Today was our urban hiking day! It is the day that earned us the most steps and kilometers travelled by foot. Michael had several places he wanted to see. We started with Stanley Park. I'm not sure what Michael was expecting, but it certainly did not match with my expectations. We parked for the day at the Southwest corner of the park and started to walk around the Seawall. Michael's sheer frustration became quickly clear as his intention had been to be in a more urban environment and not ANOTHER nature walk! Michael had planned a quick in and out to cross the park off his bucket list, not to circumnavigate the whole park. We compromised and chose a path that cut straight across the park as I really wanted to see the Totem poles.
We then made our way into the city proper. As we walked along the harbourfront we came across filming of some sort. We continued in to the city as we all gaped at some of the more interesting architecture. A quick pitstop at A&W for lunch was our first fast food of the trip! Then we made it to Fly Over Canada. A multi-media immersive ride that Michael had been planning for weeks. Situated right next to the Disney cruise ship, this ride offers the opportunity to experience Canada in eight minutes. Amusement park like chairs lift and tilt into a 20 m spherical screen for a full 360 immersive feel. Wind, mist, and scents complete the experience. Going in with lower expectations, it was actually pretty cool. Michael, who had rather high expectations, was not disappointed.
We continued East towards gastown. We found the steam powered clock. We also found police running with significant fire power, police dogs, and yells to clear the area. We ducked into a nearby store for a few minutes. By the time we came out, all the commotion was over. Not entirely sure what we had wandered into the middle of, but as far as we know, everything turned out well in the end.
We continued walking south. We saw one of the homeless encampments and took a turn Westward. We passed by the old and the new public library. Chris and I had fond memories of visiting Chris's friend Ian in February of 1999 and we had taken a photo at that library. An old school photo, with film that we had to wait weeks to be developed!
We turned west here, window shopping as we passed the shopping district. We saw the residential school memorial set up at St. Peter's Fireside Church, as well as some Black Lives Matter installations.
After more than 6 hours of walking over 15 km across Vancouver, we had looped back to Stanley Park. Later that evening we met up with ex-roommate Ian and his son for dinner in North Vancouver. We walked down to the waterfront and strolled down memory lane. Chris was super happy. His favourite thing in the whole world is getting together with old friends!
1 comment:
Great to still have a few things on his list. It will make it more satisfying when he comes back later, to have a few new things to do while he revisits the memories you gave him
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