We were both getting hungry, it was around 10 AM at this point, so we took a quick stop at a McDonald's on Granville for a bite to eat, then from there just went up to Pender St where we took the 19 bus to Stanley Park. At one point along the route, a lady came in with her stroller and three kids. She was talking to them, telling them they were going to the aquarium. So if we got lost we could just follow her. hehe One thing I noticed, as soon as she got on the bus, several people started getting up off their seats to make room for her, the stroller and the kids. And a few others helped her get the kids seated and settled in. I only point this out because having taken the bus in L.A. many years in the past, I would rarely see this kind of behavior, where almost everyone around her would go out of their way to help her. Here, maybe one or two will do so while the rest just mind their own business. lol Another brownie point for Vancouverites! :) Once we got to the aquarium, that same lady helped out some other tourists by showing them how to find the aquarium from the bus stop. Things like these just seem like common sense. You know...help out your fellow man/woman. But living in L.A., a city where at times it seems like it's every man for himself...sometimes I really do miss that feeling of community, love and respect for others.
Anyhow, we finally get to the Vancouver Aquarium and spent probably no more than an hour and a half there. There were lots of nice exhibits, fishes and animals of all sorts. I love animals, so I really get into all that. I had fun checking the place out. There were even some dolphins, belugas, sharks and my favorites...the sea otters! It's not a huge aquarium so we were able to stop by each area and then we headed out to look for the Totem Poles. According to my map, they weren't that far from the aquarium. They were just another of several places you can visit within Stanley Park. Unfortunately, what I didn't account for was all the snow laying around! It was covering up a lot of the grass, paths, sidewalks and streets. So I kept getting confused as to where we needed to walk through. lol
We walked along the sea wall for a while. I figured, as long as I follow the edges of the park I can't get lost. Eventually it'll take me back to the entrance leading into Downtown Vancouver. So call it luck, or my excellent navigational skills, but we eventually found the Totem Poles. It's just a little section of the park but if you're in the area, as we were, it's worth hunting them down. We took the touristy photos with them and then just went on our way, because it was getting pretty cold out there at times.
After leaving the Totem Poles, I was still a bit lost. Well, not lost, per se...more like...confused. lol I knew where I was and where I should go, but with all the snow around I couldn't find the right path. So we just kept walking and finally wound up back on Georgia St and found the bus stop to take us back into Downtown. We could've even walked if we wanted, but we needed a break by that point. Plus, we still had the day pass. lol We were back in our room around 2:30 probably.
The plan for the evening/night was to go across the Granville Bridge and visit Granville Island, which we'd heard had some nice farmer's markets and places of that sort to visit. Then from there we wanted to visit the VanDusen Botanical Gardens, which was a bit south from Granville Island. So that was the plan. What actually ended up happening was a bit different...
We took a quick shower and rested for a little bit back in the room before heading out to Granville Island. Having had some navigational difficulties earlier in the day, I tried to make sure I got the right directions and bus info this time. hehe Granville Island was located directly south of our hotel, which was also on Granville St. So I figured we could take a quick scenic route and just walk over the Granville Bridge which would take us to Granville Island. Well...I was almost right. It took us to Granville Island alright...but just over it! hehe For some reason I assumed the bridge went down into the island rather than over it. I hadn't planned for this so I didn't have an alternate plan. I think it was at some point along our walk here that I got a text from Kevin, telling me they were at the Island and would be heading to the Gardens as well. So I responded to him telling him we'd meet them at the Gardens. We didn't want to get even more lost trying to find a way down from the bridge so we just saved the Island visit for another day (though, unfortunately, we never got to go back later on).
We were able to see Granville Island from above, as we walked over it on the bridge, so at leas that was nice. It looked nice down there from what we saw. lol Now we just needed to find the bus stop for bus # 17 to take us to the VanDusen Gardens. We saw one of the buses drive by, so we just followed it to a bus stop and took the next one. The Gardens were pretty much in a direct southward path from our location. So it seemed weird when all of a sudden the bus started to travel westbound. Hmmmm....strange. I checked the brochure and noticed it said "17 Oak" was the bus we needed. We were on the 17 alright. But then I heard the robotic voice calling out street names, saying that we were on "17 UBC". UBC is the University of British Columbia, which is definitely not on the way to the Gardens. lol Juan at first said we could just take the bus and eventually it had to pass by our destination, that maybe it would turn around. But I knew that we were on the wrong route for this line, so I took us off, got us on the 17 back near to where we started, on Granville & Broadway. We walked down Broadway a bit until we reached Oak St, and finally saw the "17 Oak" bus that we were supposed to have been on in the first place.
Finally we reached the VanDusen Botanical Gardens at around 6PM and met Kevin & Sara over by the food area. The whole place was beautifully decorated in lights and holiday cheer for their "Festival of Lights". It literally felt like a Winter Wonderland. I'm pretty sure at one point they even played the "Winter Wonderland" song. hehe We got some hot chocolates and then spent some time walking around with our friends, just hanging out, taking in the decorations and scenery, and of course capturing those special moments with our cameras. Toward the end, we came across this room where a children's magic show was taking place. Sara wanted us to go in and check it out, so we did. Truth be told, I had fun in there. lol The "opening" act were a couple of singing gnomes who I laughed at mostly because of how silly they were. lol They just sang a few cover songs and then the magician guy came out. What I really loved more though was seeing the excitement that the show was bringing to the kids. Some of them literally could not stay in their seats and kept trying to walk up on the stage for a closer look. They'd also yell out in response to the magician and burst out laughing in unison at his silly acts. One poor kid, during some magic trick where she was tied up and was going to be cut in half, ended up nearly toppling over during the bit. At that point I just couldn't stop laughing. lol I know it was probably wrong...but I just thought it was the funniest thing. :)
After the Gardens, we all took a taxi back to the West End. We stopped by a liquor store where Kevin bought some wines and we got some vodka...you know, to get ready for the New Year's festivities. lol One thing I didn't know at that point, which Juan & Kevin pointed out, was that in Vancouver they only sell liquor at liquor stores. You can't get it at the markets or others stores like we do here. You have to go to stores that sell just liquor! The one we went to had a big selection of drinks, all neatly organized by country of origin. Juan & I represented our country by picking up some American Vodka. LOL
After the liquor store, we all went to the Safeway and Kevin bought some ingredients for a salad he was making us for dinner. He'd have to keep asking us what ingredients we did or didn't like, since we can both be picky. lol So that was nice of him to keep that in mind. We then went back to his apartment and he prepared us all a nice, delicious chicken salad for dinner. It seemed pretty easy to make, as I watched him prepare it, and it was really delicious. Definitely the type of food I enjoy. hehe After dinner we all just chilled in his living room, had some wine, listened to music and talked about random things. Juan & I then just walked back to our room at some point and went to bed. We'd made plans to return for New Year's eve and hang out with them. So I was really looking forward to that. :)
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