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Page 3 of Part 6: My Life in Canada: January 2007 - December 2007 continued!

January 2007 - December 2007:

*WEEK 2 --> From June 11 - June 16/2007:

*Monday - June 11: Michael had to go back to work after being off for half a week. He only had to work this week and would be off again from June 17 until June 26. It’s a busy time at his work, so they don’t like him to take too many holidays in June. But since we had family from Belgium coming it was ok that he took a week off. During July and August it’s quiet at his work and usually that’s the time that he can take off a whole month. But I was happy that he had quite some days off when my family was here. Anyway, I have my own car so my family and I could go wherever we liked to go. Today it was cloudy but it wasn’t raining, thank god. We decided to take the bus and skytrain to downtown Vancouver, that’s an interesting experience in itself. We took the bus around 10:00am, hopped on the SkyTrain and arrived downtown Vancouver around 10:45. First we walked down to the Canada Place where we had a walk around...we went inside and walked around the outside. To the side of the Canada Place there was a huge cruise ship docked getting ready for a journey to the Caribbean or Alaska. I have seen several cruise ships here, but not as big as this one. After some wondering around it was getting closer to lunch time so we decided to have a bite to eat at the Steamworks Brewery by the entrance of Gastown. Delicious food and great service, we enjoyed our lunch there.


        

    

    
Some photos of our visit around the Canada Place and The Steamworks Brewery.


After an enjoyable lunch we walked into Gastown where you can wonder around from one souvenir store to the other. There are many good deals on Canada souvenirs and you can buy lots of typical Canada things for a good price. If you want to take home some nice souvenirs than you should buy them here as you will not get these souvenirs for a better price elsewhere. The only place that has some good Canada items for a very cheap price is the "Canadian One Dollar Store" where you can find mugs (cups), pens, pins, key chains, cards, flags and other little Canada items. But for a much wider variety of Canada items, Gastown is the best place. After browsing around here we made our way into Chinatown where we visited the beautiful Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens. The weather was getting nicer as well and the sun came out. These gardens are beautiful and the door is open for everyone to walk in and have a look. It’s worth a visit and it’s an oasis of greenery protected by walls in the middle of downtown Vancouver. After that we were all a little tired, so we walked back to the waterfront in Vancouver and made our way home because we wanted to be home by the time Michael came home from work. We were also invited at Michael’s parents place for some cake and coffee. It was really nice to visit them and spend some time with them. Michael’s parents are such nice people. My mother in law gave my mom a wonderful set of jewelry (earrings and a necklace)…my mom was really happy with it! It was a lovely evening and it seems that everybody enjoyed each other company. After taking my family to their B&B, Michael, my mom and myself watched a little TV and relaxed for a while before going to bed.


        

        
Some photos of our visit to Gastown and Chinatown in downtown Vancouver.


*Tuesday – June 12: It was quite cloudy again this morning, but dry. My family was at our place around 10:00am, we decided to go up to Burnaby Mountain again because the last time we couldn’t see much of the scenery from up here. By the time we got there, the sun came out a little here and there. You could see the mountains a lot better today, so that was nice for a change. After a look around here we went to North Vancouver where we visited Deep Cove, a cozy little town by the water. Here is the start of an 18km long fjord called Indian Arm. Lots of people enjoy kayaking here due to the calm waters and the beautiful scenery of the mountains. We walked around for a little while and had some lunch in this little town.

After lunch we drove up to Mount Seymour to see if we had any nice views from up here. The Mount Seymour Parkway to the top of the mountain was about 12km and it would take you to an elevation of 1040m. Once we arrived here there was still snow on the ground on the sides of the mountains and in the grass. It was pretty cool up here and a bit windy as well. From up here we had a lovely view down into the valley and over the mountains. There was hardly anybody here, but in the winter it’s a busy place as it is a popular ski area. We got a little cold from walking up in the mountains here so it was time to return back down and go find a nice place to have some coffee. We stopped at Starbucks close to our place where we enjoyed a lovely coffee with a caramel apple bar…delicious! We had a wonderful day again and had a lot of fun!


    

    
Some views of Burnaby Mountain, Deep Cove and Mount Seymour with still some snow present.


*Wednesday – 13 June: Today we decided to take it easy. My aunt and uncle wanted to do a little shopping in the mall near to their Bed & Breakfast on their own and explore the area there a little bit. This was good for us as well so we could do a little bit of cleaning in the house. This way it won’t be so much after my family leaves. My mom and I had some time to talk and just be together, her and I without anybody else around. That was nice as well. In the evening we just watched some TV after Michael got home and just enjoyed ourselves We went to bed on time and had a nice long sleep…that was a welcome rest!

