Granville Island Market

Granville Island Market, Vancouver

October 5th, 2019

A few years ago, we took a brief trip to the market on Granville Island. We were pressed for time, but what we saw caused us to vow to return during our next visit. On Saturday, we made good on that self-promise and spent a few hours there, which gave us a chance to capture the ambience of this alluring place. 

We met Kelly, a friend's son, for the first time, and had lunch with him on the patio, overlooking the waterfront and skyline of part of the city. 

After he departed for his next engagement, we were able to roam leisurely through the indoor market, and the surrounding area - a converted warehouse section of the city. 

The indoor market comprised of a variety of stalls ranging from fruit and veggies, cheeses, butchers, spices, candies/chocolates, and bakeries to pottery, florists, tools, and tea cosies! 

Warning: the following pictures may cause excessive salivation to occur!

I'm sure that, if we resided within a few kilometres of this place, we would be patrons every weekend! It's certainly a dangerously, delightful place! 

The sun came out and the warmth lured us outside to explore more of the vicinity. Here, we found blacksmiths, glass-blowers, carpenters, and a brilliant store selling an assortment of musical instruments from around the world. 

We watched this glass blower at work. Fascinating!

These painted silos, just off to the side of the market, were an example of how this warehouse district has been transformed into a tourist attraction. 

We stopped to watch and enjoy several live musicians including a Peruvian gentleman playing a single flute, and another guy playing a mandolin. 

Finally, we took leave of the area via the Aquabus, which took us to a part of Vancouver that neither of us had seen before. 

After an overcast arrival in the city, it was good to see blue skies, and feel the warmth of the sun in this beautiful city. 

Our First Day in Whistler

Our First Day in Whistler

September 29th, 2019

After a fantastic journey through the Coastal Mountain Range from Kamloops, we arrived in Whistler last night, and settled in to our Airbnb condo, which will be our home for the next 4 days.

The view from our balcony

Today, we ventured up to the summits of Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains, via the gondolas, which are still operating on weekends until Thanksgiving. We had bought tickets online, which allowed us the option of unlimited crossings between the two peaks. Our plan was to travel to the top of Blackcomb Mountain, cross over the valley to Whistler, and find a couple of trails that we could hike before returning to the base. 

Alas, we had forgotten that the snow, that looks so picturesque from the village, below, was quite deep in places at the top, rendering any potential hikes slightly hazardous, so we changed our plans and decided to enjoye the views that presented themselves to us.

We were greeted by this snowman - the first we had seen this year!

Road track for access vehicles

Lodge, with restaurant and gift shop at the top of Blackcomb Mountain

View of Whistler Village in the valley, below

Station where we caught the second gondola to travel over the valley to the summit of Whistler Mountain

Olympic Rings at the Whistler Summit

Mark managed to capture this black bear in the valley below. Unfortunately, the swaying of the gondola precluded a clearer picture

Chipmunk feasting in the snow

The glass bottom gondola - our choice for the peak-to-peak crossing

The snow was deeper than we had expected

We spent a couple of hours up at 'the top of the world', partaking in a couple of coffees to enhance our picnic lunch, called a couple of friends to catch up, as well as share what we were doing, and hosted a Facebook Live video call from the returning peak-to-peak gondola, which we had to ourselves. We know several people who will probably never be able to have that experience, and decided to share it with them. What amazes us is that over 50 people joined us on the call, or shortly after, so show their appreciation and/or make comments. Also, it has been viewed over 250 times! Astonishing, really, when you come to think of it. (Here's the link, if you subscribe to Facebook, and would like to see it: 

 https://www.facebook.com/Alan1951/videos/10162872996995500/?t=0 )

We took this video for the benefit of those who do not have a Facebook account:

Returning to the base, we strolled through the market stalls that had been set up along a couple of the streets, and parts of the main village before returning to the condo for a short rest and to freshen up before going out to dinner. 

Maple Taffy, made by pouring hot maple syrup over ice, and then rolling a stick through the cooling liquid

Although the colours are not as splendid as those in Elliot Lake, they put on a fair showing here. Most of the trees in the surrounding areas are softwood. 

Mark has a thing about being close to bears!

There were literally hundreds of people lining up for the mountain-biking experience. 

Olympic Rings in the village, in honour of the 2010 Winter Olympics, held here, and in Vancouver

We had checked out the menus of several eating establishments, and settled for the Amsterdam Cafe Pub. Like many other restaurants, the outside patio had heaters that enable patrons to dine outside, even in the winter months. 

Enjoying a shandy while waiting for dinner to be served

It was a pleasant way to finish of a wonderful day!