OF LUGGAGE & LAVENDER - PART III

Thursday was the start of a new month and we were about to head into a new country, at least as far as this trip was concerned since Canada has been around for quite some time.

Most of us ate the boxed breakfast that was handed to us as we left the hotel while waiting at Amtrak to depart Seattle for the International ride into Vancouver.

We had our passports at the ready and figured we would not have any trouble with customs agents.   None of us cared to cause an international scandal.  (36 semi elderly travelers held at border for failure to present passports, film at eleven.)

Luckily there was nothing to worry about with regards to border crossing or for the convenience of our train ride to Vancouver as all seats faced Mecca, I mean forward.

As for the train ride the windows were clear so the scenery was easily seen and unfortunately photogenic so I took way too many shots.  Here are but a few:

I named this duo:
Little Boy and Fat Man

When the tide is out people can walk nearly a mile
to catch some fish or just to play in the mud.

The sign on the pier is advertising the White Rock BC Fall Festival of the Arts. We would not be around but nice to know they have one!

They do love

bridges here!

We arrived in Vancouver and had the pleasure of going through customs.

Sadly Susan and I, and Roger as we learned later were subjected to an agent who woke up in the wrong side of the border!
The third degree went thusly:

"Why are you coming into Canada?"

"How long are you staying?"

"Where are you staying?"

"When will you be leaving?"

"How are you leaving?"

I was dying to give this moron some of my real answers but held my tongue since he was obviously trying to get someone angry.  He must have thought one of us was related to Trump.

Luckily this five minute interlude with the Neanderthal was the only low point of our entire vacation and it was now over!

Once we left the station we loaded onto the coach bus and headed for a quick tour of the city, and I mean quick as we headed for lunch at a Canadian chain restaurant with rather good food, Milestones.

John took over as the local expert for our time in Vancouver BC and he gave us a fine overview of the city as we traveled on the coach around town.

We had time to walk around parts of Stanley Park and visit the Totem Poles on display.

Other visitors to the park enjoyed a relaxing horse pulled tour.  We were happy to walk on our own and take in the views as we saw fit.

 Next we drove past Chinatown and stopped at GasTown.

This "Flat Iron" building located on 43 Powell Street is actually Hotel Europe!
(Read more about it by clicking the link.) 

The hotel sits across from Gassy Jack's old tavern which is guarded by a statue of Jack himself.
You can tell he's a legend in these here parts by the pigeon greetings  adorning his likeness!

A little further into our walk and we came upon this wonderfully noisy grandfather's clock.

It is actually the last Gas Powered chiming clock in Canada, if not the world!


Click for video!

While we were there a
flying saucer landed on a building.

INSIDE UNION STATION
BEAUTIFUL ARCHITECTURE WITH
VANCOUVER'S HISTORY IN MURALS
ALL AROUND.

We then, finally, checked into the Blue Horizon Hotel and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Adesso Bistro, around a half mile bus ride from the hotel. (None of us noticed or remembered that we would be walking back after dinner but...)

Naturally it rained as we left the restaurant and John, impervious to the weather continued to tell us about local customs.  

We stopped by a park, one of hundreds everywhere and he explained that a certain amount of space was mandated between residential towers so that you could comfortably undress in your apartment without fear that someone across the way would spot your beautiful figure.

We appreciated the information but kind of sort of needed towels to dry our beautiful figures by the end of the walk back to the hotel.

Breakfast was on the 31st floor and offered a great view of the city.  I'll bet it would even be more beautiful if the sun was out!

Looking down on a park between two
residential towers that are at least 80' apart.

This morning's lecture was on the sustainability of Vancouver going forward and as always it was informative.

We left for Granville Island and free time on the artsy island filled with crafts and knick knacks and items found nowhere else, sort of.

Just onto the island:

On the left are cement mixing towers playfully painted to hide their inherently ugly appearance. Delightful!

On the right is an example of silk thread sewed onto canvas to form a beautiful seascape.
Closeup it's amazing! 

Lunch was at Granville's Dockside Restaurant and as usual the food was very good.  Either that or as I age my tastes become less discriminatory.  Probably a bit of both.

Yes you may go
but hurry back!

