I don’t often post on trips within Canada but I thought I would share some of our experiences from this short visit to British Columbia. Like usual we stayed in the quaint Rosellen Suites hotel near Stanley Park in Vancouver. On Wednesday we took a stroll by the lost lagoon until the path changed into the sea wall that lead us to Vancouver Harbour and eventually to Gastown. It was a lovely walk. We ate dinner in the same Italian restaurant we ate in 41 years ago on our honeymoon.

We spent Thursday connecting with Dale’s cousins and comparing notes on his family history. We followed that up with a second walk along Lost Lagoon until we reached English Bay. The paths were peaceful and it was hard to remember we were in a large city.

One of the wonderful parts of our walks along the Pacific shore is the diversity of languages we overheard. This ethnic diversity was also evident in the options we had for which cuisine we could choose for dinner. We decided on a lovely Persian restaurant before calling it a night.

On Friday we walked along the shore of English Bay and took the False Creek Ferry to Granville Island.

We wandered through the shops on the island and stopped for refreshments at the Granville Island Brewery. Our next stop was the Vancouver Fringe. We saw Behind the Wall: a musical at the Waterfront Theatre. It was not great – ranking in the top 5 worst Fringe plays we have ever seen. However, the risk of witnessing plays that are brilliant or bitter failures is what Fringing is all about. This Fringe is so much smaller than Edmonton’s. They are both 10 days long, but plays only begin at 5pm. By the time our play ended Granville Island had transformed from a regular tourist site to a genuine Fringe playground.

We got to see parts of Granville Island we had never seen before and had a lovely dinner at the Harbour Front Hotel. Our meal was delicious. The entertainment was a group of 20+ teenage girls at a birthday party. Many selfies were taken. Despite all the photo taking, the stage was stolen by a lone seal that had all the 16 year olds reverting back to childlike excitement.

We retraced our way back across False Creek and English Bay to our hotel. The walk at night was wonderful and alive with people.

Tomorrow we shift our focus to Vancouver Island and a long overdue visit with good friends.