Pam called the other morning and it was so good to hear her voice. She'd recently returned from her 50th high school reunion, spending time there talking to her friend Siri. Yup. You read that right. She went to high school with Siri! Crazy, right? Should you be curious about it, Pam tells me she is very humble and down to earth in spite of being the voice people turn to all over the world. :)
Our conversation was rambling, while I was ambling, beginning along this stretch of the sea wall.
That would be the Burrard Street bridge which is but four blocks from the Granville Street bridge. That explains why you've seen two bridges in my sunset photos.
We kept talking, and I kept walking, by now on Beach Avenue which is the street we live on. By golly, I'd made it all the way through the West End with her company, coming across this crazy sculpture grouping.
Because we were talking I did not stop to read the description, an activity for another time now that I know I can fairly easily walk to Stanley Park. I made it!
I say fairly easily because Beach is mostly flat, instead of how I am always having to walk uphill to do my shopping and pretty much anything beside walk along the shoreline. A few of the streets are harder than others, Thurlow for example is a killer, or at least it is to this old lady. Richards, which I will be using shortly to go to the dry cleaners, is not so bad. for which I am grateful. It is no San Fransisco; at the same time it is no Orlando with our appealing flat streets.
This whole city is set up beautifully for walkers, as well as bike riders. In this path leading into the park it appears the bikers take precedence as the pedestrian path is kind of tiny. Then again, I'm not so big. Nor are most folks here, mostly slim and trim with a large person being the exception rather than the rule.
I walked along this path until I came to something I'd been wanting to see for myself. Below is called "Second Beach," a name I find really either interesting, or crazy, or maybe both. A large public swimming pool is on the left. There is a "Third Beach" which I've yet to come across.
To a Floridian, the beaches are barely pretty, but perhaps I'm biased? I walked around a bit, grateful to find a restroom. Because I drink several cups of hot tea every morning, I am generally in search of a restroom when I am out and about. A little more on that later. Because I knew I had the nearly two mile walk home, I didn't explore as much as I might; again, another time. I did see what looks to me like turning Maple leaves. Already?
I left the park and found myself on Denman, the main drag of the West End. Happily, I came across a produce market where I finally bought some Italian Parsley. They probably have it at one of the many places I've learned to shop, however, I can't remember seeing any before. They also had local bing cherries-- they went into the shopping bag too.
Speaking of the shopping bag, was I ever wishing, by the time I got back to the condo, that I had brought along my exciting new purchase. Ta da!
This little beauty is one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Costco because, although I'd seen some in a few stores, none of them were as well built as this one. That $45 purchase may be the best thing I buy during our time in Vancouver! Monday I took that baby out to Winners, which I don't know what I would do without btw, and bought all manner of things for the house. Let's just say the trip itself was a winner!
Back to the Stanley Park walk, on the way home it occurred to me that I preferred the dead grass color to the sand color of the beaches.
I took a break from writing and walked to meet Bruce for lunch in Gastown. We first stopped at a place Graham took him to during the week because he claimed they served the best poutine in town and I wanted to try it. Turns out when we got there they were only serving brunch which wasn't what we had in mind. Next door I checked the menu and liked both their offerings, and their name...Peckinpah! More on that in another post, but I just had to share this crazy experience....remember the folks who gave me the eclipse glasses on the ferry? If you can imagine, they came into the same place for lunch!! What are the chances in such a big city? Pretty darn small!
Back to our regularly scheduled programming...
The sun keeps on shining and sometimes too much! In spite of blinds on every window...
It is most definitely a sunset loving persons dream spot.
Thinking of the condo, a fire alarm test is scheduled for September 8, and while reading the notice, something unusual caught our attention. There is neither a 13th, or 14th, floor in the building, nor is there a 4th. Don't know why there is no 4th, but I did learn that there is the usual suspicion regarding the number 13, and Chinese people feel that way about the number 14. Now you know too. Further, they call each unit a strata lot which is so strange to me. And there are tons of rules, one of which apparently, or so they claim, we broke. Receiving a letter in our mailbox, the strata honcho claims we let Baxter pee on one of the columns leading into the building on August 7. I was not a happy camper because they threaten you with a $200 fine. Someone turned us in! Or so they say. I have never let him pee on one of the columns, and I'm pretty confidant Bruce hasn't either. I sent an email response stating the above, and heard back from him that they will consider it at the next meeting!! I'll let you know the outcome.
The night Bruce was gone I walked down to Sunset Beach to see the sunset without a bridge in the way, this one being the Granville Bridge mentioned above.
Loads of folks have the same idea, sitting on the logs waiting for the sky show to begin.
Wouldn't you know it, the previous evening sunset was so much better!
Back on the streets the following day, I came across this welcome sight!
Unlike in Paris, where you have to pay, this one was free. I checked it out for future reference. A real toilet, not some weird hole with blue water!
I also saw another piano player....
and if you look closely, way in the back there, you will see a tent housing one of the gazillion homeless folks who set tents up wherever they want without repercussion. We walked on a street today with a bunch of homeless folks and Bruce actually saw one shooting up. How I missed it I can't say. While I was talking to Pam about the homeless problem she expressed surprise what with all of the government assistance available. Which is true, however, reading one of a myriad of free newspapers scattered in boxes around downtown, I learned that a serious addict can spend up to $500/day on drugs. To say it is super sad is an understatement. Further, there have been more than 250 overdose deaths already this year. Compare that to 265 for all of 2016, and you can see the problem is only growing. Because Vancouver is the warmest place in all of Canada, they find their way here, or so I've been told.
People seem to have learned to ignore them going about their business frequenting places like this crazy shop....Japanese cream puffs is what they sell.
Something pretty I came across on Cambie Street.
Whereas most all of the houses in the part of Vancouver where we live have been torn down and replaced with high rises, these three Victorian homes from the late 1800's, when Vancouver was a new city, have been restored.
Finally, I stopped in for lunch at an A & W on Robson Street and I wish I could say it was good, but I can't. Well, the root beer was good.
I intentionally shot this to include the self ordering machines in the background, sort of WaWa style. Don't you just bet we'll be seeing this in all kinds of fast food places before long.
New stuff just keeps on appearing.
yours truly,
Gail
p.s. My legs are good but boy do my feet hurt.
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