Last Sunday, we went over to a former student’s college graduation party. This was my first college graduation party for one of my former students, so it was a little weird for me to see students who had just graduated from high school (or so it felt to me) celebrating graduating from college. It was a small group since so many former students were on vacation, but Mer and I had a good time catching up with Kristen and Josh, as well as meeting some of their college friends and getting reacquainted with Kristen’s family. We could only stay about an hour because we had to head down to our old neighborhood in New Baltimore for another party.

Our friend Anna is in a translation school in Switzerland, entering her third year of her three-year student visa. She was home in Ohio for a couple of weeks, and threw a bonfire party so she could see a bunch of people at once. We are very fond of Anna and her older brother Zach, and like the entire family – they are fun people. Zach is in England with his wife, and so this family of four kids from rural New Baltimore is pretty remarkably cosmopolitan.

We had a grand time at the bonfire. We got to catch up with Anna’s dad, who had recently been rehired at his old company after an 11-month layoff. Anna was her usual tongue-in-cheek skeptical self, and Mer and Anna got to talk for a long time about language. We got to hear about how Anna landed in Switzerland (a semester abroad from Kent State turned into a love affair with the country), and how she loves Europe but has found the high-pressure college system to be a turnoff to translating as a profession.

Sadly, because school started for us the next day, we had to leave earlier than we might have wanted to. I was a little glad, though, because I felt as if we had dominated Anna’s time and was happy that she could pay more attention to her friends her own age who had come to see her. It was a good day to catch up with people we enjoy.

Since I spent all of last week blogging about Vancouver, the week itself will need to be condensed here so that I can get back up to date.

Week of August 8-14th.

Sunday the 8th: Sunday was our twelfth anniversary, which is what the Vancouver trip was all about. Since we got back to the house in the late morning after being up for almost 24 hours, we spent much of the day asleep. It may not have been much on the actual anniversary, but we’ll both take it for the week that led up to it.

Tuesday the 10th: On Tuesday, we went over to Nate’s parents house for a family dinner. Nate is our colleague and friend and one of my running partners, and Nate and Rachel invited us over to Nate’s parents’ place a few weeks back for supper. It was a nice time, so we went back. Nate’s family never even blinked at us being there – they were very friendly and hospitable. The only thing that went wrong was that Mer’s car’s alternator stopped working on the way to Nate’s parents’ house, so we left the car there and Nate gave us a ride home and he offered to fix the car, which he did on Thursday.

Wednesday the 11th: Wednesday was Mer’s last day of summer in that she had to report to school officially on Thursday. I had promised I would take her out for ice cream at Handel’s as an end-of-summer treat, but her car was still broken down. So, I borrowed a truck from Jerry (another friend), and took her to get ice cream. I did at least get a quart of ice cream for Jerry and his family as a thank-you.

Thursday the 12th: All the teachers reported back on Thursday, so CVCA was busy with activity. After school, I went with Nate and “helped” (aka, watched him) fix the car. For a good 30 minutes, we lost a bolt which Nate eventually found by luck and prayer; otherwise, replacing the alternator went very smoothly. I did lose Nate’s watch for him, though. He had taken it off, and so that it would not get stepped on, I hung it on the passenger-side mirror, and we both promptly forgot about it, so it got lost when I drove off. I felt bad about that, but Jason gave Nate his old watch which Nate likes better, so I guess it all turned out okay. Since I got home late, I did not feel like cooking, so I took Mer up to Hudson to Aladdin’s. Mer’s former student Cara was working, and we were her only table (it was 9:00), so we had a pretty good visit with Cara.

Friday the 13th: We had five students and Dubbs and her friend Jen over to the house for an 80s party. I had promised one of my Fools (and one of Mer’s students), Faith, that when we sold the house I would throw an 80s party. It was a good time – we had tons of food, and Dubbs supplied the 80s music (and very funny dancing with Jen), and everyone came in costume (and looked great, in an 80s sort of way). We watched Footloose as a good example of an 80s film, although I was a bit embarrassed in that the movie used a lot of swearing (a LOT), and I had not remembered that. I guess 80s PG-rated films really do need parental guidance.

Saturday the 14th: Saturday I went running with Jason, but it was really hot and humid, so we both struggled. We did manage a 13-mile run, but it was very difficult. After I got home and showered, I took Mer to Wally Waffle for breakfast, where I had them add pecans to my usual chocolate chip waffle. It was good, but I think I like the plain chocolate chip waffle better (and it is two dollars cheaper to boot). I took a nap in the afternoon while Mer went and got her hair done and got her back-to-school pedicure. In the evening, we went to see King Lear at Stan Hywet, on the grounds in the old quarry.

King Lear is Mer’s favorite Shakespeare play, and she knows it quite well. We had recently seen a movie version of the play, as well as had hosted a reading of the play at the start of summer, so I was familiar with the text as well at this point. On the whole, the company did a nice job. The pre-show was Hamlet, the Musical, a tongue-in-cheek 15-minute summary of Hamlet done with music (mostly set to the 60s song “American Pie”), which was much fun and very witty.

For Lear, the actors who played the loyal servant Kent and the loyal son Edgar were both amazing. Kent was a great stage presence, and switched back and forth between his normal speaking tone and a convincing (to me) Scottish accent for when he was in disguise for much of the play. Edgar, who had played Petrucchio in Shrew, also did a great job of switching between Edgar and his disguise of the mad beggar, Poor Tom.

The rest of the cast mostly did quite well. Lear was average – Mer and I both felt he rushed his lines at times, and he was not angry enough at times, when the play calls for Lear to be very angry. We both had problems with the portrayal of the good daughter Cordelia. Cordelia is supposed to be sweet and loving, but the actress delivered her lines in a bombastic way that made Cordelia seem brash. She also rushed lines at times. She did do a nice job of choking back tears when Lear tells her she is to be banished from him and he will never see her again.

We did enjoy Lear very much, and we love the outdoor setting of Stan Hywet, and it helped quite a bit that we did not get rained out this time!

Reflecting back on the vacation, Vancouver was a pretty great place. I loved having a major city with the amenities of a major city so close to nature and natural beauty. Vancouver benefits greatly from the sea and mountains being in and around the city.

Some things that I saw and thought about did not fit nicely in the regular diary-style format that I use, so I’ll mull here.

– Vancouver is very pedestrian friendly. Mer and I found the downtown area very easy to walk in, and when you did need to go farther or faster than walking allowed, Vancouver had decent-to-good public transit. The all-day passes are great, and it is fun to have the option of bus, boat, or train. The seabus was dependable and scenic. The train system was limited in scope, but the trains were fast and clean and ran every 3-8 minutes, which puts most metro train systems to shame. On the downside, the bus system was difficult to work out without internet access. The Vancouver bus system website is great and very helpful, but no one seemed to know where paper maps of the system could be found. The buses also seemed to run sporadically – sometimes it was one bus every 30 minutes and sometimes it was every few minutes, and it seemed hard to tell what the rhyme or reason was.

– Jaunty walk explained. Mer and I loved the little “walk” sign person. It really looked like someone walking jauntily across the street, so we started announcing “jaunty walk” every time the walk symbol came up. Since we took many jaunty walks in and around Vancouver, it became a symbol of the trip for me. For contrast, on a few major streets, the walk symbol was a person who was leaning over in a determined and maybe laboring way. We started calling that one “slog walk” when we saw it.

– How far do we have to go? In a fun and odd moment, Mer’s student assistant from last year wrote to her on Facebook once we got back. She asked if Mer and I had been in Vancouver that week, because she said she’d seen us (or people who looked just like us) walking down the street. She was in a car so could not get our attention, but  it was a very small-world moment.

– Mer and I have become slightly outdoorsy. While Mer and I are not about to buy a bunch of camping gear, we really have become fond of walking in “the nature” over the last few years, starting with the Ohio park system. Most of my favorite moments in Vancouver are based around walking in Vancouver’s parks, even when walking ended up being hours and miles.

– Canada is a great place. I base this on people being friendly, but also on there being free wireless internet in both the Toronto and Vancouver airports. Small things like this make a big impression.

– Ionut and Beata showed hospitality above and beyond anything I could have expected. They are quite wonderful people, and I hope we can get back and see them within a few years. And Andrei is very cute.

– Vancouver is full of fountains. Everywhere we went, there were fountains. There were fountains in parks, in front of apartment buildings, in front of hotels, in front of private businesses. The sound of water was all over the city. It was a really nice touch.

