British Columbia and Alaska: Day 3 Vancouver, Canada

 

Our second day in Vancouver

We could hear the cars on the roads below sloshing through the wet streets throughout the night. But by 8 am the rain looked to be no more than a light drizzle. We received a five dollar Canadian voucher for not having the room cleaned the day before.

We crossed past the other hotel towers and we retraced our steps to where we had left of the hop-on hop-off bus the evening before on Granville. As we walk down the hill we passed a building with the mural of a cook.

We went down the alley to see if we could find any more street art.

Once back on Granville we joined the queue for the Park Line hop-on hop-off bus. There we chatted to a couple from the UK who had arrived in Vancouver the day before. Like us they were using the hop-on hop-off buses for sightseeing.

When the bus came it was empty. We then went past the sports stadiums and on through Chinatown to Gas Town. Once at the second stop in Gas Town we left the bus to look for somewhere to have breakfast.

Breakfast in Gas Town

Before breakfast we joined a small crowd to watch the quarter hour display by the Steam Clock.

Down the side streets we could see the West Coast Express carriages at the sidings again. A lot of the shops and restaurants were closed and the Starbucks past the Steam Clock was jammed with people. Further down Water Street we came to the Lunar Cafe, it may have looked dark inside but once up the stairs we could see a selection of eats for breakfast as well as the usual selection of drinks.

I had a breakfast bagel stuffed with ham, egg and cheese cream cheese with a large pot of tea. The student next to me was working on an image trying to recover the model’s face which was in shadow. The model was pictured in a bright alley with shadow covering her face. After watching almost option being tried and undone, I suggested using the adjustment brush to localise the changes – success!

Walking through Gas Town

After breakfast we walked down to the square with Gassy Jack’s statue. This stands on the spot where small meeting of early residents had decided to name the new settlement Vancouver.

Gas Town had only been restored in the 60s and 70s after falling on hard times in the Great Depression of the 30s. The signs on some of the buildings explained their history from being wood, perhaps then being burnt down prior to becoming empty in the 30s and now restored. It was fascinating to discover that the opposite side of Water Street used to be under water at high tide until Canadian Pacific reclaimed the shore for their railway yard.

Street Art near Gas Town

We walked back along Water Street and follow the route taken by the bus the previous day. This took as to where we had seen street art just off Richards Street..

Here is the street art that we found along the alley.