North by Northwest

And now for something completely different. Our travels to this point have been limited to two continents: North America and Europe,( although we have cruised some Caribbean islands and in his single days John did hit a few places in North Africa.) But those were vacation destinations, not part of our wandering lifestyle. So now we are headed for uncharted territory-Asia. It started with an offer we couldn't refuse. Celebrity Cruises was repositioning a ship to Japan at a price well below our $100.00 a night lodging target. It is a Trans-Pacific so we won't see land for a while but if you have the time it is a great way to travel long distances. Because of this, to go east we must go west. And not just west but north west. The ship leaves from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

We decided to come up a week early for a few reasons:

1. It is 107 in Southern California. Canada HAS to be cooler.

2. It is opening weekend of college football and we want to see as many games as possible without completely taking over someone else's televisions for 5 days.

3. Vancouver is a cool city and we have not been here since 1992.

It was easy getting here. We were able to fly out of John Wayne Airport in Orange County instead of LAX. After about a 3 hour flight we caught the Metro train to downtown where our apartment was a short walk from the station. By early evening August 31 we settled into our high rise downtown apartment to watch Ohio State play Indiana,( John had recorded on his computer.)

Unfortunately, our apartment does not have air conditioning. This would not be a problem except that Vancouver is experiencing a heatwave this week. They are expecting the temperature to hit 90 degrees. We are on the 21st floor and hot air rises so it is more than a bit warm in here. Thankfully there are two large fans that we are running day and night.

Friday September 1 we headed out to see the neighborhood before the evening games came on. Our walk took us about five miles around the waterfront and over to Gastown, where the city was established. A light lunch at Flying Pig http://theflyingpigvan.com/ then back to the apartment for

steam powered clock

dinner and Washington vs Rutgers.
GameDay Saturday. If you know us you know that for the last few years this is how we spend Saturday in the Fall. Luckily the television here picks up feeds from Seattle so we were able to get the games on ABC and FOX while we watched others on the computer. Both Michigan and Penn State were victorious so it was a good day.

Since location is close to great restaurants we decided to go for Sunday Brunch. Not quite a mile away is Forage http://www.foragevancouver.com/ a farm to table restaurant. I had a duck confit and Kale frittata, John went for the local speciality Shakshuka which is eggs in a pepper and tomato sauce.

Like many major cities Vancouver has a large permanent farmers or public market. Here it is on Granville Island, which is really a peninsula. Just a short city bus ride

away this was the perfect place to shop, have a quick lunch and people watch next to a harbor. A hike in Stanley Park ended our visit here. TIme to board the ship and sail into the great unknown,