Vancouver
We arrived 3 hours late from SFO Wednesday night due to excess of hail covering the plane! Just after we boarded, thee was a sudden and excessive downpour of hail which completely covered the wind I could see, to a depth of at least an inch. The pilot came on and said they had to figure out how to get it off. SFO does not have de-icing equipment. 3 hours later and rain and brooms used by ground crew, we could take off. We were tired puppies the next morning, but I could sleep in. Mark is attending a conference of the American Assn. Of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is working with the palliative care team at ukiah valley medical center, and I get to come along and be a tourist.
Vancouver is a gorgeous city, and so clean. Hey, no homeless here that I can see. Oh yes, i have to take that back. I guess they are more visible at night, but its not as bad as SF. Beautiful skyline, snowcapped mountains visible from downtown, and of course, water water everywhere. Yesterday I went to the Museum of Anthropology on the University of BC campus. Spectacular building and setting and amazing Haida totem poles and carvings, as well as silver jewelry and baskets. There was an amazing collection of textiles, clothing, rugs, jewelry,etc, from countries all over the world. Too many to mention and too confusing to take in. Rather like an antique store, but with better displays. I'm looking forward to going to the Anthropology museum in Victoria. Photos were allowed so I'll post some so you can get an idea of this amazing artwork.
Today I walked through Yaletown and took a False Creek ferry to Granville Island where the public market is located. This is a modest market compared to Pike Place in Seattle, but still worth a visit. And unlike yesterday's cold and wet day, today was bright and sunny and I grabbed some Indian curry and naan and sat outside in the sun and watched seagulls snatch food and listened to a very good singer and guitar player while soaking up the sun and watching people. After lunch I took the ferry back and stopped to watch these two. Gulls fight over an apple. Eventually I helped them out by crushing the apple so they could actually eat rather than take it away from each and drop it and watch it roll.
Then I walked to chinatown, but was pretty footsore by then, and unimpressed by this small version of SF Chinatown, so took a quick look and headed back to our excellent hotel, L'Hermitage, picking up a coffee and sweet, wheee I spent a pleasant hour or two with my book Just Kids. Mark arrived at 5 with a bottle of wine and we had lovely discussing each other's day.
