Today, Thursday, was our day to see more of Vancouver. Yesterday the weather forecast had predicted an overcast but dry day, but this morning we saw the prediction had changed to rain in the late morning. But that didn’t stop us. Online I found a good-sounding breakfast restaurant about 3 blocks away called the Red Umbrella Cafe, so we made our way there soon after they opened at 8 a.m. And the Red Umbrella didn’t disappoint! We each had delicious omelettes with thickly sliced toast and homemade strawberry jam, served by very friendly wait staff. It charged us up so we were ready for the day’s exploration.
We used Google Maps to help us find a bus that could take us to the Chinatown area, to our first destination, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. It was the first classical Chinese garden built outside of Asia, and was opened in 1986. It’s a beautiful walled garden and park, with very large koi fish in its ponds and manicured plantings.
By the time we finished touring the garden it was around 10 a.m. and it had started raining lightly. Our next two destinations were located about 10 minutes away by foot, in Gastown (downtown), so we followed Google’s instructions on how to get there. But a lady bicyclist saw a little confusion in our actions and stopped us to suggest another walking route that would keep us out of the seedier part of town. We appreciated that and followed her recommended route. Our destination was the Coastal People’s Fine Arts Gallery, a collection of sculptures, jewelry, and paintings by Canadian First Nations artists. There were beautiful totem poles and many sculptures that were fun to look at, but way above our price range, running from about $1,000 to $36,000.
After that gallery, we walked a few blocks to a famous First Nation artist’s gallery, the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art. He was a Haida artist, mastering several types of media, who lived from 1920 to 1998. Several other indigenous artists have their work displayed there too.
At noon, we stopped at a coffee shop to decide where to go next. We decided to catch a bus to the Granville Island Public Market in another part of town. The buses run frequently and are widely used here. We rode for about 25 minutes to get to Granville Island, where there were many restaurants, market stalls for food and crafts, and buskers performing music. After walking through the market to gawk at the produce, fish, and other things for sale, we bought some fish and chips and sat down next to a local couple at a covered picnic table outside the market. We had a nice conversation with them while eating our lunch.
The route back to our hotel was via a cute little ferry, taking us across False Creek to the English Bay beach park near the hotel, a 5-minute ride. From there we walked to the hotel and took it easy for a couple of hours.
The neighborhood where our hotel is has a huge variety of small restaurants, offering everything from A&W Rootbeer to Persian food to poutine. For dinner, we weren’t too hungry, so we walked past many of the restaurants but finally stopped at a small Turkish one. There we enjoyed some delicious lentil soup, warm and soft tombik bread, and falafel. It rained while we were eating, but had stopped by the time we exited the restaurant. We walked back to the hotel in the dusk and called it a day.
