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Apr 24
   Vintage! This is a random post. The year was 2006...

Doing the tourist thing ~

Tourism Challenge, day three.

Yesterday was Sunday, the 23rd of April. The Sun Run was going on and downtown Vancouver was crawling with people.

I woke up a little late, having spent a long evening at Seida’s friends on the way back from Grouse Mountain. Turkish origin and beer, and awesome hospitality. :-)

So this morning I caught a bus to Stanley Park and went to the Vancouver Aquarium. The hour and a half I had set aside for the visit turned out to be way too short. The belugas, the dolphins and the sea lions by themselves consumed most of my time. I’ll have to go back soon. But I had also booked a Harbour Cruise tour and had to leave.

The MV Harbour Princess sails from Coal Harbour. She took us on a very enjoyable 75 min. tour around the Burrard Inlet; we cruised by Canada Place, the Port of Vancouver, saw a lonely sea lion basking in the sun on a barge, not far from the fisheries - smart guy, turned around a bit before the Second Narrows, followed the North Shore passed Lonsdale Quay all the way to the Lions Gate bridge and finally rounded Stanley Park back into Coal Harbour.

Then I went back to the park and spent an hour on the horse drawn park tour. The percherons pulled the 30-person car seemingly effortlessly and I smiled at myself, doing the tourist thing.

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2006-04-24 21:12 • Posted in Photoblogs:

5 Comments

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  • 1 - NewYorkAngel says:

    « Your pictures are just amazing! It’s been some time now that I’ve been reading your posts and I definitely love your blog. Thanks for giving us such a great and accurate view of the city you live in and its surroundings. What i found awsome is your ‘About the author’section; especially ‘the center of the universe’ and ‘I hate ticks’!! Bloody brilliant! »

    Date of comment: 2006-04-25 01:12 •
  • 2 - Vince says:

    « Well thank you very much, Angel :-)

    To be honest, it’s quite easy to love Vancouver and comunicate it. Funny, my sister was just mentionning: « Ya know, I read your blog and you sound suspiciously... happy! Do you realize it? » I do, all the time.

    And speaking of family, I loved your own text about it: « We never plan the next encounter, we rarely mention the fact that it is so hard to be far away, we just sacredly enjoy the days when we are united again. » Briliant too!

    Cheers, Vince

    P.S. I hate ticks ;-) »

    Date of comment: 2006-04-25 11:07 •
  • 3 - Anonymous says:

    « Toujours de toi, ces photos ? My you’re good ! »

    Date of comment: 2006-04-25 17:02 •
  • 4 - Vince says:

    « Ben, oui, elles sont de moi, pourquoi, ça fait trop carte postale? Je me suis résolu à faire des p’tits montages pour économiser de la place, et la patience des lecteurs... ;-) »

    Date of comment: 2006-04-26 00:03 •
  • 5 - NewYorkangel says:

    « Nope, your pictures are amzing!!No worries.
    And thanks a bunch for the comments you made about that text of mine...
    Really sweet of you! »

    Date of comment: 2006-04-26 00:24 •

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We now go back to current chronological entries:
Random Entry: Museums and gardens of Vancouver  
 Next: The long, slow skid out of control | Previous: At the end of a long, rainy winter
Mar 19

At the heart of all things

Vancouver is the 3rd largest Canadian city. All right. That being said, it also in many ways feels like little more then a large village. With an extremely dense downtown core such as ours, everything one could possibly need happens to be so close it’s almost too easy. So on a rather quiet night, I sat down in front of my very sick computer and with invaluable help from the Gmaps Pedometer, I decided to plot a set of straight-line distances from home. Here are the results. It’s quite impressive when you look at it from a global perspective. Ours is such a small world, and this city makes it feel even smaller. In a good way.