Next stop was a wonderful tour of the Museum of Anthropology hosted by a very knowledgeable young lady who appeared to be at least 15 years old.

The artifacts of the museum generally show the work of the tribes of the Salish Sea territories and date back quite a while.

Here are a few on display:

A Tiled Stove - Explanation below

Not completely to scale I trust!

Cool masks. Trick or Treat?

Salish Basket Weaving 101

A First Nation depiction
of the origin of man.

Also on display was a showing of art by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.  His take on the world, especially when it comes to politics is as funny as it is socially relevant.  After his people have been, uh disrespected for so many years he clearly does not trust politicians.
His bio is on the right and examples of his work appear below.


































We had a few minutes left before we had to go and divided it between the gift shop (naturally) 
and the special exhibit on Papua New Guinea.

This is the only photo I will post but you may read about the exhibit and "Crocodile Man" by clicking here! 

Dinner that evening was at Earl's on Robson’s. This was a local sports bar a block from our hotel where most of us had a great meal. For some reason mine was served an hour after everyone else was fed.
I guess they read my blog!

Afterwards we took a short walk on the avenue and spotted this rather interesting sculpture just sitting all alone outside a hotel, not ours.

Saturday morning we had a fairly quick breakfast and loaded our stuff onto the bus for a short hop to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.  (Say that three times fast!)

The hour or so trip over to Vancouver Island aka Victoria Island, the Capitol of British Columbia was uneventful and relaxing with beautiful scenery on both sides of the boat.  Sadly we saw no whales.  In fact there were whales all over the place but our group never saw a one!  I am certain anyone else will have much more luck in that department so do not be discouraged.

Our bags were placed on the coach and we headed off for a fantastic picnic lunch and free time at the Butchart Gardens.

But you've read quite enough for today so that will have to wait for PART IV.  Rest peacefully my friends.

AND SO: TO BE CONTINUED!

OF LUGGAGE & LAVENDER - PART II

Sunday seemed a year ago as we headed into our Tuesday schedule which was decidedly less strenuous thank goodness.

 After checking out of the hotel we loaded our luggage on the coach and headed downtown for a guided Portland walking tour led by Peter, another great tireless local expert.

By the way I use the word coach rather than bus since as we were told the difference between the two could be well over $40,000.

Parks and statues throughout Portland as the city mandated there must be enough parks everywhere. No matter where you work you can pop out of your office for a picnic lunch in the park.
Civilized, just like New York. Well...
  

This photo is awful but it shows what happens
when someone walks in front of you while you're
taking a panoramic shot.
Or it's a ghost!?!

Portland is in the Guinness Record book
for having the World's Smallest Park!

City Hall has a replica of the Liberty Bell, or did they steal it from Philly?

I've never seen the two bells together! 

We learned about the Benson Bubblers, drinking fountains that adorn the city streets from our expert guide Peter.  He's on the left with Richard, Louise, Wayne, half a Bobbie and a sliver of Elaine.  (The story is interesting but too long to tell here so click the above if you wish.)
Below them is a top view of the fountains four heads.

And speaking of

heads, how about

the big one on this

statue of Portlandia?

If it stood up it

would be 50' tall!

Small fountains with sculptures such as this one with bear cubs appear all over town.  There are others with ducks and Sea Lions and otters Oh My (and on and on.)

Even though it wasn't raining (yet) this fine young, uh statue offered Susan shelter.

Known as "Allow Me" he

can be found in Pioneer

Courthouse Square

After walking for a while we desired a streetcar to take us to a funky part of town and close to our next stop, the Bridgeport Brewery for a tour (no open toed shoes please!) of the facilities and lunch.

And what a lunch it was! A buffet where we lunched on a really delicious buffet and imbibed tastings of a bevy of brews.  

Now that we were sufficiently mellowed out it was time to head for the Amtrak station and our nearly 4 hour ride to Seattle.

Our car had forward and rear facing seats but sadly many in our group do not like sitting ‘backwards.’ This meant the forward facing seats filled up quickly and just like musical chairs some travelers were left standing.

I am related to one of these unfortunates and quickly made friends with another one, Bev as we searched other cars for more favorable seats.  Success was ours – 7 cars down the line!

