I made it to Vancouver, Canada. It was a long day getting here. I managed to get just 4 hours sleep after driving back from Michigan. The Big Blue Van airport shuttle folks picked me up at 3:15 in the morning and got me to Reagan National Airport in good time. From there, I had a nearly 3 hour flight to Houston, a 1 hour layover and a 5 hour flight to Vancouver. My travel agent arranged for a driver to pick me up at the airport and, he was waiting once I finished customs and immigration. The drive into Vancouver was just 30 minutes.
The Listel Hotel has lived up to its reputation for being artsy. It is filled with art. The hotel staff are nice and helpful. The location ISN'T the best if you're going to do a cruise out of Vancouver. My friend Harvey and I walked to to the cruise ship terminal and, we realized real quick we weren't going to do that lugging our suitcases. The taxi fare supposedly won't be more than $15 Canadian. We'll find out for sure when we take the taxi this morning.
The Vancouver cruise ship terminal is impressive. It can reportedly handle 4 cruise ships at 1 time. I think the most I've seen here was 3. I spoke with a person named Brett who told Harvey and I what we had to do upon arrival at the terminal. I'll post that procedure after I've gone through it myself so other travellers will know what to do and what to expect.
Yesterday, I used the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off service to sightsee Vancouver. It worked out well. I rode the bus through its entire route so I could hear all the narrative then, I decided what particular sights I wanted to see. I decided on Stanley Park and the Sun Yat Sen Chinese gardens. Stanley Park was really neat. It has a collection of 7 totem poles representing the various Indian nations. It also has dense forest and stunning trees. Lastly, it gives some great views of the Vancouver skyline at certain points. I was really glad I checked out this park. The Chinese garden was a nice quiet oasis in the city. There are 2 Chinese gardens you can visit. The larger classical garden has an admission charge but includes a guided tour of the garden while the smaller garden is free.
During my stay in Vancouver, I've eaten at 3 places - The Irish Heather, The Top of Vancouver and O'Doul's. The Irish Heather is a fantastic Irish pub with an astounding choice of single malt whiskies (over 100 I believe). I particularly enjoyed the steak and Guinness pot pie I had there. The Top of Vancouver restaurant is located at the top of a tower that rotates and looks over Vancouver. It offers great views of the city. The restaurant rotates completely around once every 60 minutes. Service was outstanding at this restaurant. The restaurant isn't cheap but, the food is very good. I had some excellent calimari and escargot for starters. My seafood melody main entree was very good. I was very pleased to dine at this restaurant as it made a nice finish to my day of sightseeing in Vancouver. O'Doul's is the restaurant attached to the Listel Hotel. This makes it very easy to get to for those staying there. I had breakfast at this restaurant as well as a couple nightcaps. The breakfast was very good though pricey. Service was excellent. The bartender at the bar where I had my nightcaps was really nice. They do have some affordable brews. Surprisingly, they don't offer Molson Canadian lager on draft there. Molson has a large brewery in the city which I passed by during my tour of the city.
Overall, I've enjoyed my stay at Vancouver though it isn't a place I would've visited for just itself. It isn't that interesting to me. If you are going to do an Alaskan cruise out of here, it is worth spending an extra day checking the place out. The city has a number of the big cruise lines stop here including Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Princess Lines and Silversea (I saw their Silver Shadow ship at the cruise ship terminal yesterday). A tour guide on the hop on hop off bus I rode told me the city receives over 1 million visitors a year during the cruise season. I can understand why. The cruise ship terminal itself is located in the center of the city making it an ideal base to see the city from and, it looks like it's easy to board the ships there (I'll know for certain on that later today).
That's all for this installment. Stay tuned for blogs on the renovated Radiance of the Seas and how my Alaska cruise goes. Happy travels all.
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