*Thursday – June 14: Today was a fairly nice day, there were still some clouds around but the sun tried to appear now and then. We decided to go to Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge where we would visit Pitt Lake and Golden Ears Provincial Park. These places are about 40 minutes driving from my place into the easterly direction. We tried to visit Pitt Lake, but there was a big truck that couldn’t turn and blocked the road to Pitt Lake. After 5-10 minutes waiting we decided to turn around and head for Golden Ears Provincial Park instead. We might stop at Pitt Lake on the way back if we would have time, we'll see. First we stopped at Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park and it looked like it was cloudier over here. Darn, we thought it finally cleared up a little…oh well! We walked around at Alouette Lake for a little while and then we drove to the Gold Creek Day Use area. Here we walked the North Beach Trail to Alouette Lake. We walked along this beautiful green Gold Creek which ends up in Alouette Lake. At the end of the trail there is a beautiful beach where you can get even more wonderful views over the mountains and Alouette Lake. Once we got closer to the lake the sun finally came out and it warmed up quite a bit. My family was so impressed with this area and truly enjoyed this beautiful park with this lush green forest, beautiful green river, the mountains and the lake. We took our time to enjoy all the views, the sunshine and just the quietness of mother nature. It is a great place to visit and once you are there you don’t even have the feeling that this big city of Vancouver is not so far away. We didn't have time to stop at Pitt Lake and we were all a little tired from our day today, so we just went home when we were finished visiting Golden Ears Provincial Park. We had a wonderful day and had a fantastic time!


    

    

    
Some views of our visit to Golden Ears Provincial Park.


*Friday – June 15: Well, today the day started again with clouds and rain as well. Yesterday they gave out sunshine all day and it was supposed to be the nicest day of the week, so we had agreed that we would go to Grouse Mountain today. At 10:00am my mom and I went to pick up my aunt and uncle as we had arranged the day before. It was drizzling at the time and we decided to drive to North Vancouver anyway and in the mean time we could just visit Lonsdale Quay (which is a covered market). From there we could just keep an eye on the weather and if it would turn out nice before noon we could still decide if we wanted to go up to Grouse Mountain or not. We looked around in Lonsdale Quay, they have some interesting shops and you can find a lot of international stuff here. We had a coffee here and by the early afternoon it looked like it was starting to clear up, but we couldn’t see the mountain tops yet. So, we decided to skip Grouse Mountain today and go back on a nicer day (hopefully there would be one). We thought it was a little too late too go up to Grouse Mountains as we wanted to enjoy most of the shows up there and some were finished already by now. Instead we went to the Cleveland Dam in North Vancouver which is in the same area as Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain. But first we stopped for lunch at White Spot which was delicious as usual.

Once we arrived at the Cleveland Dam we went for a little walk. You could here the noise of the rushing water from the dam. What a view you get over here. We wanted to get closer, but it was blocked off at the moment due to some filming activities. They would wrap up later, so we went for a walk on a different trail in the forest. After this walk the sun started to come out and we sat on a bench to have a snack. We brought some drinks, fruit and maple cookies. We had a snack with a view over beautiful Capilano Lake and the Lions Mountains. That was so nice and when the sun came out it was really pleasant out. After that we were recharged again and since the sun was coming out, I figured it might be a good idea to go to Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver. From up here you get a great view over the city, the ocean and the surrounding area. So, off we went. We stopped at the parking lot of the viewpoint in Cypress Provincial Park. Wow, what a view! It was later in the day and finally the sun was really shining now. The light hit the city buildings so nicely and you could see the Canada Place, Stanley Park, the Lions Gate Bridge, downtown Vancouver and so much more. We drove up to the top of Cypress Mountain and there they were working hard to build the revenues for the 2010 Winter Olympics as Cypress Mountain will host the freestyle skiing and snowboarding competition. Well, that was the end of our day again and what a day it was. Everybody had fun and they were all impressed with the beautiful things they had seen again today.


        

    

    
Some views of our visit to the Lonsdale Quay, the Cleveland Dam area and Cypress Mountain.


*Saturday – June 16: Michael was off again and he would be off until June 25. Today we decided to go to downtown Vancouver again with the bus and the skytrain since my family wanted to get some nice souvenirs to take home with them for their relatives. The best place for souvenirs in downtown Vancouver is Gastown, so that's where we went to. We also went to Robson Street, which is a popular and very busy shopping street in Vancouver. This is more the hip area with the fancy stores where celebrities shop when they're shooting a movie of tv show in Vancouver. It was very busy on Robson Street and you can find lots of designer stores here as well as some souvenir stores. We didn’t bump into anybody famous this time though. Around dinner time we were all really shopped out, so it was time to find a nice place to eat. Michael knew this nice place called Fogg’n Suds and there was one on Robson Street, so we decided to have dinner there since we were in the area. This was a great place with a wonderful atmosphere and very good food for a decent price. My aunt and uncle wanted to treat us for dinner, as this was a late wedding present and a thank you for the things we have done for them for this trip. We didn’t want any gifts, so they wanted to take us out for dinner…which was really nice of them. We really appreciated it and enjoyed it very much! We also ordered some desserts, my goodness…they were just about as much as a full meal! Hahaha, we had such a laugh about it when they served us our desserts (have a look at the photos and you’ll know what I mean)…but we finished it all! Thank god, we still had to walk quite a ways to the skytrain as I think they could roll us down the hill by the end of this dinner…haha! We truly enjoyed it and we had a great time again today!


    

    
Some photos of our dinner at Fogg'n Suds...enjoy! ;o).


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