But at least the scenery was enjoyable.  I will allow these three shots to represent the entire trip.

Without an island:

With an island:

And with

twin bridges:

As we left the Seattle Amtrak station we glimpse our only view of Century Link Field, home of the NFL Seattle Seahawks and the more popular, at least in that town, Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer.

Flexibility is the key to any multi city; multi attraction tour and since we were running a tad late we moseyed directly to dinner at Benihana before checking into our hotel, the lovely downtown Warwick.

Our room was only on the

5^th floor but we did have

a tantalizing view of the 

Space Needle. We will not

be visiting that landmark

till we return next week.

Wednesday saw us leaving the hotel after a served breakfast to tour the Chittendon Locks and watch ships that pass in the, uh daytime as well as salmon that seem to swim upstream all the time.

The locks can accommodate as many small ships that can fit at a time. Here 3 of them await the leveling of the seawater with fresh water.

Yo Coho, I was first!

And while ships maneuver for position above salmon snake through underwater tunnels on their way to spawn. A majority of their offspring will never make it back to sea but the ones who do will return to this very same spot when ready in a year or three.
Some may not return for 7 years.  That's a long time to remember where to go!

Our next stop, the Seattle Art Museum’s outdoor Olympic Structure Park.

Sadly, or rather predictably it rained the entire time we walked through and viewed the sculpture garden but then again, this is Seattle and as they say, what's a little liquid sunshine among friends?

Just like Eiffel Tower
the Needle can be seen
from just about everywhere
in the city.

What the heck is that?

We spotted most of the interesting avant garde works that were spotted around the garden.

Not to be outdone by Oregon's big Portlandia the sculpture garden has it's own head guarding the area! 

It's Yuge!  I said it's YUGE!

Sorry, you see the head is entitled ECHO for the mountain nymph of Greek mythology.

 Lunch was on the waterfront at the Fisherman’s Restaurant and Bar located on a ferry pier.
The area is a mini South Street NY Seaport but with the added attraction of a huge Ferris Wheel “Eye.”


The inside is filled with
nautical trappings. 


A neat (can I still use that word?) place to eat & drink.




And naturally they have many
souvenir
shops and
wooden sculptures to fit the mood.

The extended Rat Pack!

Back on the tour bus with Vickie to learn about and tour the University of Washington.
We stopped to view the Park Conservatory which was housing the infamous  Amorphophallus Titanum, aka “Stinky Plant.” (Great Latin name when you see the thing!)
This interesting flora blooms every 5 years and emits an odor reminiscent of rotting flesh.  It is clearly a fantastic mother-in-law gift.
EXCEPT MINE, SHE’S GREAT, REALLY, NO JOKE!

After getting used to

the awful odor we

toured the cacti area.

Many interesting species and names noted there as well.  For example this one is called, "Old Man!" I have no idea why. Perhaps it's the grey hair?

And on the right I believe

this one is

telling us

something.

 
On the left is an extreme closeup of a cactus flower.

And this lovely bucket is actually inviting an insect over for dinner.

Just drop in!

The Seattle Asian Art Museum was just a few hundred feet up the hill so we walked up the hill in the rain naturally.

The art museum sported many interesting artifacts and in fact the art intersected many cultures and was therefore interesting to all.

The featured exhibition was
Mood Indigo - Textiles from around the world!


But there was so much more to see and so little time so we semi rushed but thoroughly enjoyed all the art.

I waited patiently

for Allen and Sue

to finish worshipping

this wonderfully

dressed leader.

He was then ready for his closeup.

SMILE!

We sat in a very pleasant and relaxing place before heading out.

  

Outside we found a lovely sculpture one could be forgiven for believing was commissioned by Dunkin Donuts.  And note the nearly ever present Seattle Needle peering through where the munchkin should be.

And being Susan's birthday it was only fitting she receive a birthday donut.

Cheers!

  

It was now time to head back to the hotel for dinner, another informative lecture and packing up for a very early 6am departure for Vancouver via train.  Here’s hoping we don’t have to search for forward facing seats!

The nighttime view from
my bed at the hotel.
Space Needle & flying saucer.

 TO BE CONTINUED IN VANCOUVER