– Next visit, I certainly want to explore the area south of False Creek. I’d also like to go to get out to the islands. A seaplane ride or a scenic train trip to Whistler (three hours away) would be great. I also would like another crack at the Grind trail, and I’m pretty sure Mer would love to see the shows and views at the top of Grouse Mountain. I’m still pretty sure I could not walk over the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I’d like to see the falls near the headwaters of Lynn Creek. I’d like to get more gelato. So, Vancouver still has much to offer.

Saturday, August 8th

Saturday was out last day in Vancouver, and it was the only day it rained. We woke up to rain, and it rained steadily all day. It was hard to complain after six beautiful days, especially where much of British Columbia was on fire with wildfires. The area really needed rain, and this was a good steady rain to help the firefighters. It was all good – I just switched over to the inside option of going to Science World, Vancouver’s small but fun science museum.

We did have to check out of the hotel, since checkout was at 12:00 and we would not be back by then. It had been a good stay, and a good location. Then the hotel really shone in my eyes by agreeing to store our luggage for the day until we came back for it. That was very kind of them, and freed us up for more sightseeing.

First, of course, we got breakfast at Subway, where I was relieved that a new worker was behind the counter so I would not be embarrassed at getting breakfast there four straight days. Then, of course, we walked down to Waterfront Station, and caught our one and only ride on the Sky Train. Vancouver has three elevated train lines for mass transit, all under the name of Sky Train. Two of the Sky Train lines ran together for much of their lengths, and they had a stop right outside Science World. On a sunny day, it would not have been a bad walk from our hotel to Science World, but with the rain, we took advantage of the train. The train was clean and efficient, and even on Saturday was running about every five minutes. We rode the three or four stops to the Science World stop, and headed through the light rain to the museum.

There was a line, but it was not too bad. I decided to take advantage of the museum having an IMAX theater, and so we bought a ticket for admission plus a show, which turned out to be on gold and the history and science of gold. We got to the museum about noon, and the show was at 1:00, so we poked around the main area of the museum.

As I mentioned, the museum is small. Excluding the IMAX theater, the museum is two floors around a central stage area where demonstrations are put on. In addition, there are some special exhibit wings on the second floor. I am told the exhibits rotate out every few months so that people can keep coming back.

The museum was a little crowded, with kids everywhere. I like that kids are into museums, but it can be annoying when you wait in a small line to try an interactive exhibit and a group of little kids rushes ahead of you and just randomly pushes buttons. Several of the exhibits we tried were partly broken (one part or another did not work), and I began to see why with the wear-and-tear they were under from heavy use.

The central stage area was put to good use – during our three-hour stay at the museum, they had four shows, of which we caught three (the science of overtone singing, which I wanted to see, conflicted with our IMAX film). We saw good presentations on electricity and air pressure and another show that I cannot remember). The shows were aimed at kids, but they were still good demonstrations of the basics of the science, and I enjoyed them (and enjoyed being obnoxious by whispering in Mer’s ear everything that was about to happen and why).

The IMAX film was entertaining. It had been over a decade since I had last seen an IMAX film, and they are still impressive. We got in to the theater right at 1:00, so we did not sit up so high as I normally would like to (Imax is better the higher you get up in the theater). It was a good history of gold, and mostly followed a modern prospector who does find his mine at the end (they said $100 million worth of gold had been taken out of the mine since it opened). There were the obligatory fly-overs of mountains and canyons, including my favorite moment. The film mentioned that gold is used in critical electronic systems, like those in airplanes. So, of course, this was a perfect excuse to show IMAX footage of a jet fighter, complete with barrel rolls. Flimsy excuse, but fun film effects. The film was about 50 minutes long, and I am glad we got a chance to see it.

Back in the museum, we wandered over to the special exhibit on hidden and sunken treasure. It was interesting to read about how people look for and find treasure, including some finds that have been in as little as three feet of ocean water. The exhibit included the history of security as well, going into locks and motion detectors. Mer and I were quite happy to discover that the museum even had a treasure hunt going on; you had to find five exhibits based on clues and circle the treasure symbol on a piece of paper. If you finished, you could put your paper in a drawing for a giant chocolate gold coin. A contest, a puzzle, a museum, AND chocolate? It’s as if it was made for us. We had a very good time walking around the museum for about 45 minutes filling out the card.

One exhibit that was also a clue was a one-on-one game where you had to move a ball using your mind. Electrodes in a headband detected brainwaves, and if you could relax more than your opponent, the ball would move away from you and toward your opponent. Since it involved relaxing (read: blank mind), I beat Meredith pretty quickly. We did manage to fill out the whole card, and put it in the drawing, and then we had to go since we wanted to meet Beata and Ionut and Andrei for supper before we had to go to the airport.

We took the Sky Train back to Granville Street and then went back to the hotel to get our luggage. We then had to schlep our luggage back to the Granville Street Station, about four blocks or so. Then, we took the Sky Train the rest of the way down to Waterfront Station, an easy walk when not pulling luggage along behind. We proceeded to our last seabus trip, which made six straight days of being on the seabus, and we also caught a bus on the far side of the bay so we did not have to carry our luggage up a steep hill. It is not much fun traveling with suitcases – they seem to be in the way no matter where they are. Still, it was not a bad trip to the apartment; it just made me glad that we did not have to carry luggage with us all the time.

Beata and Ionut and Andrei were all home, and we pretty efficiently headed out to the car to go to a restaurant. Ionut suggested White Spot, a Canadian chain restaurant with an eclectic but “normal” menu. We had a very good visit, and Andrei showed me many things about his toy car – he is a cute and good little boy. He knows many terms about his car in three languages. I was a little sad at supper in that I was starting to not feel good. At Science World, I had run on an old-fashioned barrel-style treadmill, and I had forgotten to take off my backpack. I have back and neck issues, and the backpack aggravated my neck. It was getting hard to turn my head without pain, and it felt as if I’d pulled a pectoral muscle. I’m afraid I was a bit subdued for supper.

After supper, Ionut insisted on driving us to the airport – his (and Beata’s) hospitality really was quite remarkable. There was not much traffic, so we made good time, and got to cross over the other major bridge over the bay (the Iron Workers’ Memorial Bridge). We got to see eastern Vancouver, which felt more like a big town or a small city. We said goodbye to Ionut and Beata and to the sleeping Andrei, and went into the airport. We had made such good time that we had about three hours before our flight took off. My neck was really beginning to stiffen up, and I was having a hard time raising my head. I comforted myself with spending $10 of my last $20 Canadian on some cookies and brownies at the airport.

So, that was Vancouver. We had a really great vacation, and I hope to go back again someday in the next few years. Our flights back to Ohio were uneventful, and we got home just fine.

We started Friday off with another trip to the Granville Street Subway, and then down to the seabus again. Once across the bay, I thought we could catch a bus to Horseshoe Bay again, but it turned out that I was wrong. There was a bus that left from downtown Vancouver, and I had known that, but I had assumed that a major bus station in North Vancouver would go there as well. I had not wanted to retrace my steps from the Subway (the Subway was two blocks north of Georgia Street where the buses ran), and I liked the seabus, so we had come this way. I quickly looked on my maps and guessed at a bus going in the right direction, and then asked the driver what stop to get off at. Happily, she told me that I could get to Horseshoe Bay, and I just had to transfer at the end of the line of the bus that I was on. We did that, and caught a bus to Horseshoe Bay, but not an express bus (there is that option). The local bus was very scenic, and we got to see breathtaking views and some pretty amazing seaside houses, but the entire hotel-to-bay trip took something on the order of ninety minutes. For contrast, the express we caught later that afternoon coming back took about thirty to forty-five minutes.

We did arrive in good time to catch the next ferry out to Bowen Island, a small island that is only a twenty minute ferry ride out into the bay. I had wanted to get to an island, and I had wanted to get out on the ocean, so this seemed like a good way of doing both in a trip that could be done in a half day or so. We got on the 11:00 ferry, and we stayed up on the top deck to enjoy the views. Once we crested the inner harbor, the wind whipped up pretty hard, but the day was warm, so we were okay once we put on our jackets that we had in the backpack. Overall, the trip was uneventful, but I was happy to have made a ferry trip.

We disembarked, and headed a short distance up the road to a small information center. I picked up a hiking map there, and looked it over. There were two hikes that appealed to me – one around a lake and one to a lookout on a point over the ocean. The guidebook had mentioned the lake walk, so I thought we would start with that and do the ocean walk if we had time.

