Still no time to put up photos as the prices of internet use everywhere we have been are so high. We have free wireless on the phone a lot but its only good for simple messages and checking the footy results.
The second week in Whistler got sunnier though there was still snow and some amazing thick fog. We went all over both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, cooked ourselves some nice meals and drank plenty of average but cheap local BC red wine. We also at last met our first Finn in a gondola - she had the obligatory English (well Welsh) boyfriend - as we know Finnish ladies tour the world looking the best guys to take back home etc etc.
We explored the local transport to get to Vancouver and stayed in the Grand Trunk hostel for four nights. In a nutshell this hostel is to be avoided by all but the hardiest of travellers. We wouldn't go within shooting distance of the kitchen but the squalor certainly encouraged us to get up early and go back as late as possible. On three key criteria (location, cost, Internet) the Grand Trunk stacks up well but with qualification. The location is at one end of the attractive part of Gastown, Vancouver. Walk out and right and it is brick paved streets, the steaming clock, boutiques, eateries, cafes and feels like a French quarter. Turn left and within 10 paces you are in the smack capital of Vancouver where homelessness has increased a third in the last year - quite a contrast. At 16 CAD a night each it is the cheapest place in Vancouver. However the restrooms and kitchen were grim. The fridge in our room was enormous for 1974 and the telly even had knobs for channel tuning. It was really dirty. On value you'd have to chalk it down. And then the free Internet was on a PC from the dark ages withg DIY cabling that had a mind of its own. And it was one of those places you can hear everything everywhere. PLus there was the comulsory non-sequitur conspiracy paranoic running things who had more rabbit than Sainsburys. Oh and it rained all the time in Vancouver. A lot like Helsinki when we left.
So, geddit, don't stay at the Trunk unless it's the Olympics and then you will no choice! Vancouver was a little drab really with a disappointing Chinatown and plenty of coffee shops filled with Macbooks in every area. Yaletown was new media luvvy heaven. Gastown was our favourite part which was handy as we were stying there. We were serenaded by some of the worst solo Mariachi you can imagine - it didn't get any better when the chef trundled out with a flute and made it sound like a ladle - and we were the only customers. We didn't make it to Stanley park but we did go to Steveston for the whale trip. On the first day we went out and saw sea lions, seals, a sea otter and plenty of Vancouver's surrounding islands, complete with their isolated holiday homes - another feature that maybe made Vancouver a little too much like home. On the first day the myriad of whale watching companies combined with the sea planes, coast guard, fishing fleets and local shipping couldn't locate the resident killer whale posse, known as J-pod (after four hours at sea you really wish that, being the most studied group of marine mammals on the planet, they had tagged the big blighters). Anyway we went back on the second day, as you get a lifetime guarantee you will see whales, and before departure they had been located. We finally caught up with the 21 members of J-pod down near Victoria and it was special to see such awesome creatures. Our two days at sea turned out to be quite theraputic and with the amount of wildlife it was well worth it.The incrediible fauna around Vancouver is there because the Frasier river is the most salmon rich river in the world and its mouth supports a vast interdependant ecosystem. One that would be great to see in future would be a salmon run by one of the six species of local salmon upstream to spawn - next time, next time.
Our last day in Vancouver was actually in Seattle. We hired a car, went over the border and drove to Seattle, went up the space needle, chilled in Belltown and went to the Gehry-designed Experience Music Project, which was unfortunately the only massive multi-million dollar Hendrix memorial museum in the world with no exhibits about a certain James Marshall Hendrix - more on this another time.
On our last night in Vancouver we hooked up with my dad's cousin, Kieran. Earlier in the day we had sought out the Salt Tasting Room, a deli recommended by a stranger from the Thorn Tree forum. The Salt Tasting Room was a revalation. Out of context in a tramp littered alley affectionately called Blood Alley, it was a place you would never accidently chance upon (I even avoided telling Anna the name of the alley until we had reached the door because it was so portentous). Far from being a run of the mill deli, the room was a multi-national fine cheese, fine meat and fine wine tasting restaurant with a laid back vibe. With just a tasting menu of consequtive cheeses and meats accompanied by select condiments and wine (by the bottle, glass or cunningly by tasting glass to compliment each item). It was magic. We tried the local BC cheeses and found them a bit subtle by European standards but still delightful. The highlight of the evening undoubtedly was great uncle Kieran. Well travelled, debonair, personable, interesting and kind; I can't believe my family has been hiding him all this time. It was the first time we met and I wish we had invited him up to Whistler before.
I think the lesson is that in future we shouldn't be shy about getting in touch with people on route.
Three songs about salmon and their related food chain
#3 Solomon's Atlantis Salmon, Steve Hillage
#2 Neptune's Wrath, The Electric Chairs
#1 The Salmon Dance, The Chemical Brothers
Killer whales ahoy!
The Gehry-designed Hendrix-less museum
