Rocky Mountaineer

30-31 July:  This morning we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer for two exciting days’ travel.   We only had to take a small bag each for the day as our other luggage will be taken by truck and waiting for us each night at our accommodation.

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Most of our group chose Goldleaf service but some of them went Silverleaf which meant that they ate their meals from trays at their seats on the lower level.  Whereas Goldleaf guests are seated upstairs and go down to the restaurant car to dine.  It was an extra expense, but we thought it was worth it.

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The journey so far has been excellent; the staff could not have been more attentive, and the food has been plentiful and delicious.  What luxury, travelling along sipping wine and admiring the scenery.  The chairs are most comfortable and can be adjusted into many positions, including a leg rest.  The landscape looks fairly dry so far, even though we have been following the river.

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At the end of the day, we arrived in Kamloops and were taken to our hotel.  The weather was very hot; around 40 degrees Celsius – we weren’t expecting that!  We were told that there was music being played in the park opposite, and we headed over to have a look.  But it was so hot and humid (with lots of mosquitoes) after a few minutes we decided to go back to our air-conditioned hotel and get our bags ready for tomorrow’s train journey.

Vancouver

28 & 29 July:   Vancouver – home to 2.26 million people.  We had two days here.  Saturday we did a city tour in our coach with John the driver, Jeanette our Canadian tour guide and Sherrie the WorldMark representative.  Our group consists of 24, which is a good number as it leaves us plenty of room to spread out in the coach.

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Lots to see in this beautiful city and we are staying right in the middle of town.  The weather has been very nice so far, and locals and visitors are all out, walking, jogging and cycling.

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Lionsgate bridge

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This is a steam clock

Sunday was a free day, so we did some shopping and a lot of exploring around town, eventually making our way to the seawall and walked to Stanley Park, where we boarded a paddle wheeler for a cruise on the harbor.

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One of many float planes landing in the harbour which is a designated airport

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Sulphur used to make fertilizers

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We really enjoyed Vancouver; lots to do and we’d like to visit here again.

Vancouver

Friday 27 July:  Left Victoria this morning on the car ferry for Vancouver and then we all headed off in the coach for Granville Island.

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This is a shopping district under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge.  It was once an industrial site but today is home to a large farmers market, marina, hotel and various arts theatres and galleries.

Ocean Concrete is the oldest tenant, having started up shop there in 1917 and this is the mural project started on the concrete silos “Giants”.

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The farmers market was where we were heading for lunch and shopping and we weren’t disappointed.  We couldn’t resist the fruits, some of which we had never seen before, but all were fresh and delicious and we bought enough to snack on for a couple of days.  Lots of lovely fish to choose from so we chose salmon for lunch;  very nice.

There were lots of artists selling handmade crafts as well as an extensive art shop and I was happy to find a quilt shop where I bought a selection of very nice fabrics with a Canadian theme.  At this point I forgot to take any more photos, but we had a very nice day and have found ourselves coming into contact with lots of Australians and some New Zealanders.  Most Canadians recognize our accent and are keen to start up a conversation.  Very friendly people!

Later in the day we picked up our coach and were taken to the Metropolitan Hotel conveniently located downtown.  This will be home for the next three days.

Not very hungry after our lunch, so we thought we would take advantage of “happy hour” and had a drink in the hotel bar.  We then progressed to a few more bars and ended up in a great little pub in historical Gastown “Steamworks”;  good atmosphere and award-winning craft beers, we managed to get a table with a view and ended the night with pizza and beer.  It was an easy walk back as it doesn’t get dark here until about 10.30m.