Alaska 2006

September 22-24 - We docked in Vancouver by 7 a.m.

Vancouver is the last leg of our trip. The weather held up very nice for us here also. Vancouver is a really interesting and beautiful city. We also took a tour to Victoria and Bouchart Gardens on Vancouver Island. The tour started at 9 a.m. at our hotel lobby door and ended about 9:30 p.m. at the same door. We had a very nice day. We flew home on the 25th.

Vancouver at 6:30 a.m. There is a building in the background that looks like sails for a roof...
that is the Canada Centre and the wharf where our ship will dock.

Tankers waiting to come into port.

Art Deco theater just around the corner from our hotel. We were in the entertainment part of town.
It is a little run down, but showing signs of resurgence. Many stores and businesses are
being remodeled or are restoring their buildings. A couple block south of the hotel, the warehouses
were made into upscale restaurants, offices, stores and lofts. We had $20 - 10" pizza one night.

Dun, na, na, na, na, Batman!

Reflections of the city.

A movie set with shooting the scene in progress.

Beautiful day in the park next to the bay.

Our ship is still docked there. It is getting restocked and getting the ship ready for a short return cruise up to Alaska.
The season has almost ended. The ship will make that short cruise then they will be on their way to Hawaii.

Flags of all the provinces in Canada outside the Canada Centre where our ship docked.

There were a lot of buildings with "green" roofs.

It is my turn to have a little fun. This Apple store is called "Mac Station" and is a smaller version of the store.
I bought another memory stick for transferring my images for backup.

You might have known we would find one!

We are on our way to Granville Island for an afternoon at the market.

Wonderful view of an art deco bridge we rode the bus over to Granville Island.

Testing some good beer at the Granville Brewery.

Me - Karen E. Glass... hmmm....

We opted to pay to see the Classic Chinese Garden. Our tour guide explained how each item in the garden
wasn't just put there by chance. Each was brought over from China and placed in its spot for a particular purpose
which will create harmony and peacefulness in the sense of Yin & Yang.

Hard to believe each feature is meant to give the garden spirits places to play or hide. This would keep them from
coming into the houses to bother the people.

Each square on the patio is made up of small pebbles -- yes, they were brought over from china also.

Just one of the many rock formations brought over from China to be placed in this spot.

One of the many ferries going back and forth from Vancouver city to Vancouver Island where the capital Victoria is.
It was a gorgeous day for a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride. The ferry held huge tractor trailers, big tour busses, cars, motorcycles
bikes, and all the people who drove these vehicles.

A harbour bear.

The parliament building.

Captain James Cook statue in the harbour at Victoria, BC.

In honor of Capt. James Cook.

The once was the main entrance of a maze of passageways and secret escape routes.
Some more information.

In some places this alley is less than four feet wide.

What is this?

Harbour boats at Victoria, BC.

We were excited to tour these gardens.

The idea.

This was a quarry?

What a wonderful way to use an unsightly quarry.

Wonderful fountain to get our picture near.

Topiary deer tucked under the trees.

Another part of the sunken garden.

Lily pond at Buchart Gardens.

Bob and his piggies... although I think this looks more like a boar. Not the ponie, silly.... look further back.

This was such a nice fountain.

Walking through the Japanese Garden at Bouchart we came to this back bay...
I guess it was another way for ships to bring in provisions to the Mansion.

One of the beautiful fountains in Bouchart Gardens.

A couple of roses still in full bloom. A lot of them are already starting to show signs of frost.

Back in Vancouver.
We had lunch in this old trolley which sits in the middle of an Italian restaurant in Gastown.

A section of Gastown, where Vancouver started. Close by the name "Vancouver"
was decided by a few men over a few beers.

Gassy Jack, the founding father of Gastown.

The Gastown Steam Clock

Amazing what people can invent. And it still works great.

Piggies hanging in back window.... That's all folks!