Day 97/365 - Vancouver

There was no way I was going to choose any other photo for this day of the holiday...it's hilarious! I love it so much because it's 100% natural, no posing, and it is sums up a large part of Maggie and Calum; Maggie hunting for presents for Bindi, her dog, in a shop specially dedicated to gifts for cats and dogs, and Mr Grumpy, waiting out on the pavement...sorry, sidewalk.

Back to the journal...

After our very healthy Continental breakfast we headed out to get a tour bus around Vancouver. We hoped off after just 20 minutes to check out the market on Granville Island (see above...ha). Somewhere you'd need to spend quite a few hours to fully appreciate.

We hopped back on the bus after a couple hours and stayed on for the full tour (making a note of the location of the shops!). The drivers were full of facts about Vancouver and had all the banter for keeping everyone entertained. Shame I can't remember/be bothered writing all the fascinating down (so I have no forgotten them all...note to self, next time just write them down. Ha.)! There is a hollow stump in Stanley Park which was hit by lightning at some point, and is over 1000 years old, and they were going to tear it down at one point but instead decided to spend £100,000 restoring it to make it structurally sound. That's the only fact I could remember. I clearly just spent 2 and a half hours admiring the views.

Matthew and I headed straight to the shops after dismounting the bus, involving a wee trek up hill, and a pitstop at a cigar shop (for Matthew). Shopping was sadly almost a total disaster, until Maggie and Mary came along and took me to GAP. I realised I didn't pack enough smart dresses for dinner on the cruise each night so wanted to find some (cheap) dresses...who knew GAP would save the day?! I've never bought anything there in my life!

Once we were done the others piled in to a taxi, tired after their trek to the shops, while Matt and I ambled back through the streets of Vancouver, on foot. I got a few snaps of the cute wooden houses I've been loving so much :)

We freshened up back at the hotel and Matthew and I headed out for dinner at The Boathouse with his parents. A delicious seafood restaurant just a couple minutes from our hotel, with views out across the Pacific Ocean. LOVE. I had salmon cooked in maple syrup (cause I hadn't had enough of that already this week...Matthew thinks I'm turning in to Buddy the Elf). It was absolutely delicious! And I thoroughly enjoyed watching the sail boats going about the bay as the sun set. So lovely.