Vancouver

After a long but enjoyable flight via Auckland with Air New Zealand (highly recommended), we were met in Vancouver by our hosts, Karen and Tom Watson, with whom we became friendly in Turkey last year.  It was great to see them again and share stories of the last several months and we went to dinner at Horizons Restaurant on Burnaby Mountain, which overlooks the Fraser Valley and provides a great overview of the Vancouver area.  Over the next few days Tom and Karen showed us the major sights of Vancouver and we realised how similar the city and lifestyle is to what we have at home.
We explored the central city area including Gastown, Stanley Park, downtown Vancouver and Robson Street, Granville Island, Cypress Mountain lookout and Karen and Jules explored a couple of the shopping centres!  The Fraser River running from central British Columbia is huge and opens via a delta into the sea through Vancouver and is the longest river in Canada.  One of the highlights of our stay was a day-trip to Whistler where there was still quite a lot of snow on the ground – the day was beautiful and many skiers and snow-boarders were still enjoying the late season.  Whistler Village is most impressive and well planned and the scenery is spectacular.  On the way, we had stops at Shannon Falls and Porteau Cove – a very beautiful area.
Another highlight was a visit to Capilano Bridge, which is a pedestrian cable suspension bridge over a deep ravine in one of the valleys close to Vancouver.  This bridge was originally built privately in the 1880s using ropes and cedar timber walkway and rebuilt twice with steel cables as visitors became more numerous.  It’s estimated to be able to support 47 full-grown elephants and is quite a spectacular sight.  The surrounding forest is now a state park and has a tree-top walkway as well as a cliff-walk.
The city of Vancouver is situated in a most beautiful setting, between the mountains and the sea and we were quite taken with the similarities in the way we live.  Presumably our common British heritage has given us somewhat similar traits although there is a good deal of influence here from their proximity to the USA.  They have some very pleasant wines which Karen and Tom were happy to share with us and we thank them sincerely for their hospitality.
Next stop is Jasper, travelling on the VIA Rail train, “The Canadian”.