1) ma and papa just south of Squamish

My folks have been on parental leave, of sorts, visiting Western Canada. They arrived from London to Calgary 3 weeks ago and landed on our doorstep – via Lake Louise and wine tasting in the Okanagan Valley – on August 17th for a fortnight stay and a cruise up to Alaska and back with us (but that’s another post). They were last in Vancouver in 1979 and the city has transformed immensely since then. We put them up at the Westin downtown during the stay and enjoyed wining and dining with them making pits stops at The Salmon House, Salt Tasting Room, Water Street Cafe and here at the condo complete with some Dom Perignon to celebrate their anniversary (which is actually today!) – Happy Anniversary kids! Hope you’re enjoying the golf at Chateau Banff Springs.

 

2 & 3) there will be Dom!

 

4) papa, ma and moi at home; 5) ma and papa up on the rooftop terrace at our place

 

6 & 7) Guinness notes that Jack Chow’s Insurance Building is the thinnest commercial business building in the world …. it’s about 7 feet wide and is a landmark in Vancouver Chinatown

8 & 9) a morning visit to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park in Chinatown (hey, that’s our home in the background!)

10) papa and moi at DSYS; 11) ma and papa pose for the requisite photo op

12) so pretty!

 

13) papa settles into the suite; 14) at Jack Poole Plaza and the Olympic flame

 

15) Papa wonders where the heck G is taking him (answer: this is Blood Alley in Gastown and we’re going to Salt Tasting Room)

16) the menu board at Salt Tasting Room; 17) decisions, decisions

18) mom`s board of food; 19) my wine BC wine flight

20) decisions, decisions at Water Street Cafe; 21) I had oyster appetizers where they restaurant buried the precious pearls in a sun-dried tomato madeira sauce (I’m not a fan)

22 & 23) visiting Granville Island

 

24) ahoy! … fish; 25) this is where we buy our veggies

 

26) (sigh) orchids; 27) fresh local fruit

 

28) ma and papa browse the fish

 

29) another requisite photo op … this time at Granville with the Burrard Bridge and English Bay in the background; 30) shades of John Lennon?….

 

31 & 32) taking the AquaBus across False Creek to home

One of the things Papa was very keen to try while in Vancouver was the notorious Grouse Grind climb up Grouse Mountain. I was not too enamoured of the idea as, having done this, know just how tough a slog it is. The trip up is one-way only and once you’re past the quarter mark, you’re committed. My Papa is on the closer side of 80 years old not 70 so I must admit I was a tad hesitant. But Papa runs daily and plays near-on 100 days of golf a year and, again to be honest, is probably better fit then I. So …. on a coolish Sunday morning with fog still hanging on the mountain up we went. Papa did tremendously well over the roughly hour and a half of constant ascent and can add his name to the roster of official Vancouverites having successfully conquered the Grind. Well done Papa!

 

33) Papa at the Grind gate; 34) [Papa thinking] I’m going up there?!

 

35) happy at the half way marker; 36) onwards over the bridge

 

37) negotiating the scramble and brambles; 38) hamming it up at the three-quarter mark

39) reaching the TOP; 40) me making it official at the Grinder Timer

 

41) Papa makes it official too!

 

42 & 43) decisions, decisions again … a tough one for Papa as ice cream is his favourite food and Casa Gelato has 218 varieties on display at all times to choose from

 

44) like kids in a candy shop; 45) with mom at Stanley Park

46) with Papa at Stanley Park; 47) at the Stanley totem poles

48 & 49) one evening we ventured to West Vancouver to The Salmon House for a lovely dinner overlooking the City

50) there were scallops; 51) and REAL oysters

52) and roast chicken; 53) and Hadai Gwaii halibut wrapped in BC smoked salmon

54) the view of English Bay from our table; 55) G, Papa and ma taking in the view after supper

56 & 57) we also did a road trip up to Whistler of course

58) … and then onto the Holland American Volendam we all went

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