So, we walked along a path near the bay that also fronted a small lagoon. This led to a small paved road that we walked along for a short while before picking up the forest trail that led to Killarney Lake. The walk through the woods to the lake was pretty in a new way – there were thick ferns growing as undergrowth to the huge tress everywhere. Mer had made the comment that Vancouver forests had a “forest primeval” feel to them, and this one really did feel like something out of a movie.

We had the trail largely to ourselves,  but met a local at a trail intersection. He recommended the lake trail we were headed to, but also mentioned we should take the trail he had just walked once we came back that way. I noted it on our trail map and we continued on our way. We started to overtake a couple that had been ahead of us, but they took a trail that went down to the lake, so I took a trail that climbed slightly up to the lake trail. I was enjoying the forest with Mer’s company, and wanted us to be by ourselves if possible.

We reached the lake trail and started heading clockwise around the lake. The trail took me a bit by surprise. The trail went up and down hills, some of which were fairly steep. The trail was rough in places, and turned out to be shared by mountain bikers (although we only saw two, I still thought they were nuts for riding on a steep, twisting trail populated by hikers). Also, the tree coverage was so thick we could not see the lake. It was largely a walk though the woods, although we finally did come to a lookout with a bench after about 15 or 20 minutes of walking.We used it as a good place to rest and actually look at the lake we had come to see.

After a bit we continued on, and the trail went back to the rolling, no-lake-views trail it had been. However, it soon became a boardwalk and went out into one end of the lake that was swampy. It was full of stark tree trunks and lush smaller plants, and it was beautiful in its own way. There was another bench and lookout at the far end of the boardwalk, so we sat there for awhile and looked back out over the length of the lake.

The walk back along the far side of the lake was much the same – occasional glimpses of the lake, but the trail rolled up and down less. At the top of one small rise I did come across a snake and froze. Mer was behind me and once the snake was gone, she laughed and said she had recognized the sudden halt as an “I have seen a snake” moment.

Most of the way around the lake we came across a small beach where a couple of families (one English and one Japanese) were swimming and relaxing. The beach was really small and the swimming area well-defined by surrounding water lilies. It was a pretty spot.

Our last sit-and-look spot was next to a small dam on the far shorter part of the lake. There was bench here, and sloped rock ran down into the lake. We sat and contemplated, and then returned along the path toward the harbor.

Once we got back to the fork in the trail, we came across a huge group of children and counselors – some kind of camp outing. We hurried along the new trail, as the children were loud and seemed out of place in such a calm area. We did stop close to the group to admire another swampy area full of tree trunks, but then moved on. The noise and bustle of the the group quickly faded. The trail led us into a meadow that included a horse-riding ring. For whatever reason, the trees around the meadow stopped being the fir trees that we had seen all over Vancouver, and instead became deciduous trees. The leafy tress stayed all around the trails in the meadow area, but quickly went back to fir trees as we climbed out of the small depression around the meadow. It was strange.

The camp group followed us along the trail, and we tried to stay out of earshot of them so we could enjoy the peace and quiet of the surroundings. I wanted to take a short detour to see a small falls and a fish ladder. Mer thought I was pulling her leg about the fish ladder, and I was confused. It turns out she had never heard of a fish ladder; they are stepped pools of water to help Pacific salmon jump up over falls to get back to breeding grounds. Mer was delighted once she figured out I was not kidding. So, we headed over to the falls, which turned out to be very small, with little water pouring over them (it had not rained in the area in weeks). However, we did get a good look at the fish ladder, and Mer kept repeating the phrase as we wandered around. The side trip did allow the campers to pass us, so we ended up following them for the rest of the short trail back toward the harbor.

We did decide to check out the memorial garden off to one side of the trail that overlooked the lagoon. The entrance to the garden was an arch with plaques on it that had the names and birth and death dates of the former inhabitants of the island. Island life seems to agree with people – most of the people had lived into their 70s and 80s and some even into their late 90s. The garden was not a garden as such – no flowers or pruned shrubs. It was a series of small, informal paths around trees. We walked along the trail, and then climbed up a huge rock that had a view of a bay and the mountains of the mainland. It was a georgeous site, with sailboats and nice waterside homes and the sun off the water. We stayed for some time, sitting on the rock, and enjoying the solitude.

After the gardens, I looked at the map and then my watch, and made the sad decision that we did not have time for the walk out to Dorman Point. Moreover, after we stopped in at the visitor center to pick up a bottle of water and another brochure that had the ferry schedule in it, I discovered that the town that was a five-minute walk away was supposed to be cute and full of small shops, including a chocolate store. We really needed to catch the 3:00 ferry if we were going to have time to eat once back in Vancouver, and it turned out to be the right decision, but I was sad that we did not have more time on the island.

The ferry trip back was pretty again, and we caught an express bus back to Vancouver. Once in Vancouver, we walked to an upscale Italian restaurant that seemed as if it would be a good treat after the day of hiking, especially where I had forgotten my crackers this day, so I was hungry. We were seated and given menus, and to my astonishment, the food was so upscale that it was all cream sauces and other foods that my body does not handle well. For the first time I can ever remember, I had to get up and leave an Italian restaurant. I felt bad for the waiter, but I also did not want to pay $25 for a meal I would not like.

We wandered off and came across Robson Street (our hotel street) and I realized we were near the Rocky Mountain Chocolate store that I had seen several times, but that had always been closed. They specialized in fancy covered apples, but I was interested in their decorated cookies that looked great. I told Mer I wanted to find a restaurant nearby so we could get some cookies. We found one, and it is kind of sad that it is a chain we can get to here in Ohio, but we ate on the rooftop patio of a Red Robin burger place. Mer and I did both get chicken wraps in a slight nod to healthy eating, but I did feel a little silly eating in a chain. At least the food was much more to my taste.

After supper, we swung by the chocolate store and I bought three cookies – an M&M-covered cookie and two chocolate-chip-covered cookies – and some chocolate fudge. We took them back to the hotel, where we saw a huge bus parked next to the hotel. From some girls in fan shirts we had seen and from things Mer heard in the lobby and elevator, it appears that the Backstreet Boys were staying at our hotel. Another brush with celebrities in Vancouver. Anyway, we went up to our room and washed up a bit, and then headed back over to the Bard on the Beach festival via the Granville Island bus. Since the bus let us off about a mile from the festival, we got to walk along more of the seawall, which was scenic with views of the downtown across the bay.

Since the festival had done such a tremendous job with Antony and Cleopatra, I had decided to come back to catch Henry V in the smaller theater/tent. I had never seen Henry V live before (just the movie version), and I do not think that Mer had seen it live before either. There was a much bigger line to get in this time (I suppose that comes with a Friday evening showing), but since we were going to the smaller theater, we still managed to get front row seats, although they were again stage left.

On the way into the theater, I had see a picture of the actor playing Henry V, and he looked familiar, but I could not place why. Once in the theater, Mer looked in the program and asked me if I knew who Henry was. I said no, and she pointed to his bio in the program. It was Alessandro Juliani, who had played Lt. Gaeta on the show Battlestar Galactica. It turns out he has been acting with the Shakespeare festival on and off for ten years, and is very talented. That was a fun and unexpected bonus to the evening.

The set was very basic – a bare stage onto which a few props were brought occasionally. A center section rose up out of the floor to become a table when needed, and the top could be removed for access to water when a stream was needed. The back of the stage was starkly set in dark metal, with a small balcony that was used as a city wall as needed.

The play went off well. It was acted very well on the whole, and it was entertaining and gripping much of the time. Mer and I put our heads together to try to figure out a couple of minor things that were wrong and why. Mer identified the first one – there was a stunningly regal woman who acted as the the chorus (the narrator). She was poised, articulate, and a huge stage presence. She doubled as the innkeeper early in the play, and she delivered the news about the popular fat knight Falstaff dying. It is a comic speech, full of errors that an uneducated but well-meaning woman would make, but the actress delivered the speech in much the same somber and regal way that she had as the chorus. It just did not work; instead of being poignantly funny, it came across as a state funeral address.

The other thing the play did that was off was the battle scenes, and I identified what was wrong with it. Many of the minor characters doubled or even tripled up roles, playing both English and French characters (the English and French were fighting in this play). The battles were highly stylized, as they had been in Antony and Cleopatra, but in that play, the characters always were Romans or Egyptians, and if you were confused, they carried banners to identify themselves in the stylized battles, and it worked really well. In Henry V, it was not always clear who was French and who was English, and many of the battles seemed more like somber dances. At one point a bunch of men came in carrying longbows, which were an English weapon, so I knew they were English. But then, Henry himself came onstage and started fighting those men. It does not sound like a big deal, but it was confusing, at least for me and Meredith. It did not mar the play much because there was no dialogue in the battles and they were not critical for the play, but it was a choice for the director to have made.

