25 November, 2005 (Friday)
24 November 2005 (Thursday)
My first real day in Vancouver. Spent most of the day exploring the downtown area, Robson St (shopping district) and Gastown. It was a relatively nice day, about 8 degrees, little to no wind. As mentioned before, the architecture and general feel of the city remind me of Melbourne.
Wandering around, I checked out the main department stores - Sears and Hudson Bay, as well as electronics (The Source, Future Shop) and a lot of souveneir places. Most of the merchandise isn't so different to Australia.. just bigger jackets with fur ruffs (wanted to get one, but they didn't have my size). Unfortunately no real purchases today, more browsing and getting an idea for price. A good portion of the afternoon was spent asking people for directions to the nearest CIBC branch. It took about 5 tries before I hit it (the woman at the information desk at the Library was dead wrong!).
Strangely, the city felt quiet to me on Thursday. Well, in comparison to Sydney. It might be because people tend to minimise their time on the street because of the colder weather, but even traffic noise and people didn't feel as bustling as at home. Which is kind of funny, because the Kiwis I've been hanging out with keep on talking about what a huge city Vancouver is, with it's 2 million people. I guess it's just a matter of different experience.
Ended up at the Beaver Bar, downstairs in the hostel, for dinner and drinks again. The local brew is very drinkable, although they apparently don't drink bourbon here - it's rye. What is stranger is that they pour rye out of the same tap nozzle as their coke and ginger ale. They call mixed drinks here High Balls, and I ended up guzzling a few doubles because the first few ryes just tasted sweet. Go figure.
Drank at the beaver until around 11ish, then somehow ended up a few doors down at The Roxy, an atmospheric live music place. The band was playing Nirvana covers and some other random bits and pieces so I danced with one of my new Kiwi friends at the front (thanks Jasmine!). Band finished around 1ish or so (I think), and by that time they weren't letting people into any of the other places on the Granville Street strip.
The night finished with some late night SubWay. Didn't even realise how late I slept in this morning!
25 November 2006 (Friday)
Today I managed to miss the promised 10:30am meetup to explore more of Vancouver with Caroline. Apparently Caroline did too. Instead, I slept in until around 11:00am and finally got myself together around mid-day. Spent the rest of the day walking the streets of Vancouver solo again, making a few purchases - ski boots, a new jacket, some souveneirs from the local tattoo parlour. I keep on running into Australian girls serving in the stores - they invariably ask if I'm from Australia... and with my grasp of the local accent still settling, I initially fail to register that they're accent hasn't got the Canadian growl.
Tomorrow I'll have to set the alarm to make sure that I don't miss my flight out to Kelowna.
Drink count: 9
RDB count (cumulative): 1
Different to Australia?
Drink sizes: My apple juice today was 473mLs, similarly my water was 591mLs. Must have something to do with converting between imperial and metric. My water is tainted with Rasberry taste.
Alcohol: Slightly different names and greater availability of cocktails. Highballs are mixed drinks. People drink Rye which is sweet.
Currency: They call their $1 coins loonies, and $2.. wait for it - toonies.
Traffic lights: There are no buttons on their pedestrian crossings, so you just have to wait until the lights change. No green man either, just a white neon pointing hand.
Cards: I was in a card store yesterday and they had half a wall dedicated to coming out cards "I'm so happy that you're happy". Guess it's fashionable?
Tipping: Expectation of 10-15% tip on any service. Thank you minimum wage. Strangely customer service isn't that terrific.
Unstated tax: Local GST isn't stated on any goods. You pay at the counter and suddenly the bill increases by a good amount. Surprise!
My first real day in Vancouver. Spent most of the day exploring the downtown area, Robson St (shopping district) and Gastown. It was a relatively nice day, about 8 degrees, little to no wind. As mentioned before, the architecture and general feel of the city remind me of Melbourne.
Wandering around, I checked out the main department stores - Sears and Hudson Bay, as well as electronics (The Source, Future Shop) and a lot of souveneir places. Most of the merchandise isn't so different to Australia.. just bigger jackets with fur ruffs (wanted to get one, but they didn't have my size). Unfortunately no real purchases today, more browsing and getting an idea for price. A good portion of the afternoon was spent asking people for directions to the nearest CIBC branch. It took about 5 tries before I hit it (the woman at the information desk at the Library was dead wrong!).
Strangely, the city felt quiet to me on Thursday. Well, in comparison to Sydney. It might be because people tend to minimise their time on the street because of the colder weather, but even traffic noise and people didn't feel as bustling as at home. Which is kind of funny, because the Kiwis I've been hanging out with keep on talking about what a huge city Vancouver is, with it's 2 million people. I guess it's just a matter of different experience.
Ended up at the Beaver Bar, downstairs in the hostel, for dinner and drinks again. The local brew is very drinkable, although they apparently don't drink bourbon here - it's rye. What is stranger is that they pour rye out of the same tap nozzle as their coke and ginger ale. They call mixed drinks here High Balls, and I ended up guzzling a few doubles because the first few ryes just tasted sweet. Go figure.
Drank at the beaver until around 11ish, then somehow ended up a few doors down at The Roxy, an atmospheric live music place. The band was playing Nirvana covers and some other random bits and pieces so I danced with one of my new Kiwi friends at the front (thanks Jasmine!). Band finished around 1ish or so (I think), and by that time they weren't letting people into any of the other places on the Granville Street strip.
The night finished with some late night SubWay. Didn't even realise how late I slept in this morning!
25 November 2006 (Friday)
Today I managed to miss the promised 10:30am meetup to explore more of Vancouver with Caroline. Apparently Caroline did too. Instead, I slept in until around 11:00am and finally got myself together around mid-day. Spent the rest of the day walking the streets of Vancouver solo again, making a few purchases - ski boots, a new jacket, some souveneirs from the local tattoo parlour. I keep on running into Australian girls serving in the stores - they invariably ask if I'm from Australia... and with my grasp of the local accent still settling, I initially fail to register that they're accent hasn't got the Canadian growl.
Tomorrow I'll have to set the alarm to make sure that I don't miss my flight out to Kelowna.
Drink count: 9
RDB count (cumulative): 1
Different to Australia?
Drink sizes: My apple juice today was 473mLs, similarly my water was 591mLs. Must have something to do with converting between imperial and metric. My water is tainted with Rasberry taste.
Alcohol: Slightly different names and greater availability of cocktails. Highballs are mixed drinks. People drink Rye which is sweet.
Currency: They call their $1 coins loonies, and $2.. wait for it - toonies.
Traffic lights: There are no buttons on their pedestrian crossings, so you just have to wait until the lights change. No green man either, just a white neon pointing hand.
Cards: I was in a card store yesterday and they had half a wall dedicated to coming out cards "I'm so happy that you're happy". Guess it's fashionable?
Tipping: Expectation of 10-15% tip on any service. Thank you minimum wage. Strangely customer service isn't that terrific.
Unstated tax: Local GST isn't stated on any goods. You pay at the counter and suddenly the bill increases by a good amount. Surprise!
posted by the wastrel @ 6:13 PM
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