At The Library

By Simeon | July 8, 2004 7:46 PM | Comments (3)

The best free internet is at your local public library. My current local public library is the Vancouver Public Library. If your smart, you can guess Dave and I made it safely back into Cananananada. I love saying Canananda infront of Canadains. Its funny. Anyway, Air Cananannada didnt mess up our luggage on the way down two days back. We had a nice flight, and I slept/snored the whole time! We had some trouble figuring out the bus route down into Gastown. After a few connections and some walking we made it to the Cambie Hostel.

This hostel is pretty sweet. Dave and I got a double room with twin bunkbeds. These are the biggest beds I have ever seen at a hostel. After unpacking, we went downstairs to the rather large bar. We planned to sit outside and plan the next day. Well that didnt work out to well. First of all, the Rough Guides descriptions are tuff to stomach. Lots of nouns. Second of all, we shared a table with a group of BC kids visiting the city. There names were Robyn, Christine, and Jessie. They told us a lot about their provence, and gave some reccomendation on places to visit. I wish we had some more time to check out Victoria. The night wanned a bit longer then we originally planned. Without knowing it, the bar had closed down at 1am. Its always a good time to met knew people and listen to knew stories. We also had a chance to met a group of older people that lived in Tailand for a number of years. Did you know steriods are more prevelant there then protein? That is what this muscle bound guy told me. We also spoke with a few kids that were looking for work. Specifically, Adam who was living in a hostel and looking for work as a cook. Again, we had a great night knocking back Canananadain beers and meeting new friends.

Today, Dave and I have been walking around in a circle. Naturally, we started out in Gastown. The hostel is only a block away from Water Street - the center of Gastown. A lot of the buildings on this street are either under construction or house closed stores. It is still pretty. The side walks are lined with gaslamps and lots of flowers. We were able to find the Steam Clock. Its pretty horrible. Its a complete tourist trap. We countinued down Water to "Gassy" Jack's statue. This man founded Gastown in 1867 by building a bar to service near by lumber yards. The statue was OK, and I snapped a photo. We hoofed it out of Gastown.

Our next destination was Canada Place. This multi-purpose multi-level building is shaped like a ship. It juts out from Downtown into Burrad Inlet. The "bow" faces toward North Vancouver. There wasn't much for us inside, but the observation deck was cool. We had a good view of North Vancouver, Coal Harbour, Burrad Inlet, Downtown, and the Mountians. It is very beautiful. We even saw a few sea planes take off in the harbour! I was able to get some good photos, but it has been cloudy. Hopefully, it will clear up before we leave.

We walked away from Canada Place down Howe Street. We saw a few cool parks, and the interior of the city. It was neat to see the weird building up close. They did not look quite as dingy. Each floor has really high celings with glass for outside walls. They look like a great place to work or live. At the end of Howe, we crossed the Granville Bridge. From the bridge we looked down False Creek toward George Wainborn Park and Yaletown. A lot of the city is under consturction. Yaletown alone has a few tall construction cranes. Either way, the fews from the bridge were awesome.

Across the bridge is Granville Island. We originally wanted to stop, but the road took us onward to West Broadway. This was fine with us because, Dave wanted to check out Mountain Equipment Co-Op. This store is only up in Canada, and they have great deals on outdoor equipment. It was a ten or so block walk, but we could use the excerise. Once at the store, Dave found a new pair of sunglasses. Unfortunately, Nicco (Tony's Jack Russell Terrier), ate his old pair. I looked for a rain jacket, but I didn't see one I liked. After our short shopping break, we walked back across False Creek on the Cambie Bridge.

The view from this bridge was much better then the Granville. We could see all of the marina in the creek, Yaletown, B.C. Palace, and GM Palace. I think the city also looked better because; the sun had started to peek through the clouds. We finished walking across the bridge and countinued up Cambie toward Georgia. From there, we made a left to find the Library. What a good bit of walking! Its been fun so far. I'm not sure what we are going to do later. Maybe we will check out Robson Street? It is suppose to be a good place at night. Sight seeing wise, I'd like to make it over to North Vancouver, Granville Island, up the Harbour Center Building, and maybe outside the city. We shall see. Vancouver has a lot to offer.