Still, the play was excellent, and some of the actors were amazing, including a boy who did a great job as a boy in the play who served some of the less reputable English knights. Actors in the play often had to deliver Shakespearean English followed by sections of French, which must be tricky in a country like Canada that officially speaks both. If you are wrong in either language, someone in the audience is going to know it. Mer and I were both very happy to have seen the play.

After the play, we walked across the bridge to our hotel again, about a 30-minute walk. We got out our cookies and had dessert. They turned out to be merely okay. I had not known that the toppings to the cookies were held on by caramel, and so the cookies were very very chewy, and while I do not dislike standard caramel, it is not a favorite of mine either. I guess you cannot judge a book by its cover, or a cookie by its toppings.

Thursday, August 5th

Thursday was the first day where I was in charge of the itinerary, and I have to give kudos to Mer. I had no idea how much pressure it creates. I worried if I had the plans right, and if it was going to be a good use of time and money. With Mer in charge, I just go where I am told and have a good time.

We started the day off with breakfast at Subway on Granville Street (again) and then headed down to the now very familiar Waterfront Station and caught the seabus. If I remember correctly (it may have been on Friday instead), there was yet another new cruise ship in dock next door, which was smaller than the previous two, but still plenty big. Anyway, we crossed the bay and caught a bus that took us back to the entrance to Lynn Canyon Park, where we had been on Monday with Beata and Ionut and Andrei. I was glad we were on the bus instead of walking; the trip took about thirty minutes, and had a lot of pretty steep uphills to go up.

I had come back to Lynn Canyon because I had seen in a brochure that there were some cool waterfalls up the canyon, but I could not remember the name. Sadly, the ranger at the information station told me they were not very spectacular. It turns out that she misunderstood me; I found out from Ionut later that the falls are worth seeing, but that they are six miles up the canyon and the ranger probably did not think we would go that far. The ranger did give me a map of the park and recommended a walk around most of the trails in the area (they all tended to be a couple of miles long or less), so I decided to do that instead.

Happily, the walk had us starting out to go south along the canyon, so I got to avoid the suspension bridge. The trail went down some steep steps, some without safety rails, and ended at a small but sturdy bridge. It was still thirty feet or so above the water, but I was okay with this. Mer and I stopped and looked around, and enjoyed the natural beauty both up and down river. I saw a few people in the stream downstream, so I thought it might be fun to try to get down there. We crossed the bridge and started to head south. The trail was immediately much rougher, and as we crested a hill with me in front, I heard a loud cry. I turned in time to see Mer come stumbling toward me. She had caught her foot and was trying to catch herself, but she was stumbling downhill and could not stop. I yelled that I had her, and then almost caught her. She ran into me with a fair amount of force, and I tried to hold her up, but could not. I did break her fall, but she had a slightly scuffed leg and a bruised ego and was scared. She had been in the process of falling for about ten feet and had even had time to think that she might hurt me as she careened toward me. She was much more shaken than hurt, but the incident made me immediately change my mind about going on south along the rough trail. It scared me to think of either of us tripping in the wrong spot along the canyon. I turned around and we went back north, catching up with the much better trail north of the bridge.

This turned out to be a good choice anyway. The trail was very pretty, although it was largely uphill. Mer was game about yet-another-hill, and it was long enough that by the time I got to the top I was sweating. We stayed on this northbound trail for some time, and passed a new in-the-woods water treatment plant that was unexpected by us in what seemed to be the middle of the woods, although Lynn Park is very narrow, so the edge of the park is always close by. After the plant, we came to a parking lot and a ranger station, and a path diverged and went down toward the canyon and an advertised bus stop. We kept on north, though, because I wanted to see Rice Lake and take the 45-minute walk around it.

Rice Lake is a small lake, surrounded by trees and mountains, and is soul-soothing. Or should have been. We made our way to a large dock near a parking lot, and sat down to rest and have crackers for lunch. Nearby was a group of four or five older people, and one woman was talking very loudly about how pretty the park was and then switched to something about the government. It was too loud for the serene surroundings, so we finished our crackers and moved on along the trail around the lake.

The walk was different than I had expected. The trees were so thick it was very difficult to see the lake. There were several vista spots with benches along the path, and we stopped at them to rest and enjoy the view. In all, I think it took about an hour to get around the lake, and then we headed back along the trail to Lynn Canyon.

We took a new trail down to the creek bed, as opposed to the trail that led back to the small fixed bridge. The new trail was cool, with stairs to climb down, and then getting to walk along the stream itself, and it was all very pretty. The bad news is that the trail led back to the suspension bridge. That was not all bad – I wanted to get a picture of Mer on the bridge, and she wanted to cross it to bolster her confidence that had been sapped by the Grind trail and her recent trip-and-fall. Still, I was not excited about having to cross it myself.

We came to the stream near a place called 30-Foot Pool, and so we walked over to it. It turned out to be a deep pool of crystal-clear water that was (I’m guessing) 30 feet deep. There was a small beach here as well, and so there were a number of people here swimming and wading. The more adventurous ones were climbing 10-20 feet up the rock face to jump into the pool. It was entertaining to watch, but I was glad I did not have my swimming trunks, so I had a good excuse not to jump into the pool.

We then wandered a little ways downstream, to an area pretty close to where we had gone wading on Monday. I took off my shoes, gave Mer the camera, and waded out to the middle of the stream. I wanted to sit on a rock and dangle my feet in the water in the small rapids next to the rock. I got to the rock, and turned partway around so I could sit down more easily. As I turned, I looked upstream, and about 20-25 feet away was a black bear. My brain went sort of numb, and then I quickly started planning how to run across a rocky stream bed if needed. I looked over to Mer, and said with surprising calm, “That is a bear.” She looked up and was startled. Happily, the bear was on a mission to get across the stream, and kept on going. As he approached the other side, Mer had the presence of mind to take a picture, and then the people up by 30-Foot Pool saw the bear and started taking pictures. Once I figured out that I was not going to be lunch, I admired the animal – it was very handsome and very powerful looking. As an aside, I guess the park was not kidding with its “Be Bear Aware” signs around the park entrances.

I did dangle my feet in the water, which was very cold. I made my way back to shore, where Mer expressed her relief that I was okay. She did muse awhile and decided that if I had been eaten by the bear, she would have been sad, but could have put on my tombstone Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction (from A Winter’s Tale), “Exit, pursued by a bear.”

We continued downstream, but the path started going back up. We stuck as close to the stream as we could, and so got to see some pretty spectacular views of the canyon as it grew deeper. We stopped at a high spot, but could not see the river below. We could see a lookout on the other side, so I took note of that in case we found a way over to it.

We finally made it back to the bridge. I crossed over, and as I feared, the bridge swayed a lot more since there was almost no one on it. I made it across, but was pretty scared the entire time. Mer walked out and looked over the edge on both sides, and I got the picture I wanted. We then went back upstream a little ways and found the lookout that I had seen. Mer pointed out some rapids where she had seen some teenaged guys shooting the rapids like a waterslide on Monday. It was insane. The things that teens can convince themselves to do is astonishing.

We left the park and caught a bus back to the quay, where we grabbed another bus and went back out to Cleveland Dam, where we had been on Monday. I wanted to walk around the trails there as well. It was still beautiful, even though the day was quite a bit more hazy than it had been on Monday. We crossed over the dam and walked downstream. The path was wide and flat, but pretty steep in some places. It was covered in gravel, so we slipped and slid around a bit. It was perfectly safe, as the canyon was not even in sight from the path we were on. We did get to where the path crossed the stream, and we walked across the fixed (non-suspension) bridge. I was able to stop and admire the view from the bridge, which was great. There was a bench and overlook on the far side, so we sat for a short while, but then crossed back over the bridge so we could stay near the canyon.

We walked upstream for a ways, and came across several pools where people were fishing from the far shore. We admired them briefly and then went on. The trail I wanted to take to see the falls over the dam turned out to be closed, so we turned back toward the pools. Near the pools was another bridge, so we crossed over and walked back down to where the people were fishing. It was a very tranquil spot. We stayed for 5-10 minutes, and saw lots of fish jumping in the pools, but never saw any of them get caught.

We stayed on the far side of the canyon and kept heading back upstream. This meant quite a climb out of a parking lot near the fishing pools. Mer was once again a game soul, and after some labored walking we came back out to the dam. We rested for a short bit and watched the water come over the dam, and then we walked back to the bus stop which took us back to the quay.

