Vancouver, Day 2, last part

Just one dam thing after another.....

We returned home after the park, and took naps. We decided there was still time enough to do something in the afternoon, so we went to the Cleveland Dam and fish hatchery.

The dam is set on a lake with incredible surroundings.

And here is the dam itself, built in 1954. It is used strictly for water control, not for energy production. 

It was, however, open (if that is the right term) -- that is, they were letting water through.

We walked down to the river, which was, of course, lovely.

I keep wondering who or what lives in this cave:

We then went downriver to the fish hatchery. Once again we walked along the riverbank. 

On our way to the hatchery, we ran across this sign. It is actually pointing out where the wheelchair ramp is, but it looks at first glance as if it is suggesting something else. 

And we saw lots of baby fish!

Finally, we found this beautiful scene at the hatchery:

We stopped at Walmart on the way home to buy a cable for Norbert's camera, then home for dinner. A salad for me and a sandwich for Norbert. We managed to stay up a bit later, all the way until nearly 9:30!

Vancouver, Day 2, Capilano, part 2

A multi-part day today!

After the boardwalk, we took on the Treetops Adventure. From the park website:

"Treetops Adventure, a series of seven suspension bridges attached to eight 30 ton, 250 year old Douglas-firs. Built in 2004, the innovative and award-winning Treetops Adventure was designed to accommodate the continuous growth of the trees. The viewing platforms are attached to an innovative tree collar system that is adjustable and moveable and has no nails or bolts penetrating into the Douglas-firs. It is unlike any canopy walk in the world. 

Visitors are able to venture from one magnificent Douglas-fir tree to another on a series of elevated suspension bridges, some reaching as high as 110 feet (33.5m) above the forest floor."

The bridges were not terribly long, and only slightly wobbly. 

And don't forget to look down!

Back down on the ground again, we recrossed the bridge and turned to the Cliff Walk: "this heart-stopping cliffside journey takes you through rainforest vegetation on a series of unobtrusive cantilevered and suspended walkways jutting out from the granite cliff face above Capilano River to previously unexplored areas of the park." And attached only at 16 points to the cliff, which I am probably happier to have learned later rather than earlier!

Not at all dangerous, or to me, even particularly scary. Perhaps because the nature is so incredible and attention-consuming. 

It is hard to see in the photos of Norbert, but he is beaming with delight, as was I. This day was such an incredible experience, in the heart of beautiful nature.

VANCOUVER Day 2, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, part 1

We got up at 6:30 this morning, how late :-)

We left the house at about 8:30 and drove maybe 10 minutes to the Capolino Suspension Bridge State Park. Although we were early, we were not the first ones there. The entry fee is pretty high (less for me at the senior rate, ha ha) but in the end we decided it was well worth every penny.

Beautiful landscape work and totem poles.

The main attraction, of course is the suspension bridge across the Capolino River. It is 140 meters long and 70 meters above the river. Yes, it moves and sways, but not excessively.

Do you recognize that guy in the black jacket in the photo above?

The views from the bridge are fantastic.

Once on the other side, we took the Nature's Edge Boardwalk, through the rainforest.

There's not a lot to say, except that it was stunning. The trees are unbelievable, truly towering. The air was clear, crisp, clean, so fresh. I could have found a place to sit and just stayed there for hours, absorbing the whole atmosphere and being in awe of the natural beauty.

Vancouver, Day one

Our first full day is a transition and decompression day. In this instance, it is also a day to recover from jet lag and try to adjust to the nine-hour time difference.

I slept well until 3.30 or so, then dozed until 6, when we got up.

Our apartment. We are in the basement of this house.

Our morning outing was to a Safeway grocery store. Once again, we were struck by the high prices and the relatively limited selection of items.

The meat in particular was terribly expensive. Chicken breasts were 20$Canadian/kilo, which works out to about 13 Euro (and I never pay above 7 Euro).

A large selection of fish, including this large bag of salmon, without heads.

But never fear, you could buy the heads too!

We then walked around the little shopping center and stopped in a bakery, where we bought a little something for later on.

Norbert chose a lemon square, I didn't get a photo of it.

Our last stop was a liquor store, which had a surprisingly small selection of German beer.

Interestingly enough, all the Canadian beer was in cans. Nothing in bottles!

We lunched at home. I tried to nap and couldn't. Norbert, on the other hand, was out like a log for half an hour.

We decided we needed to do something, so we went to a large shopping center. Walked around, looked at lots of things, got soaking wet as it started raining again, and had an early dinner at the food court.

Not an exciting day, but we need that sort of "rest" day. To bed shortly after 9 again.

Düsseldorf to Vancouver

Monday, 20 May

Up shortly after 6 and we were both ready long before the Reisebaron shuttle arrived at 9. Nice to have a relaxed time getting ready, but we both admitted it felt very odd to sit around for half an hour or so with nothing to do!

The shuttle arrived a few minutes late, but we made excellent time getting to the airport. Check-in took about 2 minutes. The line at security was quite long but moved along nicely. We stopped at the usual cafe for coffee and a snack.

Our flight to Amsterdam was delayed for nearly an hour. Once we landed, we really felt as if we had to go from end of the airport to the other. We should have had a three-hour layover, but because of the delay it was much shorter. We did stop for a bathroom break and to buy a bottle of water, and then were able to sit and wait about 10 minutes before boarding.

When I checked in online on Sunday, they said the flight to Vancouver was very full and that they would be glad to check in any hand luggage, for free. I decided to take advantage of that and took my little trolley as a carry on. And indeed, I was able to check it in from Düsseldorf on, which was quite nice.

Once again, the flight from Amsterdam was delayed nearly 45 minutes, but after boarding. Not what you want when you have a 9 hour flight ahead of you. The odd thing was that the flight was not overly full at all. Norbert and I had a row of three to ourselves, which was nice. 

 And seeing as how it was KLM, we were not surprised to see bikes on the plastic cups!

The flight went relatively quickly, either that or we are just getting used to it. I found it odd that the flight to Vancouver took the same amount of time as the flight to Atlanta. Despite the delay, we arrived at the scheduled time.

Landed in light rain in Vancouver. Immigration took about 3 minutes, as they have the automats and we were apparently the only flight. Didn't even have to wait that long for the luggage! Walked over to Alamo, and continued the trend of not having to wait at all. Our car is a Ford Escape – which is the same model as my Kuga! There are some minor differences but it is really 98% the same car as I drive every day.

As always we managed to make a wrong turn on our way to the apartment but we were able to save ourselves with relatively little trouble. It is a holiday in Canada, so there was fortunately no rush hour traffic.

Found the house quite easily. Our landlords live in the house, and we have the basement apartment. The stairs aren't that great but that is the only drawback. Very light, modern and obviously newly done. We are very happy with this apartment.

There is of course also a full bathroom and a lovely washer and dryer set.

We were much less happy with the Walmart. TINY! Even the parking lot was tiny! Argh! We really only looked at groceries and were surprised at the very narrow selection of items they had. We ended up eating potato chips for dinner because that is all we wanted. The flight times and changes meant that we ended up eating next to nothing all day.

Stayed awake until 9, then hit the bed.