I want to thanks Alex & Tanya for hosting me at the beginning of this experience. It was great to be able to spend time with you in a “secure” environment!

So from Sunday, new big step… (I’ll try my best not to miss my flight! ) New adventure in totally unknown country… I must say I’m a bit anxious about it… Especially as my Spanish is pretty far away – hope it come back quickly! I’ll try my best to give you news as soon as possible. Please, don’t forget me if you don’t hear from me for a while I look forward to receive your messages soon & for sure I’ll think of you overthere!

I have to say that Vancouver is an interesting city with wonderful landscape all around. The city looks really modern & people are pretty friendly! It often happen that they stop to ask if you need help when they see you looking at a map!

• Transportation: Metro – or Skytrain as they call it here – is absolutely clean & I guess brand new! Every single bus driver will say hello to you & would be more than welcome to answer your question if you search your way – good luck to find that in Paris! Funny thing to ask the bus to stop, you need to pull a cable which run all around the bus You can easily travel by buing a Faresaver Tickets booklet (10 adult 1 zone tickets) for 19$ instead of paying 2,50$ one way, valid for 1:30 hour.
• Finding a flat: you can of course have a look in the newspaper however, they also have an interesting way to do it: as for hotel or guesthouse, they put a sign in front of the building telling you that a room or flat is free. You just need to call the agency to take an appointment…

1 week was good to get to know the city a bit, however I’ll need to come back to discover Victoria Island which seems to be a beautiful place to visit for a long weekend… Next time for sure!

Last trip with Tanya on Bowen Island, beautiful place to be reach by boat: little cruise for my last day in Canada! I definitly have to come back for a cruise to Alaska!

Sunset evening with an amasing view on the city & the ocean with Tanya’s international friends from Canada, Mexico, Australia, Ireland, which make me want to come back & leave in Vancouver for a while We’ll see?!

Hard not to compare things you know about… As it was a rainy day, I decided to go exploring the aquarium. I should say, I was a bit desappointed… True, they have more animals than Nausicaa – the aquarium in Boulogne-sur-Mer where I used to work for more than 4 years.  However, I found the mise-en-scene not as good as in my former aquarium! Yes, they have two huge Underwater Viewing – as they call it – but so big that you hardly see the dolphins or belugas… Some others tanks doesn’t seems real, plants are fake, sharks are small… Ok, one good point is that circulation is really easy & you have map telling you where you are. Dolphin show was interesting to see – really American way Funny was to see the fishs we have on our French coast relocated on the Canadian one.

In the middle of my visit, I heard French speaking people saying that the best aquarium they’ve seen was Boulogne… Did I heard that right?! I couldn’t miss that & confirm that yes, Boulogne is one of the best They were from South West France & used to visit aquariums on their journey. We had a quick chat about the one they’ve seen & result was that Nausicaa was the best! I should say I was proud   Guys, you’re doing a great job there! (I never doubt about it!) CARRY-ON!!! I look forward to see the changes on my next visit

Take it easy day – as would say Tanya   I went to visit the University of British Columbia – UBC Campus. A mix of historic & modern architecture, complemented by diverse gardens. The campus offers fantastic views across the Strait of Georgia in the middle of the huge Pacific Spirit Regional Park.

Pacific Spirit Regional Park also known as UBC Endowment Lands have many trails leading around the peninsula. I’ve decided to take one going down to the beach & walking along the sea with a breathtaking view on the mountains around. After a while & arriving at the next trail, I had a break, sitting on the wooden “bench” on the beach, enjoying the sun & my “take it easy day” – Feeling a bit guilty not being at work… But still, lucky me to be here! Life is good! After writting some postcards, I looked around a bit more & noticed some naked men around, sunbathing – with 15 degrees!… Even building some “hiding” part further down… I thought it was time to go back. What a surprise to discover on the trail that clothing was optional on that beach… Tell me why I’m always finding such tricky situation!!! 

GAME OVER

Had a nice walk around Gastown to see the steam clock – said to be the world’s first steam-operated clock & one of the most photographed place in the city. I was waiting to hear the Westminster chimes, supposed to strikes every hour on the hour, but its seems that the clock was stuck 5 mn before 3… Only things to be heard every 5 min was an alarm car! Anyway, I could still see the steam coming out but no explosion of steam supposed to happen every 15 mn… It seems that something was wrong here…

The Chinese Garden in Chinatown reminded me of my trip to Japan, meeting Ariane & Helene in Kamakura – good memories Today, Chinatown in Vancouver is the North America’s second-largest Chinatown. Which seems to be mostly influenced by “the Hong Kong Chinese, who sought out Vancouver as a safe haven after the British colony returned to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997.” The Vancouver SunJune 30, 2007

I then met Tanya for a quick interesting chinese diner… After I missed my flight in London, someone said to me that my luck can only improve from here on… I hope that finding a worm in my meal wasn’t improvement, or maybe not eating eat was my luck!!! Otherwise, I don’t want to imagine what can happen when going more South… By the way, I’ve had a 1 dollar discount for the worm, lucky me

We then head to a Hockey match – Vancouver Giants-Lethbridge – It was such an experience!!! Especialy that in the middle of the game they start fighting & it took around 15-20 mn to stop them & figure out who did what!

This is an impressive but somehow unrealistic park! Between forest walk & hiking trails with huge cedar & rainforest fir, lake, beachside strolls, rose garden, aquarium… You can meet so many different plants & little animals such as birds, ducks, gooses, swans, squirrels as well as raccoons! You can even access – without visiting the aquarium, as for the sea lions at Nausicaa – the pool with belugas, which dosen’t seems to have that much space! You also find unusual stuff such as sign for wheelchair… By the way, I didn’t see any…

However, even if you are in the middle of the nature: you have the nice smell & view of the forest, sea, garden… There is an incredibly annoying thing – I know, I’m really sensible on that! From almost everywhere, you can hear civilisation all around you, between cars or planes above your head! Only quiet stuff are boats… So huge just in front of the bay!

Ok, one good thing with civilisation is that you have toilets all around the park

After more than 11 hours sleep – more than needed! We had a really nice quiet Sunday around Granville Island with a view on Vancouver Downtow. Tanya brought me to a really popular take away restaurant on the port, where we enjoyed fresh fish – my dear Professor will be happy about that! -  on the sun. Then walking around the area – and my dear ostheopath would love the view off all this boat… -  seeing people having bbq on their boat, discovering the Public Market… With fresh fruits & vegetable, enormous oyster – Daddy, you’ll be impressed!…  It was a nice & peaceful day to recharge my batteries! With a nice sunset on the Pacific