We just missed the seabus back in to the city, and the next one was about 15 minutes away. Since we were nearby, I decided to give Beata a call and see what she was up to. She was home, and happy to hear from us, and invited us over. So, we got up and went back to the buses to save ourselves the eight- or nine-block walk up the steep hills of North Vancouver. Just before the bus took off, a man looked over at us and smiled – it was Ionut, and he came over and sat with us. We all got off at the apartment complex where Ionut and Beata lived, and we went in.

Ionut changed out of his work clothes, and Beata asked us about our day while Andrei played with his toy trucks. Ionut came back out and seemed to approve of how we spent our day and also told me the falls I had wanted to see up Lynn Canyon were worth seeing, but 10 km (6 miles) upstream. I’ll see them next time.

We then decided to go out to eat, but had a false start. The restaurant I had suggested from a brochure I had read turned out to be a breakfast and lunch only restaurant, so we had to turn back. We ended up going to a Canadian chain called Fatburger. Not very subtle, but the burgers were very good. We sat on the sidewalk patio and enjoyed the evening. It was a leisurely meal that took well over an hour, and then Ionut insisted on taking us back to out hotel again. We also made plans to have supper together on Saturday, which would be our last day in Vancouver.

My first day of planning in Vancouver had gone pretty well, especially considering how I was not eaten. The tour-director role that Mer usually handles really is no easy thing.

From Sunday’s and Monday’s breakfast experiences with the prices at sit-down places in Vancouver, we decided to try a different approach. We initially tried a crepe place (it was even an “express” crepe place), but after 20 minutes, they told us it was going to be a very long time before they were ready. Apparently, to expect a breakfast crepe at 9:00 am was too early. We wandered down Granville Street, heading toward our old friend, Waterfront Station. We happened upon a Subway along the way, and Subway serves breakfast. Quite good breakfast as it turns out, and for under $10 for the both of us. We were delighted, and were to continue getting breakfast at Subway for the rest of our stay in Vancouver. Good stuff.

After we finished eating, we headed down to Waterfront Station, where we were amazed by the Millennium, a truly huge Celebrity cruise ship docked next door at Canada Place. It is difficult to express how large the ship was. Anyway, we caught the seabus, and then transferred to a regular bus, which took us out to Grouse Mountain. As briefly mentioned in the previous post, Grouse Mountain has a gondola to the top, and once at the top, it has zip lines, and paragliding, and free shows at the top. It is supposed to be the most visited attraction in the Vancouver area.

Back in the 80s, two men carved a walking trail out of the woods up the side of the mountain. According to Wikipedia, they did this without the permission of the owners of the mountain. However, the trail they created, called the Grind, is very popular. It takes most people about 90 minutes to climb it, with the record around 25 minutes. Mer had decided to humor my penchant for climbing things, and we were going to attempt to go up the Grind.

This is no small feat. The Grind is a two-mile long trail, and climbs almost 2,800 feet, with an average grade of 30 degrees. It is steep. It is really steep. (It essentially involves climbing rough and rocky stairs for two miles.)  We started climbing cheerfully, and made decent progress. After a few minutes, Mer was breathing quite hard and we were both sweating quite heavily. I am in the middle of training for another marathon, and have much longer legs than Mer, so I was doing okay with keeping my breath, but I certainly was working. After a few more minutes, we needed to stop to rest. It was then that I began to notice that no one around me was smiling. The trail was a steady stream of panting ans sweating people who looked as if they were not having much fun. Mer dubbed it “The stairmaster from Hell located in Heaven.” It certainly was beautiful – the trees were very pretty, and they stretched out in all directions.

We continued on our way, and we had to stop for rests more often. After about 45 minutes, we got to a sign that said we had finished one quarter of the trail, and that the remaining trail was very rough and difficult. At that point, Mer declared that she was beaten. We later ended up calling the mountain Caradhras, after the mountain that made the Fellowship of the Ring turn back in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books. Mer was just deflated by the sign – she said she probably could have made it if it had even said we were one third of the way there. Since her stomach was cramping, I was more concerned about her health than the trail. I could not handle the huge suspension bridge; Mer could not handle the Grind. We all have our limitations. We did make it about 1/2 mile, and climbed about 900 feet, and we still had to go down the rough trail! It took another 30-40 minutes to get down. Mer left it up to me what I would like to do – go up the mountain on the pretty expensive gondola (of which I was very nervous), or got back to the city. We went back to the city.

Once we had returned to the city via bus and seabus, we walked over to Canada Place to check out the cruise ships docked there. Then we went back to the east toward a neighborhood called Gastown. Gastown used to be run-down, but now it is a pretty vibrant shopping and dining district. It has a famous clock run by steam, that looks really old, but is only 40 years old or so. It was a good place to window shop, although we did not tarry. Mer is not much of a shopper, and I was not in the shopping mood for the entire trip – too much to do to go shopping. We then turned south and went through Chinatown, passing through two or three blocks of rougher areas along the way (we still never felt threatened).

Chinatown was a fun walk. There are hundreds of foods and smells that I cannot identify along the streets. We took a short walk through the public Chinese garden of Sun Yat Sen Park, which was small but pretty. Just outside the park, we noticed movie trucks again, and so we asked what was being filmed. It was a spin-off of Fringe called Human Target. We could not go for a walk without hitting a film crew!

After Chinatown, Mer took me on a meandering walk to and through Yaletown, which seems like a nightlife and dining center. Along the way, we picked up a hitherto unwalked part of the seawall, so that was satisfying. We got to go by the tents of Cirque du Soleil and then walked near the small science museum at the end of False Creek. We also managed to wander by the local casino without stopping in. Yaletown itself was an interesting walk, but it was past 3:00 and I had not had my snack crackers, so I was more hungry than I should have been. Happily, we were headed to an early supper, just west of Yaletown, near the Elbow Room, where we had eaten breakfast on Monday.

Mer took me to Nuba, which is a small Middle-eastern restaurant. At first, I was discouraged. I was very hungry, and I am fussy about food, so I was not sure how well I would eat. It turned out okay – they had an excellent grilled chicken. After supper, we wandered back to the hotel, where we took it easy for a couple of hours. We actually went to the hotel outdoor hot tub and pool, and relaxed in both (not at the same time!). It is amazing how much better we both felt after the soaking and swim. Water is good stuff.

Mer then had us head out to catch the Granville Island bus, and we did go back to the small island. We swung into the small theater that houses Vancouver Theatresports, Vancouver’s improv comedy group. I was very excited. It turns out that Vancouver Theatresports does different types of improv at different times. We were there for the 7:00 show, which turned out to be an improvised musical.

It was astonishing. The pre-show was a man playing fun 30s music and showtunes on the piano. One member of the improv troupe then came out and applauded the piano player and announced that everything from that point on was going to be made up on the spot, including the music. He asked for a suggestion to get things going, by asking for an occupation of one of your parents. He heard a bunch of different ones yelled out, but settled on “magician.” So, he and four others came out and did the one-hour long musical “Magic Dust,” which opened with the piano player playing an improvised overture. The musical/show itself was very funny and really good. It had good character development, and great improv skills (heightening and callbacks and great listening skills). I was totally sucked in. The show went something like this:

The old but master magician, Mephisto, broke the news to his young female assistant that because of the glut of entertainment options available to the young, no one wanted to see magic anymore, and they only had nine shows left. The young woman insisted that they had to tell Mephisto’s son, Sydney. Sydney was feeding and caring for the rabbits, and Mephisto and the assistant told him the bad news. He was distraught, but the young woman suggested he could take the Mephisto mantle for the last shows. The father agreed, and handed off his cape to his son and left the stage. Sydney and the assistant then revealed they loved each other and would be together forever with the great line in the song “Forever will not be long enough – you’ll see!”

Meanwhile, an evil magician who was no good at magic wanted to steal the show, quite literally. He had two assistants, a man and woman, who reveled that his name was “Beelzebub, the evil magician,” which led to a very funny solo song from Beelzebub, the evil magician. The evil magician told his woman assistant to go and seduce the older Mephisto so she could steal his book of tricks, and then he left. The man assistant revealed that he was none too happy with this plan, as he liked the girl. Still, she left to follow the plan.

Sydney and his girlfriend were practicing a new trick when we heard the ringing of a doorbell, which the woman answered (“I’ll get it … because I’m the woman!”). It was the evil assistant, under the guise of selling almonds, which it turned out that Sydney and Mephisto both loved. The girlfriend was suspicious, and would not let the evil assistant near Sydney, but she succeeded in selling her almonds to Mephisto before disappearing with him into a back room (Sydney’s reaction: “Suddenly, I don’t feel like being home right now”), and so she got the book. Somewhere along the way, Sydney mentioned that Magi-con was in town, and he could try his new trick there.

