Visiting Vancouver

Our first stop in Canada has been a very pleasant one – a city not of stark contrast but of comfortable connection with its different elements. To look at, Vancouver is a charming mix of old and new buildings in a compact and coherent urban space sitting harmoniously in the wilderness at the foothills of the mountains and the edge of the sea.

On our first day we took a gentle stroll around the city, taking in historic Gastown with its steam-powered street clock (which whistles musically every 15minutes) and its statue of the colonial entrepreneur who became its iconic figure – ‘Gassy Jack’. After lunch (at which I fell in love with Blackened Salmon burgers), and taking advantage of the beautiful summer weather, we headed out to Stanley Park. There we saw, amongst the woodland trails, some of the famous totem poles carved by First Nations artisans, we attracted a group of curious Canadian geese and we viewed the statue in the bay titled ‘Girl in a Wetsuit’ – a good-natured dig at Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid. (Since Vancouver was denied the right to reproduce the original sculpture, the Canadian sculptor gave his female figure fins, snorkel and a wetsuit!) Later that afternoon we visited Christchurch cathedral, the historic Fairmont Hotel and – in a nod to my legal leanings – the British Columbia Supreme Court building with its rooftop gardens, before retiring to our hotel’s terrace to drink wine looking out over the mountains and the bay’s rather regular seaplane traffic.

Yesterday, we took the bus to the foothills of Grouse Mountain to cross the Calipano Suspension bridge, a two-person-wide construction of wire and wood strung over a deep ravine in the foothills of Grouse Mountain with rushing water below and towering Douglas fir trees on either side. On the other side was an impressive and informative nature park with treetop walkways, a nice shop selling maple fudge and a live band in period costume playing Canadian songs from late 1800s when the bridge was first built.

Finally, to bring you all up to speed, we come to today’s outing to the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology, a distinctly modernist concrete and glass building – though far nicer than the Boyd-Orr-esque (a reference only Glaswegian West-Enders or Glasgow University graduates will appreciate) monstrosity that is their Law building! Inside the museum is a well displayed and detailed collection of traditional First Nations craftsmanship, as well as more recent work by Bill Reid, the man credited with being at the forefront of the revival of traditional art and sculpture. On our way back we stumbled upon a small group of tents displaying and teaching about First Nations culture alongside musicians and a group of First Nations dancers performing tribal dances in traditional dress.

We’re just about to leave Vancouver for the train across the Rocky Mountains, so this may be the last update until we reach Toronto (depending on how available internet is at the train’s various stops).