Falling in love with Vancouver

When we arrived at the house in North Vancouver, Lindsay's mum, Vera, had made us a delicious breakfast of fruit salad and yogurt and eggs benedict, although i don't like eggs so I just had the English muffin.
After breakfast Lindsay took us to Vancouver Aquarium as a baby beluga whale had just been born. We were lucky that her friend works there so instead of paying $20 to get in, we were able to walk in for free. It was good fun but I always think it is much better to see these kind of animals in the wild.
We then went to Grouse Mountain which gives you a beautiful view of Vancouver city. We got a cable car up to the top of the mountain, which would normally cost $50 but as Lindsay works there, we were able to go for free. Lindsay had saved us a lot of money by the end of the day! We watched a Lumberjack show which was really good fun...... Sarah and I felt the need to have our picture taken with them at the end of the show.....

Me and Sarah with the Lumberjacks!

And then we took a skyride up to the top of the peak of the mountain where people would go skiing in the winter. The views of Vancouver from the top were breathtaking.

View of Vancouver from skyride

It had been a pretty long day so we headed back home, where we were welcomed with delicious BBQ'd chicken, with rice and salad for dinner.
That evening we went over to Lindsay's friend, Kristin's house for a couple of drinks before heading downtown to a country and western bar, which was surprisingly pretty awesome! Lindsay had asked us beforehand if we liked country and western music, to which we both replied we weren't really sure..... It turns out we really do!

Me, Sarah and Lindsay out downtown

As Sarah and I had been up since 4.45 that morning, we were pretty shattered by 1.30, and as Lindsay had work to go to at 7am, we made our way back home.

The following day, as Lindsay was at work, we met up with a guy called James, who we met in Thailand in Koh Tao and is also from Vancouver. when we first decided to go to Vancouver, we had planned to stay with James, but then we met Lindsay! He took us to a few nice parks, and to a few tourist haunts downtown, before taking us to gorgeous area called Granville Island, which had live bands playing, and has a nice food market, along with good bars and restaurants. It is also down by the harbour, so depending on where you choose to sit, there are some lovely views.
We sat down fir a while and and fish and chips and ice cream for lunch!

After Lindsay finished work she came to meet us and James had this 'great' idea to hire a boat for an hour. We were not too sure at first as to be honest we couldn't afford it, but when James said he'd pay we went along with it! It cost $70 an hour to hire a speed boat but that didn't include insurance and fuel. We had an hour on the boat, which was pretty horrific as James had never driven a boat before and the sea was so choppy, there were times when I thought we were going to capsize. Luckily, we didn't and we all got back in one piece, although Lindsay and I were particularly wet! On top of fuel and insurance, it cost James $110! I can't honestly say i thought it was worth it but he seemed to enjoy it!

Me, Sarah and Lindsay on the boat

That evening, we had a quiet night with a chinese, and watched 'The Bacherolette', another trashy reality TV show Sarah and I have got into since arriving in America and Canada!

It was an early start the next morning as we were heading to Whistler for the day which is about a 2 hour drive from Vancouver. The 2010 winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver, with many of the events being at Whistler. It is a fabulous ski resort, very exclusive, with dozens of 5* hotels. We were lucky in that Lindsay's mum has a timeshare at one of the hotels in Whistler village so we were able to park in the hotel grounds and use their swimming pool.
We arrived at about 10.30, and had a wonder around the village to take photo's. It really is a stunning place, and definitely worth a visit for the day if you're anywhere near Vancouver.

WHISTLER

By lunchtime, we found a perfect restaurant, which just so happened to be advertising Bellini Tuesdays. This meant we could have a double Bellini for just $5! The four of us divulged ourselves in that and had a lovely meal to go with it.

Bellini's

After burning off our meal by walking to the lake we then spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing round the hotel pool.
The drive to and from Whistler has some really beautiful spots so we stopped off at some of those for photo opportunities.

Mountain views.

Canada Day!

With it being Canada Day, Lindsay and her Mum had the day off work, so to celebrate we took a trip to the liquor store, sunbathed in the garden and drank Margarita's all afternoon! We then went to a BBQ in west Vancouver to a family friend of Lindsay and her Mum's. I have never been to a house like theirs. We arrived, and as we walked down into their back garden the first thing i could see was the ocean. You could literally jump into the sea from their back garden, it was incredible. The interior of the house was just as impressive too! Lots of Lindsay's old school friends were there so we met many of them and had a really nice evening. One lady there was originally from Scotland and she was hilarious. Despite her having lived in Vancouver longer than she actually ever lived in Scotland her strong scottish accent hadn't altered at all. She took great pleasure in taking the piss out of me and Sarah all night!
At 10.30 there was a great firework show out on one of the boats at sea. We had a perfect view of it sitting in the back garden. It was a great night, with great food, and was lovely to meet some of Lindsay's friends and family.

CANADA DAY BBQ

Lindsay had work again the following afternoon so we went downtown to do some shopping, or rather, buying presents for my family on Prince Edward Island. I had originally bought all the kids a Hollywood t-shirt each, but someone stole them when I was in San Francisco. They didn't want to steal my camera or purse, just some kids t-shirts! Anyway, I found some nice Vancouver t-shirts to replace them. We went for a nice lunch before Lindsay had to go to work, then as it was our last day, Sarah and I went in search of a florist to buy Vera some flowers to say Thank you.
We met Vera after she had finished work and we all went back to the house together.
I really loved Vancouver, and could've easily stayed longer. There's so many things to do, and with all the mountains, the scenery is stunning. It reminded me a lot of New Zealand. Hopefully I will be back there in the not too distant future. It would be great to go back in winter and do some skiing.