Vancouver, je t'aime.

I want to live here. Seriously.... I really really want to live here. I'll marry a Canadian if I have to, just give me a fucking green card already.

So, I woke up and more or less hopped on a random bus that seemed to be heading northwest, the general location of where I thought Stanley Park was. The commuters on the bus were extremely helpful, at least the white ones, the Chinese ones were about as useless as the ones you find in San Francisco. Probably the only minus point I'll give Vancouver, but it's a minor one. I got off somewhere around the Westin hotel and found a bike rental shop with some very helpful ladies who were willing to humor my inquisitive tourist act. It amazes me how willing people are to help my ignant yank ass. Anyway, riding along the downtown Vancouver seawall is officially my favorite bike ride of all time. It's fairly flat, which is a godsend because the headwinds can get pretty hardcore (moreso than the Golden Gate ride in SF), but every single second of the ride is beautiful. There's so much to absorb as you ride around Stanley Park and stare out at the various mountains across the waterway and the bridges that lead out to them. Even as you get out of the Stanley Park area, which is a HUGE park, the entire seawall is lined with random parks here and there, and each one has its own relaxing vibe.

As I rounded the southern bend of the seawall, I pulled into Granville Island and checked out the Public Market area, which is a great place to pick up fresh produce, meat, and ready to bake food items. It's a bit touristy, but there's a good amount of space and the locals also shop there as there's plenty of good food to be had. Picked up some beef jerky from the various meat vendors and walked around the market looking for places to eat. I eventually settled on a clam chowder pot pie, which was basically a bowl of chowder topped with a flaky bread topping that was so soft and fell into the chowder, absorbing the flavor of the soup before melting in my waiting mouth. Good stuff.

Getting out of the Granville Island area was a bit more difficult as I can be a bit weird about backtracking, especially when it requires physical effort to get to a place to begin with. I opted to be a bit crazier and decided to bike across the bridge, but after seeing the signs saying 60 was the max speed, I brought my bike onto the sidewalk... Later I remembered that it's in km/h, which is a bit less intimidating (my iPod says that's only 37.28 mph), but I crossed in one piece and checked out the Hastings/Cambie area. There are some details about the cafes that I won't recount here, but I am convinced that Vancouver has some of the friendliest people in the area. I made another aussie friend (there's no end to the supply of aussies in this country) and eventually decided to return the bike. Cycling on the roads in Canada is very nice, less douchebags which makes it fairly safe to commute across town. Next time I'm up here, I'm definitely bringing my bike.

After getting back to the hostel, I decided to stop by the Samesun Hostel across the street since they have a bar inside the actual hostel. Definitely a chill place with very friendly people. Made an Irish friend and shot the shit with him about Irish people, drinking, and Canadian girls. Good times, so I'll probably stay there tomorrow night after I spend the night I've already got booked here at the Hostel International - Vancouver Central location. The two places are roughly the same price, so I'd recommend y'all stay at the Samesun, which is probably a little more ghetto, but definitely more fun. Then again, after tonight's pub crawl, we'll see what I think. Ok, time to clean up and hit up the town.

'til next time,

Andrew
Vancouver, BC