With the book in hand, the evil magician realized he needed to take both Mephisto and Sydney out of the picture. He planned on kidnapping Mephisto at Magi-con, which he succeeded in doing. He then put on Mephisto’s shirt, and pretended to be Mephisto, explaining to Sydney that the face and voice changes were all part of a new trick.

Back in his evil cave lair, the evil magician plotted to get rid of Sydney. He decided to lure Sydney to the cave with the promise of a new trick, and his man assistant suggested putting Sydney in the iron maiden (“Ah, yes! I had forgotten I had one!”). They got Sydney and his girlfriend to the cave, and told Sydney that if he went in the iron maiden, he would become very small, and that it would be a great trick. Sydney went in and the evil people locked him in and then revealed their evil plan to go on stage as Mephisto. They told Sydney he would get small when he rotted in the iron maiden, and they left, at which Sydney cried out, “Hey! This doesn’t seem to be a magic trick! It seems more like a science trick!” Sydney told his girlfriend to go after them to try to stop them, and he would get out somehow. After a solo about how he needed to be magical, Sydney lamented that he had no lock picks, but then remembered he had his almonds that he had bought. He used the almonds to bribe his rabbits to come to the iron maiden and chew him out, and so he escaped.

Meanwhile, the evil magician was trying to perform (“Don’t worry about the rabbit, children! It’s MAGIC blood!”) when Sydney showed up and revealed that he was the real magician. The evil magician was defeated in a stare-down, and Mephisto (the father) was freed. The evil assistant asked his love to marry him, and then Sydney asked his girlfriend to marry him, and Mephisto agreed to go on the road with the now-reformed evil magician. The show ended with a reprise of the big opening number. Keep in mind that this took an hour and was all made up on the spot. It was perhaps the best improv I have ever seen. What a great show.

After the show, we headed back to the hotel, with a swing by a smoothie shop so I could get a strawberry smoothie. We were back in the hotel before 10:00, and Mer officially conceded her planning powers over to me for Thursday to Saturday. She had done a great job – we made good use of our time in Vancouver the first four days.

Tuesday, August 2nd

Tuesday morning was yet another sleep-in day, but we made up time by having the leftovers from breakfast on Sunday as our breakfast today. After breakfast, we wandered next door to the Vancouver Library, which Ionut had recommended seeing, and it really was next door – the next building east of our hotel.

The library is very cool architecturally – it is in a circle, with an outer circle of columns to mirror the building. It is multiple stories high (maybe 10? I did not count them), and made of a brown stone. The street next to the library was shut down and full of moving vans, but we were able to get into the library on foot. The main entrance of the library itself was mobbed, and as the doors opened at 10:00, people literally ran into the library and up to the second floor. We supposed they wanted the best books to themselves.

We went out another entrance, and came across what may have been public art – the sidewalk had been built up to the level of the tables and chairs in the courtyard, so that the tables stuck up just a few inches above the walking surface. There seemed to be a number of people with walkie-talkies about, and Mer noticed a van labeled “Police Bomb Squad – Boston.” We had heard that a lot of filming went on in Vancouver, especially at the library, and here it was. It now seemed at least possible that the sidewalk build-up was for the filming, but it was not obvious how. We asked a nice man with a walkie-talkie what was being filmed, and he told us it was the TV show Fringe. We have never seen Fringe, but know it is popular with some of our friends and students. We told him that our being there would score big points with them, and then he quietly told us if we waited, we would see one of the new stars of the show. I’m so clueless that he had to point her out to me, and I only managed a blurry shot and a distant back shot of her as she hurried into the library. It seemed fitting that I should be clueless in taking the photos of a show that I was clueless about.

We then continued on our way down to Waterfront Station again, and headed west along the streets and then the seawall. We passed by the huge convention center, Canada Place, where the cruise ships were supposed to leave from, but there was not one there at the time. I was excited as we passed Canada Place and got to the seawall because I had a good view of the seaplanes landing and taking off on the bay. There is regular seaplane service to the large island of Vancouver and some of the other smaller islands. Seeing seaplanes is fun, and not something you get to observe too much in Ohio.

We continued along the seawall along Coal Harbor and soaked in the sights. The seawall wound around with the bay, so it was quite a bit of walking to go what would have been a not-very-far distance in a straight line. We came around to the other end of Stanley Park, the northern side that we had not yet been on. The park was once again a great place to stroll. We saw some antique cars touring the park, and we made our way to the small but well-regarded aquarium in the park. Sadly, there was a huge line, and we decided it was too nice a day and not a good use of time to wait 30 or more minutes in line, especially since we had just seen the Chicago aquarium a month before. So, we went back to the seawall, and kept walking.

After a few minutes, we took a very short detour to go look at a collection of six or seven totem poles. We read about the meaning of totems – they tell stories or act as a coat of arms, which I had not known. They were very well done, and it was a good detour.

We made our way back again to the seawall, and went around a small lighthouse. We then found a nice bench to sit on and have crackers as a lunch/snack while we watched the ocean. A little further on we came across a sculpture of a girl in a wetsuit, which was cool enough in itself. But the really cool thing was that the sculpture was installed on a rock out in the bay. That must have been an interesting installation. In the same spot in the park, they had the masthead to an old Japanese ship that was colorfully decorated as a dragon.

We finally came back around to Lion’s Gate Bridge, so we turned to go back inland along the interior paths. We decided to take the walking paths instead of the road, and we soon got turned around. At that point, we remembered that out backpack had a very cheap compass attached to it as a zipper pull. We had always laughed at how silly that attachment was, but it did work, and now it came in handy. At any intersection, we were able to use the compass to find south, and so we could efficiently, but still surrounded by pretty park lands, make our way back toward the city.

Along the way, we stopped at Beaver Pond, which is covered in water lilies that are very scenic, but which the informational signs say were imported and now are accelerating the silting up of the pond. We continued around the pond, and crossed over a pedestrian bridge that went over the Lion’s Gate Bridge road, and then we were immediately back in the forest. It was amazing to see all the huge tree stumps from old trees, and the lush ferns, and the tall but newer growth. Near the edge of the forest, the trees thinned and there were small clearings that the signs said were good for birdwatching.

As we left the forest part of the park, we still stuck near water, and so we followed along a lagoon in the park. There were ducks and turtles and even a few heron to watch, and we took advantage of a bench to rest. Once we got past the lagoon, we were back in the city, and so we walked along less-used city streets and made our way back to the seawall so we could head back to Waterfront Station. Along the way, I stopped in at a small store that sold Italian food and ordered a hot chocolate. It was excellent, and I felt much better for the rest and the sugar.

We got back to a section of the seawall that was under repair, and somehow we missed the path we had taken earlier and we stared climbing up some stairs. By the time we figured out what had happened, we decided to see where the steps led. At the top, we turned around a corner and there was a large plaza. In the middle of the square was the Olympic torch! That was a very happy find. Near the torch was a sculpture of a pixelated whale, so that it looked like a huge whale made out of Legos. The square was great.

We then headed back around Canada Place, and there was a cruiseship in berth there. We decided to take a look, and were impressed by how large the ship was. We used it as an excuse to wander all around Canada Place, at least as far as you could go, which was to a point out at the very end of the pier. It had a great view of the bay and the mountains.

We finally made it back to Waterfront Station, and we got our all-day passes again and hopped on the seabus. It is a nice means of transportation – easy to use, relaxing, and with great views. Over on the North Vancouver side, we stopped by The Coffee Bun again to buy a bun to have the excuse to use the restroom, and we were politely told to use the public restrooms at the nearby market. While I did that, Mer called Beata again, and made sure she was home.

We got directions and walked up the hill about eight blocks or so to the apartment building where Beata and Ionut live. We did take one wrong direction, but it was easy to correct, and so we got there fairly efficiently. Beata greeted us. Romanians are extremely hospitable people, and Beata brought out some potato wedges and cheese slices that were quite welcome after the long day of walking. Ionut was still at work, and Andrei was taking a nap, so we had a great time talking. Andrei got up around 5:30 and Ionut got home around 6:00. Ionut grabbed a quick bite to eat (we were well fortified on cheese and potatoes), and then the five of us got in the car and headed west to Lighthouse Park.

