The eve of July 28th will be day 2 of the Fireworks Festival. The area around False Creek will be packed with tens of thousands of people come nightfall. Afterwards the streets will be packed with people. Even if the transit strike is over, don’t count on catching a bus.
I will be at a little shindig called Barb-B-Q. Catch some Shakespeare, eat during intermission, catch the second half, then watch the lightshow from a roped-off locale. Tickets are still available, and they run about $65 Canadian. The food is very good. I can’t remember if my tix are for Taming of the Shrew, or The Two Gentlemen of Verona. You can get more info online at http://bard.faximum.com/
It’s my best guess that the transit strike will still be going on one month from now. Keep bumping this up, and I’ll let you know… or you can check http://www.translink.bc.ca and find out for yourself
If you’ve got enough wheels, go to the North shore and do the Grouse Grind (Nature’s version of the Stairmaster), or The Lynn Valley suspension bridge (free! and a better view than the better-known Capilano suspension bridge). Up for a swinging weird time? Check out freaks like moi playing in the buff at Wreck Beach (SPF 45 is your friend!). Tamer (ie. clothed) fun can be had on any other beaches around False creek.
Feeling active? Go rent a kayak (one or 2 people) and paddle around False creek. Or you can jump on the Aquabus (a private company that’s always sailing) for a $6 tour of False Creek. They’re sailing bathtubs!
As for getting to Van, I recommend the train. It’s a nice and relaxing way to get here and back… and you just cruise through Customs in both directions. The only sucky bit is scheduling.
It’s a big maybe for Cervaise and I. Our last trip to Vancouver involved the sacrafice of our savings account the the local transmission gods, so we’re a little wary of going back.
Just off the top of my head, the hotel I’d suggest is the Holiday Inn at Metrotown, right next to the mall. (IIRC, Cheri suggested that Odieman and silent_rob stay at my place, unless they want to pay for a hotel. Fine by me! We can get to the hotel in half an hour by foot and Skytrain.)
It’s right on the Skytrain (20 minutes or so to downtown), and has rooms from $109 Canadian (plus taxes, of course).
Now, what to do …
The Vancouver Art Gallery downtown currently has a show of Rembrandt prints along with Emily Carr and the rest of their usual stuff, if anybody is into that. $12.50 and worth it.
I’ll second Barbarian on Lynn Canyon for those who like a walk in the woods. I’ll pass on the Grouse Grind, and ride to the top.
Okay, we have a nomination for a restaurant from my darling caircair…Ristorante Cin Cin.**
We also have two nominations from my friends (who dine out much more frequently in Vancouver than I ever do…(I have an aged father, a demanding job and therefore no life…Well, I have a life, but it doesn’t include dining in Vancouver as a general rule. :))
So…since I can’t figure out how to post a link to save my soul, here are my friend’s recommendations. Milestones on Robson Street, and The Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown. I’m gonna send the only links I could find to rjk, who can hopefully “flesh” out the details. [sub]Maybe he can find more info than I did, too.[/sub]
Okay, well what do you all think? And also, we need to decide where we are going to spend the day.
Also, caircair honey? When does the train get into Vancouver on Saturday?
Scotti
fyi, the Grouse Grind is officially closed due to (imagined) avalanche dangers. The hotline is 604.990.7488, but it looks likely it will be officially closed until next summer.
However, this isn’t stopping people from walking around the locked gate and climbing the trail anyway.
The train gets in around 11:30, after leaving around 7:00 or so. Amtrak.com will give you the exact schedule.
As for restaurants, I’d be willing to do anything besides Cin Cin. Milestones sounds great as well, my only hesitation with The Old Spaghetti Factory is that it’s a chain, and we have one here in Seattle. But it IS good food, so I’ll be glad to go anywhere. Same goes for spouse.
As for activities, spouse doesn’t do well on long walks or hills so mountains are not our thing. But we’re willing to hang around Vancouver and see the sights – the Rembrandt exhibit sounds interesting! Or maybe a city tour? We went to the Sun Yat Sen park back in our courting days and liked it. But mostly, we’ll just tag along with the gang and see what we come up with.
As I said in my mail to Scotti, I’ll make reservations when we have a better idea how many people we have.
I’ll second caircair on Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden - just watch out for the volunteer tour guide who spent thirty years teaching Grade One. Misbehave and she might make you sit in the corner!
Okay, barring any further input, rjk and I have decided that Milestones is the best idea for dinner. I have several friends who have eaten there, and they said it was a really fun place, and the food was great. Also, they apparently serve a killer drink called a Bellini. I don’t know how to spell that, but my friends were all quite enthusiastic.
I need to find out who needs hotel rooms, who is willing to share, who is just going to be there for the day. Also, when are people planning on coming up? Saturday, or for the whole weekend?
katrina and Cervaise- I am so glad you are maybe going to come! I somehow got confused and had the impression that you weren’t going to be able to make it!
Barbarian- From what you have posted (and thank you for all the help, BTW) I assume that you are going to be otherwise occupied the 28th? Maybe you could meet us for breakfast on the 29th?
So here is my updated list. Odieman
Silent_Rob
rjk
caircair and MrCair
Scotticher
Amarinth
Brunetter
Danalan and the lovely Renee
Joaquim Matilda
and possibles…
Sn-man
katrina and Cervaise
Kallessa
It just occurred to me that we need to find a good place for breakfast the 29th, too. Any ideas?
Spouse and I are making a weekend of it. We’ll take the train on Saturday, and the bus back (Bus is run by Amtrak) on Sunday around noon, getting in to the Seattle train station around 4:00 PM.
We will need hotel reservations, but plan to make our own once we know where everyone is staying – we have the Entertainment card and plan to use it for a discount. As for breakfast, anywhere is fine by us.
Milestones sounds great – especially since we’ve never been there before.
Do you have any restrictions for your Entertainment card? If another hotel would be better than the one rjk suggested would be better for you, please let us know.
Can’t know just yet. The book is at home with the list of hotels. Actually, I don’t think it really matters – spouse and I can stay just about anywhere, really. Besides, we’ve discovered sometimes the book discount isn’t as much as another kind of discount. Maybe someone knows if any Vancouver hotels are running specials?
Turns out the suggested hotel IS in our book. In fact, Holiday Inn and Ramada Inn are both in the book – may I suggest if we DO pick a hotel, that it be close to downtown and/or the train station? Perhaps the Holiday Inn Downtown?
Just a suggestion.
