10: Day 5/Fish and History

Date: 29/6/10
Time: 9.30pm
Town: Vancouver, British Columbia
Time Zone: GMT -07.00

I don't think I'll ever get up to date with my posts, I'm still posting the day before every night. Deal with it, you're a day ahead so you're all ahead of me anyway. Leave me alone.
So this was my last day in Vancouver. We went to the Aquarium and to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Very exciting.
So the aquarium - I guess it's unfair to compare it to Aqwa in Perth, because we have massive coral reefs and heaps of tropical things and big sharks and stuff. Canada has otters and a few jellyfish. But they do try very hard, it was an impressive effort they put into the Aquarium. Their sea otters would absolutely crush the river otters at the Perth zoo - these ones are more like ocean dogs and less like rodents. They're amazingly cute though, look like they'd make a nice pillow.
And they had a pretty awesome Amazon exhibition as well. Parrots and butterflies and the like. Very exciting.
To make up for the failed blog from the day before, this is mostly a photo-journal of some of the better images from the day.
First, the fishies.









Okay, then we went over to the Anthropology museum at the UBC. It was absolutely, completely full of totem poles. I thought they were sort of uncommon but turns out any guy with a woodchipper was making a totem pole for their home. Inside and outside the home, by the front gate, holding up the patio, holding up the roof. Totem poles till the cows come home.
Also a really cool collection of masks. Reminded me of Majora's Mask, so it was extremely interesting.
Here's the images from the Museum.















So that was my journey around town. We also went for a walk through a forest but there's so many pictures of trees I can't be bothered deciding whether one picture of a tree is better than the other picture of a tree.
No trees here. Unless they are in the shape of a triangle and completely irrelevant to everything.
Yay for photo-journalism!
Until next time, stay tuned. I will try not to fail anymore, sorry about that.
Oh, and by the way... next stop, Kamloops.
"Where is Kamloops?" you may well ask.
But that is my point exactly.
Goodnight, darlings.

9: Day 4/Release Your Inner Shopperbitch

Date: 28/6/10
Time: 10.06pm
Town: Vancouver, Canada
Timezone: GMT -07.00

Yes, Day four was pretty much endless shopping. We wandered around Vancouver, sure, but we spent most of day four shopping. As some of you know, I am not a shopper by nature but by nurture. I am forced by the female members of my family to shop and sometimes it hurts. But other times, it's alright. I'm not saying it's satisfying when my sister does her hair, and then it rains, but it is one of the sweetest feelings in the world.


It's Conor's favourite shop.
Robson Street is amazing for shops. There's also epic trees everywhere.
So not much happened today. We shopped, I fell asleep in the car, and they laughed at me because I sleep funny. Dad is driving better, he didn't swear quite as much but still enough to make me giggle.
I actually have no photos for this post. I spent all day shopping, what do you people want from me? To make up for lack of photographical evidence, day five is the trip to the aquarium and the museum of anthropology. THE anthropological museum, which is the most fantastic in the world. Full of totem poles and fancy arty things.
I shall be taking photos. Sorry that the only picture in this post is of a croc's shop. Unofficial fail? Probably.
Blog ya later.

8: Day 3/Welcome to Canada

Date: 27/6/2010
Time: 10.00am
Town: Vancouver, British Columbia
Timezone: GMT -07.00

Note: I'm trying to blog every night the day that I just had, but it's hard because I'm a little bit behind. God almighty. I didn't get to even write a blog for a few days. Blogging is so hard when you can't connect to the internet. It's a minor detail, I know, but I'm working on it.


We woke up this morning with the same foggy fog we always see in San Francisco, but with the sad thought of having to leave, the happy thought of going to Canada and the unsure thought of how-are-we-gonna-get-out-of-town-when-the-road-is-full-of-rainbow-coloured-paraders?
It was not in my knowledge that we weren't hanging around to see the parade (boo - I was looking forward to the frivolity) and we left pretty early. Our shuttle bus was terrible, the guy driving it spoke English but just didn't talk to us and the other guys on the bus were quite strange. One was an English backpacker who liked soccer, didn't like that England had lost and was expressing his dislike in a very colourful manner. His use of the four-letter-friend-getter was tres impressiv.


This is a picture of San Francisco from the sky. The massive amounts of fog is where the Golden Gate is meant to be. I think it's haunted. The flight to Vancouver was very pleasant. Small plane, only two aisles and two seats per aisle. Cozy without being cramped, good leg space, good food, good movies. I watched Iron Man, but the movie didn't even finish because the flight was so short. The first Iron Man, by the way. Nobody loves me enough to take me to see the second one.
We flew with Air Canada and I liked the way they said the announcements in English and then in French. They could be talking about seatbelts or emergency exits, but they could have fooled me.


This is the first look of Canada from the plane. Quite overcast but mountains and skyline were very pretty.
We arrive in Canada, all touristy like, and they say 'out' like Wong does and I snicker whenever I hear it. Cause he says oot. Sorry Matt, I find that hilarious. And they say 'for sure', which is awesome. I love that they're so certain about everything.
Pictures from Vancouver airport? Well, sure. Here's some planes... woooh!


And we got this awesome car, a model of Dodge called a Caravan. But it's not actually a Caravan. It's just massive. So much room, even with six bags worth of luggage.


And it's freaking me out with everyone driving on the right side of the road. I know that the Americans created motor vehicles and so they get to decide which side of the road they drive on, but seriously it's freaking me out. I keep seeing people turning across the intersection and I'm like 'YOU'RE GOING TO DIE! STOOOOP!' but then I remember that they are doing it right and I'm just not good at adjusting.


So we went around the park near our house, they call it Stanley Park. It's pretty dandy, very pretty, very picturesque. I feel like I'm living in a book where everything's pretty and dandy, dandy and pretty.


You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can roller skate through a pack of lake birds. Well, at least this guy could. He was making some pretty rambunctious noises though.


And ROCK ME AMADEUS, there's SQUIRRELS in Canada!
I have never seen a squirrel outside a zoo. This is spectacular. There are also massive gulls hanging around and really cool looking ducks. Apparently there are bears and moose on the road, and we'll see them when we drive around. Significantly more exciting than squirrels, but nonetheless...


This isn't wildlife but it's cool. Old Taxi, awesome!
We're staying at the Times Square hotel on Robson Street, there are so many shops and cafes down this street. It's amazing. I am shopping like a shopper-bitch, and I don't usually do that. It's been so much fun.


This is from the foreshore. And yes, that is a tree on top of that building. Ingenious.


So that was my first day in Canada, I love Canadians and I love squirrels. I'll blog about my second and third day in Vancouver when linksys' internet decides to work. Goddammit, linksys! Respect the fact I am stealing your wi-fi and work every now and again, please.