The park was very uncrowded, and I am glad Ionut and Beata knew where it was, because the entrance was down a small street. The walk through the woods on the way to the lighthouse overlook was fantastic. It was beautiful – rock faces, huge trees, lots of undergrowth. We walked down the path until we came to a huge rock that we climbed up, and from there we had great views of the lighthouse and the ocean beyond. We soaked in the splendor for awhile, and then took a different path back to the car, including a small detour to another ocean vista, this time with a partial view of Vancouver. The trail back to the car had even larger trees, and the walk was great.

Ionut then drove us over to Cleveland Dam, which is one of the reservoirs for Vancouver. It sits at the base of Grouse Mountain, which is a tourist magnet because it has cable cars that run up the mountain. The lake was gorgeous – it was large, surrounded by trees, and had mountains all around it. It was spectacular (as much of Vancouver was turning out to be). We wandered around enjoying the views walked out on the dam and back (it was too high for me to be comfortable), and Ionut wrestled with Andrei on the grass. Ionut is a great father – a man who loves to be with his son, and does not treat his son like glass. Andrei loved it.

Finally, since night was falling, Ionut drove us up to Cypress Mountain, where there is an overlook of downtown Vancouver. Use the usual adjectives – amazing, breathtaking, georgeous, and such – it is such beautiful country. The overlook was great, but even the drive up the mountain was pretty (which we could see in the last of the daylight).

We stayed up on the overlook for about ten minutes, but it was getting late. Ionut insisted that he drive us to the hotel once again, so we made good time back home. Mer and I swung by the nearby Canadian donut chain called Tim Hortons, and we picked up a couple of small sandwiches to munch on back in the hotel. Another great night in a great city.

Monday, August 2nd

Monday we let ourselves sleep in again to get some rest. Once we were up and ready, we headed out and walked the several blocks to the Elbow Room, a breakfast and lunch diner that specializes in attitude. The owners are super blunt and use raw language if they feel they need to, and the place has quite a reputation for being a fun place to eat. We did enjoy the food, and I was told to “move your tush” when they needed me to switch tables and then told to move the same body part in more explicit language once we were done with breakfast. The food was good and unusual – I got the cinnamon roll French toast. The meals were about standard size for home meals, which felt small for a restaurant, especially when the bill came to almost $40 with tip. It was a good experience, but I would not need to do it again for that cost.

We headed back to the hotel to get outfitted for the day, including snack crackers to keep me happy. We swung by a 7-11 store to pick up an all-day transit card. They cost $9 each and let you ride any public transportation you want all day long. We walked down to a bus stop on Granville Street and waited for a bus. And waited. And waited. It turns out that Monday was “BC Day,” a regional holiday, and some of the bus lines only ran every 20 or 30 minutes. We had some odd entertainment in commenting on the mannequins in a store called Dare to Wear. You can use your imagination and probably will not be too far from the truth. Anyway, a  bus came along and we caught it to Granville Island.

Granville Island, as mentioned in the last post, is a shopping and street-performer district. We had gone to see if we could find James Hawkins from the night before. We found him after only one false start (looking for a book store we never did find), and he was delighted to see us. I’m glad we got there on the early side – around noon –  because he was almost sold out of his books. He gave us a book, and Mer bought another, and he was kind enough to sign them both. He recommended some more things to see, and even went so far as to give us his phone number if we had any questions. Again, what an extraordinary person.

We came out of the book store to see a large crowd gathered around a man who was addressing them through a PA system, and he was telling two men to stretch out a chain. He seemed funny, and it looked interesting, so we stopped. He was a street performer and magician, and he already had his hands handcuffed behind him. He had the two men, at whom he poked good-natured fun, test a long chain to prove it was real. Then, he had a girl from the audience search him for keys, with some wink-wink humor along the way, and she tested his handcuffs. Once the girl had verified that he was not carrying any keys, the two men from the audience wrapped him up in the chain. He then stepped into a bag held by the girl, and she tied it gently around his neck. She then counted down sixty seconds, and as time ran out, he stepped out of the bag, free from the chains and handcuffs and wearing a pink tutu. Why not? It was very entertaining. We gave him $10 and considered it well spent. We wandered around the island for a few more minutes, but it was crowded and the maps were not very good, so we kept not finding the stores I wanted to see (like a silk weaver place). So, we left and went back to the bus stop.

I don’t remember where exactly we got off, but it must have been Granville Street somewhere. We made our way north along Granville Street, which has four blocks of it blocked off as a pedestrian zone, which is nice. We headed down to Waterfront Station, which is a bus/train/ferry station, and used our all-day passes to jump on board the Sea Bus. The Sea Bus is a passenger ferry that takes 15-20 minutes to cross the northern bay to get to North Vancouver. Once we got to North Vancouver, I wanted to get some hot chocolate for the sugar, liquid, and calories, and eat my crackers. We swung into a place called The Coffee Bun, which sells sweet buns coated with a dusting of coffee. I ordered my hot chocolate (and got an odd stare for getting one when it was 75 degrees out), and then I decided to try a chocolate coffee bun as well. I split it with Mer. As an aside, the store was run by Asian immigrants, and on the counter was a notepad with the header “Is Anything Okay?” (presumably instead of “is everything okay?”). Mer and I loved that, and have been trying to work it into our lexicon.

The chocolate coffee bun was quite good (the coffee was very light), and my crackers hit the spot. While I ate, Mer called her friend Beata.

Meredith taught English in Romania for a year back in 1995-1996. Mer and her roommate, Laura, became good friends with a family there who had a 16-year-old daughter, Beata. Beata had come over to the U.S. once in 1999 or so, but that was the last time Mer and Beata had seen each other. In the meantime, Beata married the older brother of a classmate; her husband’s name is Ionut (pronounced “Yo-NEWTS”), which is Romanian for “Johnny.” Ionut and Beata emigrated to Vancouver about four years ago, and had a son, Andrei, over two years ago. Since they were in Vancouver, Mer and I wanted to catch up with Beata and Ionut, and meet Andrei.

Mer got in touch with Beata, and she told us they would pick us up where we were, Lonsdale Quay. We sat next to a fountain where we were all to meet, and we people-watched (including watching a man with a huge snake – ugh), and listened to the free music from a band nearby. It was most pleasant. Beata and Ionut and Andrei showed up after about 15 minutes or so, and we all walked back to the car. Beata looked much the same as I remembered her. I had met Ionut once in Romania back in 1997, but I had forgotten. Andrei was very cute and was very well behaved. Beata and Ionut had made the decision to raise Andrei speaking Romanian and Hungarian in the home, and figured he would pick up English and so be trilingual. That is very cool, but meant I could not communicate with a two-year-old. That takes you down a few pegs!

Beata and Ionut wanted to show us North Vancouver, so we piled into their car and Ionut drove us to Lynn Canyon Park. Lynn Canyon boasts a canyon, a very pretty river, lots of trails, and a suspension bridge that is about 150 feet above the canyon floor. Mer had been hoping to see the bridge and cross it as a test case for the more famous and much longer and higher Capilano suspension bridge, which is the longest and highest in the world. Because of the regional holiday, the park was packed, including the bridge. On the plus side, the extra people made the bridge sway less because of the extra weight, but on the bad side, crossing the bridge was very slow. I was scared crossing over, but did manage to get over without too much trouble by putting my head down and watching my feet. On the far side, Ionut wanted to show us the small river in the canyon, so we hiked down a very pretty hiking path for about a half mile to a place where we could see and climb into the river. It was very very clean, and very cold, and quite shallow where we were. I climbed into the river and jumped from rock to rock, but was not anywhere near as agile as Ionut. At one point Ionut even grabbed Andrei and jumped from rock to rock out into the middle of the stream, and did so without the least hesitation. We all splashed about for awhile and enjoyed the sun and water and trees, and then we headed back. Crossing back over the bridge was not much fun at all. People kept stopping to look around and to take pictures, and I was stuck on the bridge. I was so scared I thought at one point I might start crying. Finally, the log-jam of people moved on and I was able to get to land. I was covered in a damp, cold sweat. That pretty much ruled out the Capilano bridge. There was no way I was going to pay to be that terrified.

