Day -3, Thursday, May 25, 2023
Our routine for early-flight days (tomorrow) is to book a room near the Cleveland airport, drive up and check in mid-afternoon of the day before, have a leisurely dinner, then go to bed early so we’ll be rested for our travel day. We prefer the Crowne Plaza on Engle Road. It’s very easy to drive to in about an hour and ten minutes, and has a nice Italian restaurant, Tavolo 72, on premises.
Of course I have to tell you what we ate. We had been at this restaurant on January 4 with our travel pals, Mike & Marilyn, prior to our Eastern Caribbean cruise on Holland America Nieuw Statendam. The appetizer menu included Fried Green Tomatoes. Of course, this Southern Belle had to try them. They were FABULOUS. The breading was very light and the green tomato slices sweet as sugar. So I ordered that again. I didn’t want a big dinner, and ordered the Wild Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Flatbread. Jas, surprising me, ate a couple of the tomato slices and said he enjoyed them, and ordered a Spicy BLT for his entree. I ordered a glass of the Sea Sun Chardonnay, which googling tells me is available at Walmart and Meijer. It comes from the Wagner Family of Wine in California. It retails for around $18, and I’ll be looking for it when I’m back in Youngstown. It is said to be “a balanced Chardonnay with a hint of butter.” You know me and buttery chardonnays!
Day -2, Friday, May 26, 2023
It was not a good night for sleeping, with an air conditioning unit that cycled on and off all night long. I was awake from 2:00 on, dozing occasionally, but always waking up to see if my alarm was about to go off. I hate having an alarm jar me awake. It was set for 5:15, and I finally got up at 4:45.
Food: Breakfast at Bruegger’s Bagels in CLE. Mediocre breakfast. Good thing we were going to get breakfast on the plane. Jas ordered the frittata, and I got a granola fruit bowl. My kind of breakfast!
Now I’ve been yawning all day. We’re arriving in Vancouver in twenty minutes, having gained three hours. It’s 2:13, and after the Holland America shuttle deposits us at the Pan Pacific, you can bet we’ll be napping, or at least lounging for a few hours before we get out and do some exploring. The temperature was about 40 degrees when we left the Cleveland hotel this morning, and the temperature in Vancouver is forecast to reach 77 degrees this afternoon.
Later … Every seat in the plane was filled, and it took a while for all those bags to come out. And we were flying internationally, so we had to go through passport control, get our bags, and go through customs. The Holland America representatives were waiting for us on the other side, and gave us a voucher to give to a taxi driver of our choosing, who would take us to the Pan Pacific. By now it was nearing rush hour, and took about an hour to get to the hotel. Once checked in, we found the room to be large and lovely, with a view from our 11th floor room of the heliport, one of the ferry docks, and the tail end of the Princess Millenium, who set sail a little after 5:00 p.m.
After a little rest in the room, we headed down to the Lobby level for a light supper. We felt like we had been eating every two hours since 7:30 a.m., and it was now effectively 8:30 p.m. (EDT). So our body clocks were going to be wanting to sleep in an hour. What to do?! The Coal Harbor Bar is nice and open with high ceilings. The hostess placed us on the west side of the restaurants. We were facing the windows with a fabulous view of the seaplanes taking off and landing for the next hour-and-a-half. Jas ordered a beer and I had a glass of chardonnay, then we figured a shared flatbread would be the perfect size for dinner after a day of eating. Afterward, we walked from the hotel along the walkway that abuts the waterfront, past the Harbour Air Seaplanes’ docks. There were historical photo signs along the walk, describing some of the most critical events in the development of this port. Such an interesting history!
<History Lesson On>
–Explosion of SS Greenhill Park in Downtown Vancouver Remembered
–Plaques at the Vancouver Convention Centre
<History Lesson Off>
[See the photo in the gallery below of the lumber being corralled down the river by a tugboat. To my romantic mind, that was a cool view. But as I was looking for data about logging in British Columbia, I realized that there’s a whole lot of clearcutting of boreal forests going on in that part of the world, and that it contributes to global warming. Not so romantic, huh?]
As we headed back toward the hotel, we had to—of course—stop at Uno Gelato for a cone and a cup. After people-watching while we were enjoying our treat, we headed back to the hotel and quickly to sleep after a very long day.
Day -1, Saturday, May 27, 2023
I woke first at 4:15 a.m., which would have been 7:15 at home—late for me. I was able to get back to sleep, and we both woke around 7:30 a.m. PDT. We decided to go across the street to ARC for breakfast. It had been recommended by the bellman who brought our bags up. I thought it was just a standalone restaurant. But as we were searching for the front door, we realized it was the lobby restaurant in the Fairmont Pan Pacific. Beautiful high ceilings, lots of wood and native carvings. Much of this part of Canada appears to be located on what had been the home of many native tribes. There are many signs and disclaimers accepting the damage that was done to those original dwellers.
