'O Canada'

My first day in Canada is almost over, and it was again busy and somewhat rainy day. The lack of sleep (5 hours the first and 6 hours the second night) is getting to me.

We started the day kind of late, and left the apartment after ten. We drove through the downtown Vancouver, which I really enjoyed. There were people on the street! Lots of them. The entire 30 minute drive from Burnaby to Vancouver looked like a real city, with tall apartment buildings, houses, restaurants and shops, and pedestrians. The city is getting ready for the Olympics in Feb 2010, so many new hotels are popping up downtown and streets are getting a make over.

We went to the waters age, where the convention center is located, and few other buildings around it are under construction and it was buzzing with business people and visitors. I had my morning coffee at Tim Horthon's, a local coffee chain, but their mocca is just not the same as what I am used to.



Then we drove over the bridge to the the West Vancouver. We walked on the beach of the Pacific ocean, I collected few shells, and we had a nice chat with a local lady who was playing with her dog. The clouds were getting thicker and lower, so the views were not as spectacular as they can be.

We went back downtown for lunch, walking for about twenty minutes through many blocks again full with people. It is easy to have pedestrians when there are so many high0rise apartment buildings around, and good public transportation. We ate at an authentic Greek restaurant, Stephos, with many Greeks dining there, Gerek music and decorations. Their lamp souvlakia was really good.

On our way back to the car we passed some historic neighbourhood with cute old buildings recently renovated. It looks a bit like west 6th St. in Austin, but the area is much larger, and the houses were all residential, not business. I really liked Vancouver downtown area, how it is a great mix of business and apartment buildings as well as great deal of old style houses that are well preserved.




Next we drove around Stanley park, tried to capture the view of the downtown, but the rain was starting and clouds and fog rolling in. We drove all around the Vancouver bay over to the Jericho beachee and some high end neighbourhood, Kitsilano. I am surprised that there are real beaches there. It seems this is a very nice place to live in, with both mountains for skiing in the winter and swimming in the oceans in the summer.

On the way back we checked out a huge mall in Burnaby, that is at least five times bigger than the largest Mall in Austin. I was looking for some Canadian shirts, but these days all of them have the Olympics logo.

We made it home for dinner, cabbage 'sarma' and crapes, and then packed the bags for our day of skiing tomorrow in Whistler. We left the apartment at 8PM and were on the mountain in two hours. The roads were clear but it was raining the entire way up. I felt exhausted to even walk around the village.

I hope to have an early start on the slopes in the morning.