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.