We had a lovely server with a personality that kept us smiling and laughing through out the meal. The meal was wonderful and a very nice way to start our day. We had planned to take the Hop On Hop Off bus tour of Vancouver after breakfast. But as we were walking past the HOHO stop, we saw a very long line of people, who turned out to all be waiting to purchase their HOHO tickets. Ummm, no. Not gonna get in that line.
We went back up to the room and I started searching for alternate activities. Several months ago, as I was starting to think about how to spend this day, I had seen that there were several markets in Vancouver. I thought first of going to the Granville Island Public Market, but when I told Jas we would have to take a taxi, he nixed that activity. My second offering was the Lonsdale Quay Market, across Vancouver Harbour from our hotel. To get there we would ride the SeaBus ferry we had been watching from our hotel room window since we arrived.
I fancy myself the Queen of the Backroads. I’m always looking for faster and easier ways to get places. This time, instead of doing my research, I just figured we’d buy a ticket for the SeaBus at the place where we boarded. And since I could see that from the hotel window, would we just turn left when we got to the street level? Well, no. Luckily, Jas was being practical and refused to take a turn when he couldn’t see where it went. We walked along the street, and got to the Waterfront Station of the public transit. When we walked into this train station, we realized the ferry was just another mode of transportation in Vancouver’s transit system. We found the ticket machine, but couldn’t figure out what to do. Then Jas saw a young man wearing an official-looking uniform. He kindly explained to us how to purchase tickets and walk down the long gangway to board the ferry.
What fun we had! The ferry leaves the Waterfront station every 15 minutes throughout the day, carrying passengers to the Lonsdale Quay on the other side of the harbour, returning with the same frequency. I always equate and measure public transportation by my experiences with the Metro in my beloved D.C. This was just as reliable and just as clean. While walking through the train station, I realized we could have gotten ourselves to the hotel from the airport without spending an hour in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic! You can bet the next time we head up here, that’s what we’ll do!
Upon exiting the ferry, we saw a large paved park where once could gaze across at the harbour at the city. And look at that—padlocks festooned the fence protecting small children and dogs from unexpected falls into the water. Evidently the designers of this park anticipated that occurrence, and made the fence heavy enough to handle the locks. Look how you can get your locks engraved nowadays to declare your love forever. 😉
We followed the signs to enter the Lonsdale Quay Market and strolled past the counters filled with fruits and cheeses and breads and pastries. I found the Visitor’s Center desk and picked up a map of the area, known as The Shipyard District, commemorating all the ships that had been built there throughout the past century. We left the Market and walked out through another market that is erected each weekend to sell handcrafts and food. We walked through the Polygon Museum and saw the tail end of a photography exhibit. So many interesting things to see and learn about. We walked into JOEY Shipyard restaurant, asked for a table on the patio, and ordered adult beverages and a beautiful appetizer of hummus, tzatziki, and fried pita slices. Another enjoyable experience, eating and drinking and people-watching. This time the personality-filled server was Steph.
Enough walking. Time to head back to the hotel and chill out. Back onto the SeaBus and a quick trip back across the Harbour. A little walk to find the Rexall for Jas to pick up some needed supply, and an exploratory walk through the underground passage to the Pan Pacific Hotel and Canada Place. And then a quiet afternoon while I wrote and gazed out the window, and Jas dozed.
It must be time to eat again!
This afternoon, while searching for the Rexall Drug Store, I stepped into a restaurant—the only establishment I could find nearby with non-tourists standing near the door—and asked directions. It seemed like a very nice restaurant. When we started pulling ourselves together to go get some dinner, I looked it up on Google Maps and showed the menu to Jas, who found a couple of dishes that he thought would be just right for his level of hungriness. (It seems we’ve been eating nonstop since yesterday morning!)
The restaurant is Riley’s, and it serves seafood. This is, after all, a city adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. I called and was told they would make a space for us. Wow! That was a delightful establishment!
When we arrived, we were seated in the Oyster Bar, and Jas got to watch the hard-working young man assemble the towers of seafood that diners around us were demolishing. We, on the other hand, each got a bowl of Lobster and Crab Bisque, which was delicious, and split a Waldorf Salad, just the right accompaniment for a light dinner. A cocktail for Jas and a glass of chardonnay for me completed the meal, which capped with gelato from Uno again.
And a photo of The Drop, which is very near Uno Gelato. Wikipedia entry about The Drop: “The Drop is a steel sculpture resembling a raindrop designed by the group of German artists known as Inges Idee, located at Bon Voyage Plaza in the Coal Harbour neighborhood of downtown Vancouver. The 65-foot tall piece is covered with Styrofoam and blue polyurethane.”
We’re feeling very lucky that the U.S. dollar is about 75% the value of the CAD right now. So every time we start to freak out about the cost of this dish or that, we just remember to multiply by .75 and calm down!
After dinner, we returned to the room to prepare our bags for the 9:00 a.m. bag pull.
And in the morning the ship would be here. Oh, Happy Day.
We’re definitely returning to Vancouver for another visit.
Holland America 2023, Getting to Vancouver
