Vancouver

We arrived in Vancouver in beautiful warm weather to see Phil’s brother Rob and sister-in-law Marg. They picked us up from the airport and it was great to see them looking so well. 

On Sunday we renewed our acquaintance with this lovely city, especially Stanley Park. Then on Monday Rob drove us out to the Sea to Sky Gondola which takes you up to the Summit Lodge in the mountains. As you can see from the photos this was awesome!

Photo 1: Beluga Whale at Stanley Park Aquarium.

Photo 2: Training a sea lion.

Photo 3: Sea to Sky Gondola for our ride up into the mountains. The Coastal Range rises spectacularly from the edge of Vancouver Harbour.

Photo 4: Snow melting on the peaks opposite the Summit Lodge. There will be some snow on these mountains all summer.

Photo 5: The view from the Lodge. It is literally ‘sea to sky’ as the water below is not a lake but Howe Sound, an extension of Vancouver Harbour. The greenish colour shows that the water includes melt water from a nearby glacier.

Photo 6: Brothers. Rob looks pretty good for 73.

Photo 7: Summit Lodge seen from the other side of a shaky suspension bridge. Why is it that when kids get on such things they have to rattle them as much as possible!? :)

San Francisco Day 2

SAN FRANCISCO

Day 2:

Photo 1: As the weather was so glorious today we decided to take a cruise around San Francisco Bay. This photo is a view of the city from the Bay.

Photo 2: Despite the sunny weather there was a layer of fog around the Golden Gate Bridge. This phenomenon is not at all unusual, and that fog bank typically rolls across the Bay as the day advances.

Photo 3: A ruined building on Alcatraz Island. Note part of the old penitentiary upper left.

Photo 4: Part of the marina and view of Bayside housing near the downtown area. The steep hill is typical of the topography close to the Bay. In fact the cable cars were introduced as they were the most effective form of transport for scaling these steep slopes available in the early 20^th century.

Photo 5: Hasn’t Sue’s crash diet worked brilliantly!!!You would hardly recognise her! WOOHOO says Phil J.

 

SAN FRANCISCO

Photo 1: Fisherman’s Wharf from Lori’s Diner where we had brunch. (Woke up too late for breakfast).

Photo 2: Phil and a trolley bus. Great way to get around.

Photo 3: Hillside houses across the bay from downtown. Note the tangle of cables and trolley car wires overhead. Public transport is very green here. Even the buses are hybrids.

This is our third trip to San Francisco and we never get tired of this great city. We have already seen many iconic places on previous trips, like Alcatraz, Sausalito, Muir Woods and so on. So after crashing on our first day here to get over jet lag we took a walk down to Fisherman’s Wharf and along to Ghirardelli Square and thee famous chocolate shop. Lots of good stuff there – except for people like Phil who can’t eat chocolate (sad eh).

From there we spent the day riding cable cars and trolley cars around the town. San Francisco is probably the most hilly town we have ever visited. The cable car conductor had to warn us to hang on at one stage as we plunged down the steepest slope you can imagine. Talk about mountain goat country! But it was fun. (And Phil found a $5 note lying on the road…maybe his shout for tea, but how far will 1 prawn go between us???? J)

San Francisco has always been known for its encouragement of diversity and we could see why. Everywhere you here a mix of accents and languages, especially Spanish and Japanese. And it seems that every second light post has a gay pride flag. Nice friendly people here!