We just got back from a week in Vancouver, BC! What a fantastic trip!
The onus for our trek North was Victor’s Birthday – he had never been there and I hadn’t been there since 1979 when I worked for Hyatt and traveled up with a couple of friends for a long weekend using our free room benefit. The plan was to take the train.
I must admit I was just a tad leery about crossing the border north… Our diaper-wearing, shit-for-brains president has not been exactly friendly towards our neighbors to the north. But I needn’t have worried. Canadians can differentiate between the government and the people.
We were greeted with smiles through customs and, while we were mostly accepted as locals in shops and restaurants, when we were in conversations with folks, we let them know we supported them, and not the fascist fuckwad and his minions defiling Washington.
Lots of hats and t-shirts with “Canada is Not for Sale” and similar slogans. It was sad to see the goodwill we have had all of my life disappear. It was heartening, however, to see the resolve in the people not to capitulate to an ignorant bully.
One of our first stops was to a BCLiquor store to buy a couple bottles of our favorite Canadian Whisky – Forty Creek Double Barrel Reserve.
We first had this in 2018 when we spent 4 days in Niagara Falls. In December. We saw the Winter Festival of Lights and really had a great time.
We brought a couple bottles back with us and then found out we could special order it through the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. And then, one day, we couldn’t. Forty Creek just wasn’t producing enough to export, anymore. We can’t get it in Oregon, either.
First thing we did after checking into the hotel?!?
Neat, of course! It was perfect after our flight up. As I noted above, we had originally planned to take the train. Alas, Amtrak found corrosion on just about all of their Cascades Trains, so they pulled them all and went to busses. A nice 8-hour train ride would have been great. An 8-hour bus ride?!? I don’t even think so! The 45-minute flight actually gave us 2 more days to play – and was almost the same cost.
When I was last at the Hyatt, there was a rooftop restaurant, a glass elevator on the outside of the building, and a couple of bars and restaurants on the lobby and 2nd floors. The glass elevator is gone, the 34th floor restaurant is now meeting rooms and banquet space, the restaurants/bars have been completely reconfigured, and the 2nd floor Mosaics restaurant is getting ready for another makeover next year. Personally, I’d reopen the 34th floor space and close Mosaics and turn it into banquet space, but… it ain’t my decision.
We foolishly rented a car that we really didn’t really need, but we did pull it out a couple of times. Once was up to Stanley Park, where we went to the Aquarium…
with lots of fun fish and aquatic creatures…
and then meandered through the park, up to see the Totem Poles…
There are nine carved poles representing different indigenous people from Vancouver area and British Columbia.
They are an awesome sight to behold.
And speaking of sights to behold, we played tourist and did the 360° Vancouver Lookout. Once the tallest building when built in 1977, it’s now the 8th… The views are still pretty good, though. Naturally, I didn’t get a good picture. Oh, well…
We had two planned nights out while we were there – first was The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra playing the soundtrack to the first Harry Potter movie.
The theatre is gorgeous – a 1920s Orpheum – and, yes, I know all about JK Rowling and will not watch or purchase anything new, but… the movie, itself, is fun and the orchestra was fantastic.
Our second show was a play entitled Casey and Diana. It takes place in 1991 Toronto at Casey House – Toronto’s first free-standing AIDS hospice.
The show was fantastic! It told the story of the preparation for Princess Diana’s visit – the patients, the staff, the family members… It was funny and gut-wrenching – and really brought back just what life was like back then. I spent 1989 working at San Francisco General in Nutrition and Dietetics and spent a lot of time up on the 4th floor. We had a couple of food service workers who were afraid to deliver trays up there, so I saw my share of the ravages – not to mention close friends who died. It was brilliantly performed.
Friday night dinner before the Symphony we had tableside performance – and the best meal we had on our trip! Italian Kitchen! The Birthday Boy went for the Table Side Linguine Cacio e Pepe with fresh Atlantic lobster, cracked black pepper, salt cured egg yolk, and shaved black truffles. OMFG! The young lady preparing the dish was fun and a total pro.
It was everything you could possibly imagine – and more.
I had the Veal Saltimbocca – perfect in every way.
We had started with a 30 month aged Prosciutto di Parma with house pesto, peperonata, garlic toast along with burrata with olives.
We made fast work of it.
Martinis and a Chianti Classico, of course!
Another stellar meal included a fantastic Thai Curry…
And quite possibly the best Chocolate Cake I have ever eaten!
It was a six layer chocolate cake – the cake was denser than a flourless chocolate cake, but slightly lighter than a brownie. It had a bit of a chew. Filled and wrapped in a chocolate ganache. Vanilla ice cream and Amarena cherries… how could it be bad?!? It was seriously decadent – and seriously good. One day, I will try to replicate it.
Of course, not everything was Haute Cuisine – we popped in and out of local eateries. This one was in the Davie Gayborhood.
Between that massive bun was a grilled chicken breast covered in cheese, with pickles, onions, tomato, a really good mayo sauce, plus fries and a Pepsi – made with sugar, not HFCS. Canadians have standards!
I could not clean my plate.
Our final gastronomic trek was through the Granville Island Public Market. It had opened just a couple of months before I had first visited – with about 2 dozen vendors. Now, the entire area has been redeveloped – all of the old industrial buildings house artisans and craftpersons, unique foods, gifts, clothing… we stayed predominately in the Public Market…
You’ll note the stalls that caught my eye…
Breads and baked goods! I would have loved to bring two of everything back with us!
One of the best parts of the trip, for me, was knowing I could walk, again! We literally spent hours walking through Gastown – the older section of Vancouver, as well as walking to the theatre from the hotel, walking down to the Gayborhood on Davie Street. The two new hips were broken in right – with no issues whatsoever!
And, of course, the Steam Clock that is – as the name suggests – powered by steam…
We also visited Vancouver’s Chinatown – the 2nd largest Chinese Community on the west coast.
Our first impression was it’s definitely not Grant Avenue in San Francisco, and we were getting tired from all our walking, so we didn’t explore like we probably should have.
Instead… it was time to relax and regroup.
It was a really fun trip – and while it’s great to be home, the overall attitude in Vancouver was a hellava lot more upbeat and positive that it is south of the border. Downtown Vancouver was teeming with people. Restaurants were busy. Stores were busy. Lots of traffic – foot and auto. Streets were clean. Yes, there is a skid row bordering Chinatown and Gastown – the older parts of the city – and there definitely is a homeless problem – but it wasn’t evident to a casual visitor.
The food was excellent everywhere we went – from high-end to street local. The people fun and friendly.
Crossing back into the USofA?!? There was a stark difference in attitude from the Canadian officers and the US officers. Canada was fun and friendly. Ours were grumpy and surly. It says a lot.
Our next trip?!?
My birthday is at the end of July… we’re thinking San Diego… where I went to Basic Training, Commissaryman Class “A” School, Bounced around a few Naval bases until I got my orders to the USS Ranger, and split a $100/month rent with a buddy on an apartment in Ocean Beach – right on the water.
Stay tuned…