Nearest:
Coffee shop: 0.2 km
Grocery store: 0.2 km
Fresh bread: 0.2 km
Bank machine: 0.2 km
Drugstore: 0.2 km
Bus stop: 0.2 km
Liquor store: 0.2 km
Corner store: 0.2 km
Pub: 0.3 km
Ethnic food: 0.4 km
Decent bakery (for morning croissants, a must): 0.6 km
Totem pole (not so often used by me but dogs like them): 2.1 km
Stadium (Go Canucks!): 2.2 km
Train station: 3.3 km
Marina: 1.1 km

Nearest (geography):
Summit above 1100 m: 11 km
Summit above 1600 m: 19 km
Island: 13 km
Snow (winter time): 11 km
Coastal mountain fjord: 15 km
Volcano (active): 110 km
Country: 76 km

Distance to various places:
Waterfront/beach: 130 m
Stanley Park: 0.9 km
Aquatic Center: 0.9 km
Granville Island Market: 1.4 km
False Creek Ferries landing: 0.9 km
Paramount Cinemas: 1.2 km
Cruise ship terminal/Imax: 2 km
Public library (main branch): 1.9 km
Chapters bookstore: 1.5 km
Art Gallery: 1.5 km
Museum of Anthropology: 8.5 km
Maritime Museum: 0.8 km
Science Center/planetarium: 0.9 km
Costco: 2.4 km
Future Shop: 1.6 km
Best Buy: 2.8 km
Work: 2.1 km
Chinatown: 3 km
Seabus terminal: 2.3 km
Lions Gate Bridge: 3.2 km

A Little further out:
Cypress Mountain: 13 km
Grouse Mountain: 10 km
Seymour Mountain: 16 km
Lynn Canyon Park/suspension bridge: 10 km

Closest sighting (in the wild):
Bald eagle: 1.4 km
White swan: 1.3 km
Sea lion: 5.6 km
Harbour seal (mother and cub): 1.5 km
Harbour seal colony: 25 km
Bear: 11 km
Deer: 11 km
Killer whale pod: 59 km
Raccoon: 200 m
Skunk: way too close ;-)

Estimated number of coffee shops within 10 km radius: 100+
Number of bridges within 20 km radius: 15+
Distance to fireworks competition barge (summer): 1.5 km
Distance to uninterrupted 30 km biking/running/roller blading/walking waterfront path: 130 m

Chamonix: 8389 km
Sea of Tranquility: 384400 km

And finally, since distances are relative and subject to interpretation, here’s a cool anecdote, food for thoughts. I was once flying over the Caribbean on a commercial plane, probably from St. Lucia to Miami. At some point during the flight, the Captain came on the PA system to do his usual announcement about the flight. He began as per the usual routine by mentioning that we were established at our cruising altitude, something close to 30,000 feet. Then he stunned everybody by adding:

« We are presently overflying the Porto Rico Trench, deepest zone in the Caribbean Sea. Try to imagine, if you can, that there is as much distance between the aircraft you’re sitting in and the ocean’s surface, as there is between that surface and the bottom... » I just wanted to cheer for him. What a mesmerizing concept. My coffee shop is indeed so close to home...

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2007-03-19 21:03 • Posted in Schtroumpfissime:

4 Comments

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  • 1 - NewYorkangel says:

    « Well, well, it does seem that Vancouver is- and thus YOU are at the heart of all things... There’s just one distance you did not mention.. How far is LOVE from where you stand? »

    Date of comment: 2007-03-20 06:00 •
  • 1.1 - Vince answers:

    « You’re right, how silly of me, I forgot that. Well, here’s an add-on:

    Distance to l*ve:
    &$!#&*#$!@!! km

    Hum, strange, it seems my computer keeps rejecting the data. I don’t know why, it should be simple. Any way, I’ll give you directions instead:

    Take the elevator down to the garbage room in the basement and climb back up the stairs to street level so that it all starts by an ascent. Walk for a while until your boots are no longer made for walking and then catch a random bus to somewhere. When you get there, ask directions to go even further. You might have to overnight in somewhere to get to further since it always gets late by the time one decides where to go next. Upon arrival to further, a plane, a train or an automobile will be waiting to take you across an ocean and some deserts. Or maybe high mountains? After many stop-overs and a few false alarms, you’ll get to a place that feels strangely familiar. You’ll look around and realize you’re back where you left, a long time ago. I don’t know. I think these are the directions to what you were looking for... ;-) »

    Date of comment: 2007-03-20 06:55 •
  • 2 - Anonymous says:

    « The place where you live is warm with
    humanity, excitement and beautiful spots.
    Good for you.
    As for the directions to l*ve, I followed them closely and, strangely enough, I happened to get completely lost.
    Must have missed something... ;-) »

    Date of comment: 2007-03-20 12:34 •
  • 3 - Gricelle says:

    « Vancouver is indeed my next destination, it sounds great. :) »

    Date of comment: 2007-03-22 07:51 •

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