Raincouver, At Last We Meet
The clouds burst forth in the middle of the night and we woke to the pitter patter of rain on the roof. The locals had warned us, it was bound to happen. The place we are staying in now is an apartment that’s part of a beautiful big house in the beachside suburb of Kitsilano, across the water from the downtown area of Vancouver. We booked this place because it was cheaper than a hotel and it is AMAZING! We couldn’t believe our luck when we arrived. The pictures on the website in no way did it justice. Our bed is so massive, the two sides may as well have different postcodes. The bathrooms are wall-to-wall marble and there’s even a bench to sit on in the huge shower. You could shower for days. There’s a tv in every room and we have a giant walk in wardrobe. So, if ever there was a place to be stuck indoors on a rainy day, this is it.
Leaving the comfort of our fancy pad, we set out on foot, first to the supermarket to buy some cheap umbrellas and then to the cutest little cafe for breakfast. Called the Lokal, it was chockers full of hungry locals, chatting over coffee and smashed avo on toast. It was a cosy atmosphere and everyone was so friendly.
After breakfast we did a quick tour of ‘Kits’, wandering down to the local beach and checking out the ‘hood. It seems like a pretty upmarket area with absolutely gorgeous, weatherboard beach houses (mansions) with beautiful verandahs and big sprawling gardens. If you worked as a hedge trimmer in Kitsilano you’d be a millionaire. Along the beach was a great leafy walking track with postcard perfect views of the Vancouver city skyline and today, with lots of puddles, surprisingly devoid of ducks. There may not have been any ducks frolicking in the puddles but there was an abundance of the biggest seagulls on earth. They’re monsters. It looks as if someone has taken our little Sydney seagulls, strapped them to a table in a laboratory somewhere and zapped them with a ray gun to make them gigantic. I wouldn’t want to come face to face with one in a dark alley.
We’ve noticed a lot of steam emanating from drains all over Vancouver. My curiosity got the better of me and I enquired of our taxi driver what the reason for the billowing steam from down below may be. He said: “oh yeah, there’s something under there…it’s steam. There’s something down there that makes steam. Yeah it’s steam.” Thanks for that. The mystery remains.
With the rain still pelting down, we opted for a quick wander around the Kitsalano village, grabbed a very decent coffee at 49th Parallel Roasters and had a healthy, nutritionally balanced lunch of…doughnuts. I actually took the plunge and tried the maple, bacon, apple flavour – see at least 4 of the major food groups right there. I was pleasantly surprised. Who knew bacon could be a dessert? Only in Canada.
The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in our beautiful accommodation, lazing around, chilling out and reading before revisiting our friends at St John’s church, who were just so welcoming and lovely.
There’s a big spaceship-like building, casting a prominent silhouette on the Vancouver skyline. Maisy discovered its top floor contained a revolving restaurant and has been dropping some not so subtle hints all week that she just might like to visit...”I’ve never, ever been to a revolving restaurant”… how great would it be to go to a revolving restaurant?…“wow, it’d be so great to go to a revolving restaurant…” We got the hint. So, as a special treat on our last night here, we decided to visit the spaceship for a night of fabulous food and revolving fun. Apart from the fact that we had to draw down on the mortgage to pay for it, it was actually brilliant. Huge floor to ceiling windows leaning outwards gave absolutely incredible views of the twinkling city lights below for miles around. It was awesome and the food was fantastic too (it would want to be).
An after dinner wander through Gas Town, with its trees full of pretty fairy lights and old-fashioned light poles was a perfect finish to a great night. The Gas Town Steam Clock, a hugely popular tourist attraction, usually surrounded by big camera-wielding crowds, was virtually empty with no-one in the way when, on the hour, it puffed out it’s steam cloud and tooted its whistle. Hopefully no one was setting their watch to it because it showed the wrong time and went off 35 minutes early!
Tomorrow we wing our way back to the land that’s girt by sea and I can’t wait to see the kids. We’ve had such an awesome week and it’s been such a fun city to hang out in. Hopefully one day, we’ll be back. Until then Vancouver, adios!