After Lynn Canyon, we all headed over to Whytecliff Park, which is a seaside park with lots of trees and exposed rock by the ocean. It was breathtaking. While Ionut and Andrei played in the park playground, Beata, Meredith and I wandered around the paths. Beata took us right up to the edge of the ocean, and she was nimbly jumping from rock to rock. I’m pretty confident in my footing most of the time, but I was a little nervous that one slip could be very painful or fatal. I was also worried about Mer, who does not always have the best footing. We were all fine, and the views were worth it. We wandered down to the small beach, and we poked around on the rock on one side of the beach. It was low tide, so we could have walked out to a huge mound of granite and climbed it (there were quite a few people on it already), but I was content with the scrabbling that I had already done. We caught back up with Ionut and Andrei, and we all got back in the car and headed over to Horseshoe Bay, where the major passenger and car ferries go out of. We wandered the small beach for a few minutes, and then went to Ya-Ya’s restaurant, where Ionut proclaimed they had the best fish and chips around. Mer got the fish and chips and seemed very pleased, but I got a wood-fired chicken sandwich that really was good.

After supper, we walked down on a pier and looked at the massive ferries for Victoria Island, and then got back in the car and headed east to Deep Cove. Deep Cove is a quiet little bay town, northeast of Vancouver but still reachable by bus. It was very pretty and very quiet. We wandered out onto the pier with Ionut while Beata and Andrei played at Deep Cove’s playground. We spent about fifteen minutes by the water, and then wandered back toward the small town. Ionut asked if we wanted ice cream, to which I immediately agreed. Canada has lots of Italian ice cream places that serve real gelato. We got some ice cream from the local store, and brought some back for Beata. It was a great treat, especially surrounded by water and mountains.

By this time, it was well after 9:00, and Ionut insisted on driving us back to our hotel. We got to drive across the Lion’s Gate Bridge, so we got to see and cross it without walking it. The drive through Stanley Park was also very nice. We said goodbye and made plans to see each other again the next day. Mer and I went right to bed, having had another busy walking day.

Sunday, August 1st

So, after Ellen left on Saturday, we packed and headed to the Cleveland airport. As a 12th anniversary gift to Mer (and to me), I had booked us tickets to and a 4-star hotel room in Vancouver, Canada. Mer had sighed her way through much of the winter Olympics, and everyone I had ever talked to who had been there had raved about how wonderful Vancouver is. We had a short propeller plane ride to Toronto, and then a four-hour flight to Vancouver. To save some money on the flight, I booked us on the cheapest flight, which got in at 12:30 am on Sunday. The flights went fine, and then we took a taxi for the thirty-minute ride to our hotel in downtown Vancouver; we took a taxi because it was late and because the train to the city stopped running at 12:00 or something like that. We were both very tired, and did not mind not having to think to get to our bed.

We were staying in the four-star hotel the Westin Grand. I got the rooms for just $145/night on Priceline, which was a great deal for a downtown hotel (and one that normally starts at $330/night). The staff at the hotel was very nice and polite and always helpful all week, and our suite was very comfortable. We had a good-sized bathroom with a two-headed shower (boy, did that feel nice), a small living room where we stored out stuff, and an adequate-sized bedroom with a very comfortable queen-sized bed. And, it was on the 21st floor, so had some good views of the downtown (no views of the mountains or ocean, but that was okay).

We got to bed around 2:00 and slept in until we woke up without an alarm, sometime around 10:00. We walked several blocks to a small diner that our guidebook recommended, Templeton. The place only had about eight booths and about sixteen stools at the bar, and there was about a twenty-minute wait, but we got a booth and had a good breakfast. We then discovered what we were to confirm several times – eating out in Vancouver is expensive. With tip, the breakfast was about $30.

We walked back to the hotel to get our supplies (camera, backpack with jackets, and such). We love walking in cities because you can see so much. We were not yet familiar with the public transportation system, so we did not have a lot of choice, but we still liked the walk. The downtown section of Vancouver is very walkable. It is also super bike-friendly – most roads have a bus-and-bike lane, and one of the bridges across False Creek bay has one whole normal sized lane dedicated just to bike traffic. Shannon would approve.

Anyway, after we got our stuff, we headed south to False Creek, a small bay south of downtown. Mer wanted to use that as the start of a long walk to have a mellow introduction to the city. Our mellow walk was slightly interrupted though. Sunday was the Gay Pride Parade, a huge parade that finishes off Pride Week. While we were quite able to continue our walk, the beach area was quite mobbed. Most people were behaving themselves, but as you would expect in a crowd that large, some people took advantage of the atmosphere to push limits by wearing as little clothing as possible (or no clothing for some of the women who went shirtless). There were also bands playing who were not using polite language. So we wandered west along the beach and got to and passed through English Bay Beach, where we dipped our toes in the ocean. We started to leave the crowds behind as we got to the western edge of English Bay Beach and the main drag (ha!) veered away from the beach. Having fewer people around was most welcome.

We then entered a gem of Vancouver – Stanley Park. Stanly Park is a 400-acre park west of the downtown. It has fine ocean and mountain views, and the entire peninsula is encircled by a public-access seawall that has a walking and biking trail (with separate lanes for walkers and bikers for most of the path). We entered on the southern side of the park, in English Bay Beach. There is a huge public swimming pool right on the edge of the park (I think it said the capacity was 3000 people!), and there are two very nice beaches along the seawall. We rested on a bench for awhile near one of the beaches, Third Beach. As the seawall turned northward, the path became bordered on the side by a huge cliff of rock, which was very very cool. We walked on past Siwash Rock, a huge free-standing column of rock about twenty feet out in the ocean. We then turned a corner and saw the magnificent and Matt-terrifying Lion’s Gate Bridge. Lion’s Gate Bridge is a green-colored Golden Gate Bridge in miniature, but not too miniature! We took some pictures of the bridge, and continued along the seawall, but as the path turned south-southeast, Mer felt we were running out of time, so we cut through the park itself to get out as quickly as we could. That still was not very fast, as the park is huge. Once we did get out, we walked back through the downtown back to Sunset Beach.

We were trying to get across False Creek to get to some tents on the other side of the small bay. Since we were short on time, we skipped the bridge across the bay and hopped on a water taxi. We got over to the north shore of Vanier Park. We walked over to the tents and picked up our tickets for “Bard on the Beach” – Vancouver’s Shakespeare festival. We were there to see Antony and Cleopatra, which I had never seen and Mer had not seen in years. The festival uses open seating, so we got in line, and when the doors opened we were still lucky enough to get front row seats, albeit slightly to the right of center stage. As we sat down, we noticed the seats next to us were labeled; the festival lets people “tag” their seats so they can wander to the concession stand.The seats next to us were labeled as one for Antony and one for Cleopatra. We smiled, and when an older but very vigorous couple sat next to us, we commented on being lucky to sit next to the main players of the play. We got to talking, and kept talking at intermission. They were fascinating people. They lived on an island outside of Vancouver near Vancouver Island. They traveled a lot, and had just gotten back from a trip to Egypt. The man, James Hawkins, is a best-selling author of mystery books, although he writes some histories as well. His wife, Sheila, had just gotten back from a weekend trip to China for an award she won. They were utterly remarkable people, and went out of their way to be kind to us. James told us to swing by a well-known Vancouver destination, the shopping district of Granville Island. He was going to be there on Monday for a book signing, and he offered to give us a book. He was quite taken with Meredith since he found out she was an English teacher. They gave us advice on what to see and made us feel very welcome. They were great people.

Back to the play – the set was very simple, but what a view! The set was a series of platforms with columns along the back of the set. The middle back of the set was open as an entrance for the actors, and it faced the mountains, if you were facing center stage (we could not see the mountains from where we were sitting).

The acting was excellent, as you would expect from a major metropolitan acting festival. Antony and Cleopatra were especially strong, with huge personalities and very good chemistry. Augustus Caesar was very good as the man everyone loved to hate, and the story was riveting. The major battles were portrayed as a few men carrying banners that would advance and retreat as needed, and it worked very well. I don’t really remember anything that we were critical of – it was a great production.

After the play, we walked over the Burrard Bridge, which was long and high enough to make me nervous, but small enough that I could still walk over it. We headed up to Davie Street to go to a restaurant called Hamburger Mary’s. It turns out that Davie Street is the heart of gay Vancouver, so the street was quite wild on the evening of the Pride Parade. What a zoo – tons of people, most of them waiting to get into clubs jammed with too many people already. We did get to the restaurant, and I finally got to eat around 11:00. We learned for the rest of the week to take some crackers and cheese along for a mid-day snack, since we never did eat lunch in the city.

After the late supper, we headed up one street so we could walk down a quite residential street for much of the way back to the hotel. It was lovely. We got back to and wandered down Robson Street, which our hotel was on. This is a main street and was still hopping, even at midnight on a Sunday. We got back to the room and happily went to bed, having walked at least ten miles that day and having seen an excellent play. It was a good introduction to Vancouver.