Seattle

Pike Place Market.  Doug says we have to do it all.  We moseyed through the market, up and down, food stalls, crafters.  Found a couple of tasty morsels.  Wound our way to Pioneer Square, the original city site with restaurants and some galleries. Toured the Klondike National Historic Site.  Seattle was a departure port for the Klondike gold rush in 1897.  One of the 'stampeders' was a fellow named Nordstrom.  He made his money and returned to open a shoe store--the rest is history, as they say.

Visited a couple of galleries one of which is Glassworks where they were blowing glass.  The artisan was fashioning a fish, a realistic looking salmon.  Another gallery (Davidson) featured the work of John Grade who used wood salvaged from a sailing vessel that sailed from Seattle to San Francisco in the nineteenth century.  The ship had reached a point of disintegration that it couldn't be restored so the artist was invited to use what he could for an installation at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle.  John Grade, "Core", Wood and resin, below

As we were leaving the galleries and passing an alley, I spied some thing on the brick wall...you be the judge.  Art or trash.  Or does it depend on the setting, gallery or street.  It sort of looks intentional to me...

Victoria and on to Seattle

We woke to rain showers on Monday.  For the rainy coast, we had been fortunate in having sunny (or at least not rainy) skies.  Walked to the Provincial Parliament Building for a tour, then to the Royal British Columbia Museum, a history and natural science museum.  The special exhibit was about the race to the South Pole between Amundsen and Scott. The hardships the expeditions endured are staggering.  It's a wonder they got as far as they did.

Parliament with totem pole.

Tuesday was our travel day to Seattle. Took the passenger ferry from Victoria to Seattle, a two  and half hour trip.  Arrived around 2 and made our way, on foot, to the hotel.  There was a moment of sunshine so we went to the Space Needle for the arial view of Seattle.  As we were in the observation deck, fog and rain rolled in.  You could see it coming in over the water--kinda neat.

Wandered about the Seattle center where the Space Needle is.  Did not go into the Chihuly garden of glass, a fairly new exhibit.  After the Boston MFA exhibit and seeing his museum in St. Pete, I didn't feel the need...

Exploring the neighborhood, we found a cheese and wine shop so went in.  Tasted about 5 or 6 cheeses and had a glass of Washington State wine.  Then upon the recommendation of the cheese shop owner, went to the Tilikum Cafe for a light supper.  Both were good finds.  I am relaxing in our room and Doug is doing a well needed laundry.  What a guy!

Vancouver to Victoria, Sunday

Bus, bus, ferry, bus, walk.  That's the short version and pretty much sums it up.  From the train/bus station in Vancouver you get on a bus which drives 30-45 minutes to the ferry, drives on the ferry.  The ferry takes 1.5 hours, back on the bus for the 30 minutes to Victoria.  About 10 blocks to the hotel.  

Since it was not raining, we got on a different bus for another 30 minute ride to Butchart Gardens.  The gardens are extensive with a Japanese garden, Italian garden, sunken garden, rose garden and more.  We wandered from one magnificent garden to the next for the next 2 or so hours.

Sunken gardens below.

The gardens are on the site of a spent quarry and were planned and planted over several years by the wife of the owner of the quarry.  The gardens have been opened by the same family for 4 generations, each one adding to and improving the garden.

Vancouver, again

Up and out early. So early that nothing was open.  We wandered around the Yaletown section, walked by the Public Library which looks like the Roman Coliseum and the Vancouver Art Gallery which is in the an old courthouse building. Still too early.  So,we went to the Granville Island Public Market.

Lots of shops along the streets that used to be industrial.  There is still a cement plant on the island, otherwise the artisans have taken over.  The fruit and vegetable market has lots of vendors plus eateries and crafters.  I thought the presentation was impressive--all those stacked strawberries.

  

After Granville island, Doug and I went in separate directions, he to the history museum and me to the art museum.  The Vancouver Art Gallery has a rotating permanent collection mostly of the work of Emily Carr, a well known and well loved BC painter and author.  Her watercolors were featured along with Charles John Collings, also a BC water colorist of lesser renown.  Is it a BC sacrilege to say I preferred Collings over Carr?

Another Sunny Day in Vancouver

Once again, we had a plan, but because the weather was so beautiful, we changed to an outdoor activity.  We went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.  It features a suspension bridge over a river gorge plus other activities like a treetop adventure which is a series of mini suspension bridges between treetop platforms.  There were other paths through the woods all on boardwalks and with interpretive plaques.  The suspension bride is below.

It was a good thing we had our 'train legs' because the bridge swayed a lot like the moving train.

Here we are in the canopy.

We spent several hours there but still had some time for another activity so we went to a Classical Chinese Garden in downtown Vancouver.  It is one of 4 classical Chinese gardens in North America.  We actually visited the one in Portland OR in 2010.  It is truly an oasis in a busy and noisy city.

Vancouver, Day Two

We got on the bus, got off at the train/bus station to get more information about transport to Victoria.  Doug had a plan for the day, but as we were waiting for the #3 bus to take us to Chinatown, the bus to Stanley Park arrived and we decided to go there instead.  It was a beautiful day and apparently you grab them while you can--the weather is unpredictable, they say.

We walked most of the sea wall around the perimeter of the park along the Pacific and Burrard Inlet, about 4 plus miles. This iconic rock, Siwash Rock, is about one half of the way around by our route. We ate lunch at theTeahouse Restaurant overlooking the ocean.

Since we had so much energy left, we decided to go to Canada Place and view an outdoor self-guided history exhibit about Canada.  We were so close to the Gaslight District that we wandered through there.  Most stores were closing, but we go a sense of the area.  It was the original settlement and is now a revitalized historic district with many shops and restaurants.

Find our bus back, relax a bit before going to a local restaurant for dinner. Then crash.

Arrival in Vancouver

We arrived about 10:30am, 45 minutes later than the published arrival time.  This photo was taken from the train window.  Tracks, train, and city.  

As we traveled across Canada, there were innumerable slow downs and stops to allow the freight trains to go by.  Most of the line is single track meaning that one train has to go on a siding to allow the other train to pass.  The passenger train usually was the one that was delayed.  I think we were behind schedule about 4 hours at one point.  We made up time on long straight aways on the plains.  At some points the train was rocking so that you ricocheted down the passageways as you made your way from car to car.  Our berth was right next to the dining car, but we had to go through several cars to get to the dome cars and activity cars.  There were 24 cars plus three engines, 240 passengers, 26 staff including porters and dining/kitchen staff.

Once we found our hotel, we went to the Anthropology Museum at the University of British Columbia which has an extensive collection of First Nations Artifacts.  It is located on the waterfront with views of the Pacific.  Below is a detail of an historic totem pole.

In order to get there, we took public transportation and mastered at least one bus route.