Vancouver

Gastown

After Kamloops Kevin and I head off to Vancouver for some adult time away which is wonderful having been on the road with the kids for 2 weeks we are ready for it. I wasn't really impressed with Vancouver in winter it was very cold and wet, low clouds and pretty dark so we weren't expecting to go back, I am now so glad we did it really is a beautiful city so clean and well organised. Kevin and I spend our first night walking along the water and I am so excited to see the sea at last if there is one thing I really miss is the smell of the ocean and the sand. We have a lovely dinner in a pub by the beach (this reminds me of Manly) and then walk around Stanley park which is a huge park out on the headland of Vancouver.

The next day we decide to hire bikes and ride the bike track around Stanley Park and Vancouver, I have never seen such an amazing array of bike tracks in a major city there are people everywhere on bikes or roller blades, and its sunny and warm and just beautiful, we are very impressed with Vancouver. On our ride we go through a very seedy Chinatown which is actually quite desperate and lots of homeless people, we then ride into an area called Gastown which was lots of fun and very pretty we see this crazy bug all decorated and a clock that steam toots on the hour. We go to dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant that night and enjoy our first decent seafood in Canada.We travel to the restaurant in these cute little water taxis I call them teabags floating in the water.

The next day we get the kids and take them on the bike ride which they really enjoy and we go to dinner in Gastown at the Olde Spaghetti Factory which is fun Kevin keeps getting beggars tapping him on the shoulder for money and the kids see another side of life that they don't particularly like but its good for them to experience. We are actually struck at how many homeless people we see in the big cities in our travels there are more than we have ever seen anywhere else in Australia.