Different timezone, different hemisphere, different season.. Same day after 12 hours flying!
Pilots and first nations' art at the airport. There was 2010 olympics promo everywhere.
Me on top of the congress building.
Remco in front of the (closed) Marina building
The floatplane airport right next to downtown! So cool to see them landing and departing all day from the bay, which is sortof in the middle of the city. In my imagination these planes always belonged somewhere in a remote corner of the world.
It all looked so simple and easy. No bagage check, just hop on and go! They make a insane noise though, a small disadvantage for the expensive penthouses next to the waterfront.
North Vancouver across the bay.
Biker in Gastown, the historical part of town.
Paper birds in a gift shop (gotta steal this idea...)
Remco and I are both coffee junkies, and Vancouver is only a few hours distance from Seattle, the Starbucks capital of the world. We spend a small fortune on unhealty food and foamy drinks. There two are from a competing cafe though: Pepermint latte and Rooibos cappuccino! (=thee without caffeine)
ROADTRIP TIME again!
With Remco going east towards the Rocky Mountains. First day was misty, here at the landslide spot near Hope.
8 hours driving is a very long distance for us who are used to Tiny Netherlands. We kept marvelling at the space and calculating where we would be if we'd started from Amsterdam. (pretty much anywhere in western europe..)
Rockin' it on local radio.
Penticton Lake.
FAME!
The area is very close to the US border and famous for vineyards.
This local lady passed us with her car when we were taking pictures with the selftimer. She immediately pulled over, RAN towards us and asked us if we needed help taking pictures! Then she ran back to her car, changed her mind, ran back and started giving us touristic advice about the region.
Our car with some country flavor.
When all restaurants are closed (it's not my fault that the sunset is so late) you have no other option but eating pubsnacks in a place like this.
He's so urban.
The landscape reminded me alot of the States in some places.
SLOW VEHICLE.
Places like these are right next to the highway, but I like to pretend it is somewhere in the wild. Like I had to take two floatplanes and a canoe to get there.
Going further east, the landscape became more and more what we thought 'stereotypical Canadian' .
The lake at Nelson.
Cute hotels everywhere (and flags!)
The interior of our little hostel, the Dancing Bear.
Breakfast with real Maple Syrup!
Nelson is a very lively and pretty town, in contrast to most touristic -country towns we passed. If not for the scary big distance to ANYTHING, we could imagine ourselves living here one day.
They even have a beach! You can work on your tan and look at snowy mountaintops at the same time!
Giant traffic jam on the way back, due to an accident. At one point almost everybody was out of their car, taking a walk.
Having a smoke.
Making friends with truck drivers.
Getting some sun.
Back in the city (finally..)
Massive bike event, the lineup went on for at least 10 minutes.
North siddddeeee.
The skyline is much less impressive from this side, no more dramatic mountain backdrop.
There are a LOT of yachts in Vancouver. And all the guys go crazy about them. We had a theory that this helicopter is just hot air, to show off.
Japanese take away in the roofgarden of our hostel.
Remco and his UBC friends Jeoffrey and Cris. (and french vodka)
Getting some Dutch Pride at the Vancouver Art Gallery. (an exchange with the major museum in Amsterdam which I have never visited of course, because it is just 10 minutes from my house. You need to travel half the world to see stuff like this.)
Capilano Suspension bridge/ theme park!
Zoom in to see their excitement of walking a swagging, scary bridge. Boys...
First Nations and bird demonstrations.
Remco imitating a grumpy old golddigger from 1889.
Supercool banjo band!
Treehouse, hell yeah.
Hmm hmm I wonder where the guys are.
This group of tourists looked so exotic and out of place, I stalked them a long time to take pictures.
" Now look casual, over there! Just pretend there is a bird or something."
It was such an educational trip. We learned a lot.
Our cozy room in the hostel, and one of the two house cats. She liked Remco's smell a lot, apparently.
Jump!
The two fuzzywuzzies together in the cozy kitchen.
These guys have just the most amazing optimism and adventurous lifestyle ever. Thank you so much Ken and Janine for the wonderful stay!
Ariane, a roommate of somebody I met in Japan, showing me around Commercial Drive on another brilliant sunny day.
Was great to meet a local to explain to me inter-canadian differences and why you can't get cheese in Vancouver. Great local coffee and talks about working at home in your pj's, a subject I know all about.
Commercial drive has a relaxed, alternative vibe, with murals like this one.
Museum of Anthropology. This gigantic sculpture is on the $20 bill, and depicts the emerging of the first humans.
I did a guided tour, and among the listeners was a father and daughter from a First Natons' tribe up north. Was fun to watch the father explain things to her, apparently it was her first introduction to a lot of her culture.
Art gallery selling sculptures, I really like this style.
The stone sculptures are from Inuit tribes way up north. They also had more modern art, mixing traditional styles and new ideas and materials.
Roadtrip #2, to Vancouver Island. Here is the view from the ferry departure point, Horshoe Bay.
"He's on a BOAT, aaaand he's going FAST!" (it's Cris btw)
Cathedral Grove, very unique and impressive forest roughly in the middle of the island.
Famous for giant trees.
Again, this was right next to the highway, but don't tell anyone.
The Southwest tip, at Ucluelet,
"Act like a light house!"
Beach near Tofino, they said we could see a mother bear with her cubs here but of course we missed her...
The view from the youthostel.
Boardwalk to South beach.
Bald eagles fighting!!
View from halfway point.
Another boardwalk, to Schooners cove, felt like a tropical rainforest.
AMAZING sunset from Radar Hill, like a movie! I have a million pictures of it but will spare you.
Cris wanted to surf, so rented equipment in the little town. I like the surf chick with the mountains in the background.
I was only assisting of course, no way in hell I'm going to try it here for the first time in freezing water.
I like the one on the right, his body language matches his *$%#?
I was very impressed. My job was to take pictures and guard the bags.
Surfer doggies. no wait, CANADIAN surfer doggies.
Back in the city #2, this time from a bus.
it was boiling hot, but music pulled us through.
The public library looks like the Colloseum.
Rowing club house at the entrance of Stanly Park.
Incredible field of multicoloured lotus flowers in Beaver Lake.
Spot the duck family!
The entire park is surrounded by water, with a walking/biking trail going all around it. Lions gate bridge and misty mountains in the background.
I finally find something food related that is worth photographing, and of course it's JAPANESE! Meet 'Japadog', a hotdog car japanese style. People were lining up like crazy, and not just asians.
Oh how I've missed the cheerful politeness, superfast service, loud "THANK YOUUU" exclaimations to customers, pictures of celebrity customers and newspaper clippings on the side... And it tasted great too.
Chess players at Robson square.
What can I say, I like the flag. And sunsets.
Last picture of the trip! Thank you all for reading and watching, and see you soon at home.
