Vancouver ... first impressions.

We arrived in Vancouver close to 10pm in a very tired and weary state.  We picked up the car from Alamo and then set off for North Vancouver for our accommodation.  The car was great ... a bit tricky to start with as everything was back to front.  The steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car, the indicators were on the wrong side, the handbrake was operated by your foot etc. etc.  Nevertheless, the drivers in Vancouver were great and we had no dramas on our 30 minute drive from the airport through the centre of the city to our accommodation at Nature on Norwood.  On arrival at our accommodation we soon fell into bed and off to sleep after a VERY long day.  First impressions then ... very good indeed.

After breakfast we set off for Stanley Park.  This meant traversing the Lion's Gate bridge (you can just make out the green bridge in the image above).  The original plan was to have a quick squiz around the park, but we ended up spending the whole day there.  We walked through the trees, along the beach and then found the totem poles.  There was heaps to see both in the park and from the park.  Definitely well worth a visit and it did nothing to detract from our initial very positive impressions of Vancouver.

One thing that did intrigue us was the number of large ships anchored in the harbour.  We knew Vancouver was a busy port, but didn't realise quite how busy.  Many industries transport their goods into and out of Vancouver via the sea and there were ships a plenty in the harbour.  Timber, chemical and food stuffs seemed to be the main exports, and ships were coming and going all the time.  Even so, the waters seemed clean and people were bathing in the sea.  The second shot shows a Lifeguard at one of the beaches in Stanley Park, and a few of the ships in the distance.

I mentioned that ships were coming and going all the time.  This was nothing compared to the seaplanes!  Very regular services were being maintained by a variety of operators.  Great fun to watch the 'planes take off and land ... but not sure the 'planes were big enough for me to try.  Perhaps next time?

I'll close this post with an image of the totem poles and a seaplane.  In the meantime I'll start to create an album on flickr for some more shots you might like to view.  Let me know what you think.