Our last full day in Vancouver!
How the time here has flown.
We got up later than usual today as we had planned to sleep in a little. This was to be a resting and wind-down day so we had no definite plans or agenda today, other than to enjoy our last full day in this wonderful city.
Again we went to Denny’s on Davie Street for another hearty breakfast (and why not?!). No disappointments here – bring on the Skillets and Slams!
After leaving Denny’s we went across Davie Street to Broughton Street, then down Broughton Street which is mostly residential and filled with many restored Victorian houses. What a beautiful neighbourhood – quiet, calm and tree-lined.
We eventually hit Robson Street in our wanderings so we went across it to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate store, where we bought several different types of chocolate for friends, work colleagues and ourselves. We came out of the store with 2 shopping bags of chocolate which were awkward to carry, so we made a trip back to the hotel to drop them off. We reached the hotel at about 11:00 to find that Housekeeping had already done up the room, which was great.
We dropped the bags off, then crossed the city to Gastown where the objective was to find Vera’s Burger Shack to have one of their delicious milkshakes as we’d done in years past (you’ve got to love a restaurant whose slogan is “You can’t beat Vera’s meat”). On the way to Gastown we walked past Holt Renfrew and saw these Gucci sneakers in the window. I include this shot in the blog for no reason other than it’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen this trip:
Anyway, once we hit Gastown we first looked in a couple of souvenir shops along the way – lots of tacky (and non-tacky) stuff here:
Reaching the Gassy Jack statue in Gastown we found that Vera’s Burger Shack was no longer at this location – *very* disappointed 🙁
We weren’t sure what to do next so we opted for a coffee (Vince) and chocolate brownie (me, of course) at 131 Water Kitchen & Bar in Gastown. After resting a bit we decided to just go down by the waterfront and take it easy for the rest of the afternoon (it was about 2:30 at this point).
On our way to the waterfront we passed by Pacific Central Station again, and this time I took a shot of the somber memorial statue there. The statue, entitled Angel Of Victory, pays tribute to employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway who lost their lives in the two World Wars:
The inscription on the base of the statue reads:
To Commemorate Those in the Service of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company Who at the Call of King and Country, Left All That Was Dear to Them, Endured Hardship, Faced Danger and Finally Passed Out of Sight of Men by the Path of Duty and Self Sacrifice, Giving Up Their Own Lives That Others May Live in Freedom. Let Those Who Come After See to It That Their Names Are Not Forgotten.
1914–1918 • 1939–1945
From Pacific Central Station we went down to Jack Poole Plaza on the waterfront where the Olympic Cauldron resides. It was an incredibly sunny and clear day so we spent the next 2 hours just basking in the afternoon sun and looking at the mountains, harbour and North Vancouver:
We had arranged to meet my old pal Cindy at 5:15 outside the JOEY Burrard restaurant on Burrard Street, so we made our way there and waited. My old friend came along and we then went into the restaurant and spent the next couple of hours eating, laughing, reminiscing and just enjoying the company. If you’re interested, you can find our TripAdvisor review of this restaurant (written by Vince) here.
At about 7:30 we decided to call it a night as we had a very early flight out of Vancouver the next morning, plus Cindy didn’t want to stay out late on a work night. We said our goodbyes and exchanged hugs; Cindy went to her car and we returned to the hotel.
We spent the next half hour packing, chilled for a while, then set wakeup alarms on both our iPhones for a ridiculously early start tomorrow morning (the ungodly hour of 4:30AM), then turned in at about 10:00.
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