Two more walks at Vancouver, and the trip home
After a crazy day in Vancouver on Wednesday (April 15th), Thursday and Friday were relatively quiet. Cathy and I went for a walk to Stanley Park on Thursday afternoon, I went for another early-morning walk on Friday, then at noon on Friday we started for home.
Thursday began with glorious light at 07:00 – the cloud-filtered streams of sunlight that many people call some version of “god beams.”
It looked like a ship was on fire in North Vancouver, but it seems to have just been dust from grain loading.
From our room we could see this intriguing tower under construction to the south. With floors jutting out all over, it will certainly have a unique look.
We decided to go downstairs to the H2 Kitchen for breakfast. I initially balked at $49 for the buffet, then when coffee and the smoked steelhead Benedict I wanted came to $42 it was an easy choice. Yes, I ate all that! Plus a bit more 🙂
Two items on the buffet deserve special mention. First, I have never had smoked salmon that’s better than the smoked steelhead here. And the honey that comes from six bee colonies kept by the hotel is simple amazing. A croissant loaded with it was on my small second plate 🙂
After breakfast was finished, I went back and got a photo of the H2 Kitchen.
Doing some more hotel exploring, I discovered The Westin Bookshore lending library tucked in a quiet spot behind the pollinator garden. The design is a tiny replica of the personal saunas around the pool.
The garden along and behind the pool is particularly beautiful.
Behind that garden is a lawn and raised seating area with a fireplace. An information panel describes the bees that produce the honey – a total of 100 lbs from each of the six colonies per year. I asked three staff members for more information about them – mostly “where are they?” Nobody knew for certain, other than the fact that they get moved for the winter. There are indeed several concrete pads behind the information panel. In season, a webcam broadcasts live from inside a hive.
Here’s the seating area. It’s very close to the bee area, but the bees are from Europe and the panel describes them as being gentle by nature.
I convinced Cathy to go for a walk in the afternoon. We would take breaks whenever needed (there are benches everywhere), and turn back wherever she wanted. It was excellent – we made it almost to the yacht club – just over 4 km by the time we got back to our room. I took few photos, but a couple of harbour seals keep us interested in both directions.
The seals were feasting on these tiny fish which were gathered around the outlet of a small creek that flows into Coal Harbour. I don’t know what they are.
Neither of us could guess who this statue along the Stanley Park road might be honouring. We certainly never would ave guessed that it’s Robert Burns. Unveiled on August 25, 1928, this was the first statue erected in Vancouver. It was commissioned by the Vancouver Burns fellowship with help from the Scottish Orchestra and the Vancouver Scottish Choir. It’s still odd 🙂
Wow, what a perfect afternoon!
It was cool to see two of the Royal Canadian Navy’s eight Orca-class patrol vessels (PCTs) fuelling up at the floating gas station. PCT #58 is named Renard. Built in Victoria between 2004 and 2008, they serve as training and surveillance vessels.
That evening, we met one of my nieces for dinner at Cardero’s, next door to the restaurant. She had booked a table out on the deck, which is quieter than inside. All of our meals were extremely good (Cathy and I both had seafood fettuccini), as was the service. After 90 minutes, though, my brain crashed. An attempt to recover on a bench outside was unsuccessful and both of them helped me get back to our room. I need to acknowledge that situations like that are still a recipe for failure even almost 7 years after my accident 🙁
On Friday morning, I went for another early walk. I left the hotel just before 05:00 with a destination in mind – English Bay.
I really enjoy the feeling of the city when it’s silent.
Yes, that was the start of the views I wanted. English Bay is lined with sandy beaches, very unlike the waters of the harbour.
Looking back at the Burrard Street Bridge, my favourite bridge in Vancouver due to its Art Deco style and adornments. It was built between 1930 and 1932.
I was very surprised to hear and then see two boats full of rowers – hard at it at 05:40! That’s hard core 🙂
This sculpture on Sunset Beach, “217.5 Arc x 13,” was created by French artist Bernar Venet and was acquired in 2007. Consisting of 13 unpainted Corten steel arcs, it weighs 5,550 kg (12,125 lbs). The towers in the background were in the early stages of construction the last time I was down here.
This is my favourite photo from this walk. It was so beautiful, so peaceful.
The artwork in the foreground is some sort of running promotion – text on it says “Stunning Running. RunVan.”
The concrete Art Deco English Bay Bathhouse was built in 1931 – a complete interior restoration in 2002 won the Parks Board an Award of Recognition from the City.
By 06:10 it was light enough to see the colours of the flowers along Beach Avenue.
Berkeley Tower, built in 1958 at 1770 Davie Street, is recognized as one of the first modern residential towers to be built in the West End. A mural by Canadian artist Douglas Coupland wraps around all four sides.
“A-maze-ing Laughter” is a set of 14 bronze statues created by Beijing-based artist Yue Minjun. Cast in concrete around them is the comment “May this sculpture inspire laughter, playfulness and joy in all who experience it.”
Vancouver quickly wakes up at 06:30 and I wasted no time getting back to the hotel from there. The sun rose over the North Shore mountains as I arrived.
That walk logged as 5.86 km, 8,654 steps. It was a really nice way to start the day before flying home to the snow.
While we we having our simple muffin-and-coffee breakfast in our room, one of the Hullo ferries pulled up to the floating gas station. There must be massive fuel tanks in the water under the station.
Cathy did well enough on the 4-km walk that I suggested we could walk the 2 km to the Canada Line rather than taxi back to the airport. That worked fairly well.
We were booked on the 2:25 Air North flight, and had arrived very early as usual. Boarding the plane, I was pleased to see that it was one of the Boeing 737-800s – the nicest planes in the fleet.
Taxiing to the runway…
There were a few breaks in the clouds, but it was very misty so there wasn’t much to see, much less photograph.
Descending over the Whistle Bend community, the most common approach.
The final photo from this trip is just a portrait of the plane that brought us home – C-FNYU.
About The Author
I’ve often heard very complimentary opinions about Vancouver, BC, prefaced with the exorbitant price tag on cost of living there. It’s on my mental list of places I’d yet like to visit.