Colin has been a most excellent host on this, my trip to Vancouver. The first evening, we watched some film shorts, and talked before I called it a night.
On Monday, we walked about downtown — making it to a nifty used bookshop, to Chinatown, to the Japanese food store/Pocky store (I may have to return to get more yummy goodness!), the library, Little Sisters (a bookstore that I had learned about in school, entertainingly enough. Yay for buying books!), some souvenir shops, and some native art gallery/shop. Great stuff overall. We ate lunch at Hon's in Chinatown, which had excellent food. In the evening I called people and borrowed some graphic novels to read. Relaxing, really.
Tuesday was spent at UBC. En route we stopped at Japadog — a unique hotdog stand that topped hotdogs with the most excellent of Japanese toppings — like teriyaki sauce, mayonaise and nori. Delicious! We checked out the Museum of Anthropology on UBC campus, looked at the rose garden, and oogled things like a bell from the Emperor of Japan's last visit etc. Then we went to Colin's friend, Richard's apt and baked bread. It was a good trip to campus! Once back downtown, I met up with Graeme and we walked the Stanley Park seawall, and caught up.
Wednesday our main plan was the Aquarium and Stanley Park. The aquarium had so many great fish, frogs, turtles, marine mammals and even a new baby beluga whale. Great stuff to see and do! There was even a 4D movie in a brand new theatre which I think was far better than any of the 4D movies we saw in Vegas. We also walked Stanley Park, saw the 9 o'clock gun, and gazed out over the water.
In the evening I went home from work with my aunt Diane to go visit Grandma. It was great to see Grandma — she looked wonderful — far better than Diane and the rest expected. We had dinner (Uncle Doug's pasta sauce was great!), talked and teased Greg. Aunt Nancy and uncle Will stopped by after dinner so it was good to see them too, especially in the throes of moving. Grandma mentioned that she would love to see the rest of my family sometime and I got a great tour of her apt. Her place is about as big as the upstairs of her old house, which is excellent, and I felt that she has the best care available right now. She even has an extra bedroom for guests who want to visit.
I spent the night at Diane and Doug's as Robert was out on the Island for work, so I got to stay in his room. I got to see Diane's beautiful yard and garden, the wonderful house, and the friendly cat, Penny. Greg and I chatted until I went to bed. I even got to see his girlfriend who came to pick up her bike.
In the morning (VERY early) Diane took me back downtown via bus. We stopped at a shop downstairs in her office tower for yummy muffins (still warm!) and she gave me a tour of her office. It seems like a wonderful place to work. She walked me back down to Robson and I made it back to Colin's still in the early morning this morning.
I hope to contact others while I am here, and also to see more of the sights and things to do in this excellent city!