Vancouver (Day 1)

Ross and I got back from vacation yesterday and I'm still missing Canada! We flew into Vancouver Tuesday and spent about 24 hours there before meeting up with my parents and driving to Whistler.

a very small segment of the Vancouver skyline

Vancouver is a huge, huge city. Much bigger than I expected and very European, according to Ross. Once we checked into our hotel, we wandered into Gastown a few blocks away and Ross found a lunch spot. We ate a late lunch at Meat & Bread on Cambie St. and we were blown away.

The food was SO fresh and delicious. They have about 5 sandwich offerings each day, including a special which changes daily. On Tuesday I think the special was lamb with garlic aioli and kale slaw. It was truly outstanding. Ross had his sandwich on fresh bread, and mine was piled into a bowl.

We walked away with full bellies and renewed energy. Good thing, because we spent the next few hours walking. We walked from Gastown to Stanley Park and back. Vancouver is a huge pedestrian city so we weren't alone, but I did start to wish we were on bikes after a while.

divided bike lane!

We stumbled across some fun stores, and even a closed off street filled with people eating and chatting.

After a while, the city noise died down drastically from one block to the next, and we knew we were approaching the park.

Sadly we didn't have the time or energy to do Stanley Park justice. It's a huge park with numerous bike and foot trails, but we mostly stayed on the short path around the lagoon. It was beautiful nonetheless. I started to grow quite jealous of locals who got to run or bike here daily.

The park's greenery was quite diverse and it wasn't hard to believe that we really were in a coastal temperate rainforest.

On our way to dinner, we stumbled upon Ayoub's Dried Fruits and Nuts. The fanciest snack store ever. So fun!

We eventually made our way to Raincity Grill for dinner. The restaurant supposedly pioneered the local food movement and the 100-mile tasting menu. We opted for simple, but delicious, dinners before walking back to our hotel. The restaurant overlooks the ocean, but sadly we didn't think to walk a few extra steps and stand on the beach.

We took a different route home and saw a lot of cute condo buildings and an urban garden.

We finally made our way back to the Victorian Hotel hours and hours after setting out. So tired, but so happy.