolley and continued on our way.  We drove by the venue for Sunday’s World Cup game — pretty impressive looking stadium.

Our next hop off was to visit Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.  Oh. My.  A little piece of serenity in the middle of the city.  This is an authentic representation of a Ming Dynasty style garden home – and the first of its kind outside of China.

Next stop — the steam clock in Gastown.  Kind of fitting for a community named for some guy they called “Gassy Jack.”

And…the last stop for today was the Lookout Tower for a bird’s eye view.  It’s a little hard to see, but that is Mount Baker off in the distance.

Our room has a great view of Vancouver Harbor — we sit directly atop Canada Place and the cruise ship terminal.  I wish we could capture the view out the window — Theo keeps trying, so maybe he will get the perfect shot before we leave.

To the south, we can see Mount Baker in northern Washington state; North Vancouver is, well, to the north.  We ate dinner in our room tonight and simply watched all the activity on the harbor.  There is quite a bit going on down there — the Sea Bus ferry running back and forth, connecting downtown Vancouver and the northern shore; helicopters and float planes full of other tourists checking out the views; a working port unloading cargo.  Despite all this activity, I find watching the water, with all kinds of boats moving lazily through the harbor on their way to parts unknown, soothes something deep in my soul.  And I think that is what makes the best kind of vacation.

Jean