Vancouver . . . (click here for link)

I made it!!!!! I finally arrived in Canada!!

This is a delayed update as I only had 30 minutes in a library in Vancouver and far too many people to contact so here goes . . . . .

For those with google earth, I stayed with Steph at Nelson Street, Downtown. This is right in the heart of Vancouver's main city area. The main road is Granville Street where there are theatres, clubs, bars, restaurants and just entertainment galore.

I had a wander down Robson street a few times which is Vancouvers equivalent of Oxford Street, although the buildings weren't as tall, and I spent some time of my first full day at Granville Island, which had a huge food market and lots of arty shops, and then English Bay Beach, which was beautiful!

Vancouver is very much a place for aspiring actor/esses and there are heaps of films and programmes shot there such as X Men, Free Willy, X Files, Smallville, (can't seem to remember any more!). Its a great place with lots to do and I would really recommend it for a holiday.

I had a wander around Stanley Park too, which is huge, and if you ever go, hire a bike or roller blades and go round the whole thing. Its worth it, it was a long walk and I cut across half way through!!!!

One thing I noticed about Vancouver is the amount or Oriental people there. They really are a huge part of the community. We headed down to China Town on the Friday night too, which had an open air market, kinda small, but really cool to pop along and see.

The only place to avoid in Vancouver is East Hastings!!! There is a huge crack problem and is right there on the streets! You turn a corner and the pavement is lined with people flailing around with needles in their hands! Not nice and don't go there with kids!!! Apparently this is due to the rehab centres and shelters for people to do drugs indoors! Not nice!

Gastown is right around the corner from this area, and is a really trendy place to go right now. Its quite pretty and has a steamwork clock (read the brochures for history) and a statue of Gassy Jack. I would recommend not to go any further once you get to the statue.

We also headed off to north Vancouver and walked across and around the Capilano suspension bridge which is over a huge canyon and surrounded by a rain forest. Very nice, there are more pictures on my flicr account!!