We Love Vancouver Fridays
Our first experience of Vancouver's weekend was perfect. On Friday, we spent the day walking around Granville Island. What a sweet spot full of shops and restaurants. Later on in the evening, we ate some exquisite Indian food in Gastown. To close down the night, Dave and I parted ways. More on all this later, but I can not forget Thursday night.
Two nights ago, Dave and took an easy. I cooked up some mac 'n cheese in the Cambie kitchen. Dave ate over in Gastown at a very nice Italian restaurant. We met back up to have a few drinks. Dave was reccomended a nice place down Cordova called the Steamroller Brewery. I tried their stout and hefeweizen. The beer was tasty. We sat outside and talked about mutual friends, concerts, the past, the future, and our trip. It was a really good time, just sitting around talking. After our beers, we walked up Seymour to Robson. Rough Guides said Robson was suppose to be jumping. One block down Robson, we saw Granville was going off so, we walked south. We stopped in Doolins Irish Pub. It was a good place to grab a few pints. The Celler downstairs had a cover band going, but the place was about to close. We did not pay the entrance fee for the band. We did see some rugby player drop his draws up at the bar. Crazy Aussies. When the place closed down, we walked back to the Cambie for some sleep.
We awoke on Friday to decent skies. It was not raining, but it was still cloudy. We were hoping for the sun to get some decent pictures of the city. Either way, it was nice a cool outside. I was wearing kaki pants everyday. It was so comfortable. We stopped by the library to check some mail, and continued down Georgia toward Granville. We wanted to see all that Granville Island has to offer. It reportly had a variety of shops, markets, galleries, and a marina. It is located just over the Granville Bridge. It has somewhat of a rough around the edges feel. The outscurts of the island is a industrial area. Once you find your way back under the Granville Bridge, you can see the large neon sign annoucing your there.
We walked east on Cartwright Street just checking out the scenery. We saw the Granville Island Brewery. A sign proclaimed that tours of the brewery were to take place at Noon, 2pm, and 4pm. It was around 1:45 so, we decided to take the tour. I scored a student discount (always carry your student id when it doesn't have an expiration date), and we sat down to wait for the tour to start.
The girl that gave the tour was very knowlegable. She was an art student on the island and worked as an assitant to the brewmaster, Vern. I don't remeber her name. The tour was awesome! First, she showed us how the barley is grinned up in the gristmill. Next we saw the large metal container called the mashmixer. This is where the grinded barley or grist is mixed with hot water to make mash. The hot water transforms the mash into a sugary substance called wort. From there, the wort is sent to the lauter tun which sperates the wort into usable sweet wort. Next the wort is sent to the kettle where the hops and any natural extra flavors are added. Then the liquid is sent to the fermenter. Here, yeast is added to derive alcohol. Depending on the beer, the fermentation process can last 14 days to 5 weeks. Finally, the beer is transported to the conditioning/lagering tanks. Here the beer matures for 4 to 8 weeks. It is then bottled and sent out to be drank! The whole tour was very interesting. The girl did a super job. I don't think I have taken a tour of a brewery. The best part was the end. We sat down to sample four beers! I believe we tried the Honey Lager, Pale Ale, and two others. I think one was a stout. I can't remeber. Either way, they let us finish the pitchers. We had fun joking around with the rest of the tour goers. They included some east coast Canadians, a few from B.C., and a group from China. I'd reccomend this tour if you're ever in Vancouver.
After that, we walked back west toward the Granville Island Public Market. This place has everything you could ever want. The shops include enumerable types of food and souvieneers/clothes. The place was bustling with all different types of people. Many were probably tourist. I am sure some just came for the food. Maybe a few came to escape the city to listen to the live music in the court yard facing False Creek. Either way, Dave an I enjoyed ourselves outside for an hour. I had packed a lunch, and he grabbed a burger. I did pick up a drink. It was blended up at a small juice vendor, and it contained bananas, strawberries, kiwis, and yogurt. It was soo good. After taking in the lazy summer friday afternoon, we walked back over Granville through downtown to the Cambie. A nap was in order.
We woke up later in the evening in time for some dinner. I had some mac 'n cheese, but I still decided to join Dave for some dinner. We explored Gastown in search of a place. We found the Royal India Restaurant. I had a lamb type dish that did wonders for my stomach. Dave was in pain from his Taste of India, but it might have been an expired multi-vitamin. Oh well, the food was very tasty. I chilled with Dave up in our room till about midnight. I was planning on walking back into Gastown to Sonar. I had heard about their friday night parties called "Vivid Sessions." I couldn't say no because; 66 Water Street was only two blocks from the Cambie. Before making the trek myself, I had a pitcher with some locals down in the Cambie. It seemed like the evening might be something special.
Once I was inside the club, I was a bit dissapointed. It was well after 12:30, and it was quite empty. I walked around to get a feel for the place. It seemed small, but I like those types of places. The sound was eh, but I was not giving up hope. Their lineup month in and month out boast some hot DJs. My last place to see in the club was upstairs. I pushed open the door to hear De La Soul. Sweet! This was followed by Pharcyde, Gangstarr, and Tribe. The Dj was Kenya, and he was getting things started upstairs. I spent a decent amount of time here just listening. Later, I went downstairs to hear some of DJ Czech. He was decent. Im not sure he was that great, but the sound downstairs was iffy. They gave out a CD of his at the door, Vivid Sessions 01. I have to take a listen. The CD had a cool prize inside, $3 bucks off admission for Donald Glaude July 30. Hmm, sounds good, but I will just catch him at Starscape.
It was down here where I really started talking to some people. One guy who had family in Rockville, MD gave me some advice on places to go on Saturday. I hooked him up with some info on Buzz and Sonar/Bmore. I also talked to a slew of girls. This might sound like a guy embelishing the facts, but I am not. The ratio must have been 60/40 or 70/30 girls/guys. One let me know if Kenny Glasgow had actually started spinning. She continued the conversation by inquiring about my name. I talked to another girl about music we liked. She was suprised I had seen a lot of her favorite DJs. Another really cute girl sat with me for some time upstairs and downstairs. She was friends with the two DJs upstairs. I was able to get a demo CD from both - Kenya & G-Rock. By this time of night, they were both spinning breaks and progressive house. The upstairs room was going off. Before I knew it, the place was closing down.
I went downstairs to go outside, but one of the girls I talked to before was still listening to Kenny Glasgow. We danced for a bit, and the main floor closed. I'm not sure how it happened, but we ended up over at the bar with her best friend and some random people. They guy turned out to be the manager at another club, and he kept us inside way past close. It was cool to talk to a bunch of random people from all over Vancouver. Later, we chilled outside on our way to another club. That place was dark, small, and banging house. We went back to an apartment from 8 to 10? I think we took a limo from one club to the other. The whole night was crazy. I made it back to the Cambie around 10am.
What a Friday, Eh? I know you like the Canadian choice of words. Ha. Yea well, I enjoyed that Friday. It was jam packed but relaxing. I was able to see a lot of the city, meet some cool people, and have a lot of fun. You really can not ask for more. Vancouver Fridays Rock.
