Vancouver was the final destination on our trip around America, or specifically, Canada at this point. I didn’t really know what to expect, the only image I had of the country was that of America’s younger brother that it liked to bully and take the piss out of.

We were staying in The Wedgewood Hotel on Hornby St in Downtown Vancouver. We only had a couple days here, and we hadn’t really planned out what we were going to do, so we just set off to the streets and had a wonder. Firstly we visited Gastown, which is in the North East part of Downtown. Apart from lots of nice independant shops and restaurants, we were looking out for the Gastown Clock. This clock tower draws tourists from all over the city, and when we arrived it already had a swarm of photographers taking photos and getting selfies with it. When my step dad told us about it, I had the image in my head of a large, grand old clock tower that was chugging out steam with its bells ringing loudly!

I was slightly mistaken.

This neat little clock was built in 1977 when Gastown was going through a major face lift. It was installed to solved the problem of a steam vent on a popular side walk. Every quarter hour it can be heard playing the Westminster quarters. Good fun!

After visiting the clock tower we hit up Rogue bar, a busy kitchen and ‘wet bar.’ Having spent almost two weeks previously in America being turned down for a drink ninety percent of the time, Vancouver’s drinking age of nineteen was very much needed and well received! We had a couple jugs of Whistler Honey Lager to quench our thirst.

As the evening arrived it was yet again that time, time to stuff our faces. Coming from the UK you get used to a certain level of quality when it comes to Indian cuisine. We are lucky enough to have a huge selection of high quality Indian restaurants and curry houses. This is something we have become accustomed to, and it’s something you don’t tend to see in the States or Canada anywhere near as much. So, at least two weeks since my last Pathia, we selected Salam Bombay on Burrard Street. To start I had Chicken Masala pakora Spice Dusted Chicken Fritters, followed by Butter Chicken for my main course (I’m not ashamed to say I’m partial to a mild and sweet curry, I’ve got nothing to prove!) To accompany this I had mushroom and pea rice with a chicken and cheese nan bread. Everything about the meal was delicious! The portions were just the right size to not leave you feeling uncomfortably full. The service was spot on – fast and friendly staff who didn’t give us the vibe that they wanted us to hurry up so they could get the table ready for the next customers as soon as possible – which was the case we found a lot in The States.

We started the next day heading towards Mount Pleasant. Jack really wanted to visit this area as it is the home to RX Comics. We got on the underground first thing and headed over. We jumped off the Skytrain at Broadway – City Hall station and strolled up towards Main Street. On the way my Mum decided to sign up for a membership to Mountain Equipment Co op, a smart move considering her nearest store is a convenient 2777 mile stroll away. They do ship internationally though I guess. Anyway. We turned up outside RX comics just to be met with a ‘closed’ sign. Ah. With a very pissed off brother trailing behind, we decided to cut our losses and head to Stanley Park. (We later found out that it was in fact open but they had forgot to change the sign around, and to add insult to injury, one of Jack’s favourite Brandon Graham artists had been shopping there that exact same day!)

Jack and I split off and went on our own guided nature trail through the park. The park is just over one thousand acres big, so as you can guess we only brushed the surface of it in the couple of hours we had. We saw some otters in the Lost Lagoon, which was incredible to see them in the wild! They were surprisingly brave and didn’t seem to phased by us. We didn’t make it to Beaver Lake sadly, so the otters were all we got for the Canadian wildlife, bar a few geese. We found ourselves wondering amongst enormous towering trees which transported you to a different world, it was very hard to believe that there was a city less than a mile away from us. We stopped a couple times so Jack could draw some of the foliage whilst I messed around and climbed trees.

Eventually we left the forest and hit The Seawall roughly where Lees trail, Rawlings trail and Stanley Park Drive all allineate. This again was a beautiful sight, how so many different environments and habitats could all interweave. The Seawall is a 22km long walk able pedestrian path that lines Vancouver’s sea front. If we had more time I would have loved to try cycling the whole thing! We continued down the trail and turned up at a public outdoor swimming pool! This I later learned is called Second Beach Pool. I was very envious to see people of all ages enjoying the aqua blue pool on such a sunny day with such a great view and back drop! Sadly we didn’t have our swim shorts with us so had to make do with having a snack form the concessions stand and a sit down. I’m afraid I didn’t get any pictures of the pool but I’m sure you all know what a swimming pool looks like!

In the afternoon we headed over to Granville Island, in the False Creek neighbourhood of Vancouver. What used to be an industrial island for manufacture, is now considered a very hip place to shop, eat and drink. Again, Jack and I split and wandered around taking in all the sights and smells. We spent the majority of our time in the food markets, where you could get almost any cuisine you could think of! All of it was from independent shops, this really reflected the autonomous feel to the island. It took us quite a while and many laps of the market to finally decide what to get. In the end I went for a home made chicken pot pie whilst Jack had macaroni cheese, we followed it with some authentic Italian gelato. Afterwards we had a quick drink and Jack perused an arty craft shop which I think was part of Emily Carr University. All in all a very pleasant afternoon on the island!

For dinner that evening we visited Water St Cafe. This was quite a straight forward meal to be fair. Nice, hearty portions of Italian style cooking. I went for the Spaghetti Carbonara with some added chicken to give it a bit of body. Definitely couldn’t complain! The service was a little bit slow but who can blame then it was very busy! There was a ten minute wait for a table so that’s got to count for something! The restaurant is situated across the road from the steam clock so we were entertained by its bells every fifteen minutes.

Wednesday was our final day in Vancouver and the final day of our holiday. We decided to use this day for a bit of shopping and general relaxing before the journey home.

The first thing I did was go on the hunt for a new pair of trainers. I had noticed quite a few good looking shops on Granville street yesterday on our way to Granville Island. I wandered down there and was nearly persuaded by a pair of classic black and white Vans. However I’m glad I carried on a bit further to Underworld. A sick skate shop selling loads of wicked trainers, tees, socks, watches etc etc. The guys who work there were all sound and one even happened to have come from Newcastle here in the UK where he went to uni. I picked up some slick looking Adidas Lucas Puig trainers in grey with white stripes, along with some maroon Huff socks to go with them. Cheers guys!

Our last meal was a quick (and delicious) lunch at Bellagio Cafe on Hornby Street. This cafe was just a few doors down from the hotel so it was nice and convenient. I had a chicken teriyaki burger. It was served with a slice of pineapple inside and I have to say the two different flavours complimented each other really well! On the side I had some yam fries with BBQ sauce. This was my first time trying yam and it’s pretty good! It lies somewhere between a normal fry and a sweet potato fry. Beautiful

One final thing I’d like to mention before I finish was this really interesting sculpture that I came across outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. This is Gumhead by Douglas Coupland. A large sculpture of the artists head, is has been there over the summer, with the intentions of passers bye to stick their finished gum onto the head, in order to obscure his face and create a truly unique and crowd-sourced piece of art. Read more about it here!

And here’s a few more photos that didn’t fit in anywhere above. Vancouver is such a beautiful city it seems a shame not to share them.

Well, that everywhere we visited so I guess this concludes my posts about our holiday. It was literally some of the best two weeks of my life, and I just want to say thankyou to Mum and Neil for making it all possible. As well as thanks to everywhere we visited, stayed and ate, you all made it an incredible visit.

Till we meet again America,

G