Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Aquarium day – 8 July

Not all of us can take a holiday. April had to work, so I went to explore Stanley park (at the Western side of Vancouver) on my own. I decided to make the aquarium, in the park, my main attraction for the day. I have heard about the friendliness of Canadians, but was pleasantly surprised when I asked a friendly park employee (attending the gardens) not only gave me directions, but also a map of Stanley park. You have to realise that Stanley park isn’t like The Gardens in Cape Town. It is bigger than Central Park, New York! April told me it takes more than an hour to cycle around the park! Not attempting that today :)

I think this must’ve been summer holiday for the school children as there were lots of people. The advantage of that was that they had “displays” and “performances” scheduled for the visitors. A couple that I caught were the Dolphin show, Raptor meet (informative chat & a bird of prey on display) and Raptor flying display (birds of prey flying, including a Bald Eagle!).

Even though the aquarium is focused around sea animals, they also had some butterflies and frogs. I got the feeling that I was in a concentrated animal area. It wasn’t overwhelming though. Everything was well marked/displayed. As a child, the highlight of this place would’ve been the “interactive” displays where you are allowed to touch the animals. Ok, they were only start fish and anemones but still cool.

April pointed me to a well known cafe to have something to eat. Great food, but on the way there I started getting a weird feeling about the area. I started seeing more “differently” dressed individuals and later spotted more and more homosexual couples. She had sent me into the heart of the gay area! It was funny (kind of) afterwards.

Vancouver is surrounded by two bays, which allows for a couple of ferries. I took one South to Granville Island where there is a market. I got there a bit late, but did manage to witness a great sunset on the ferry. By this time I was ready to chill out after lots of walking.


Better weather in Vancouver – A Haida sculpture outside the aquarium – The Dolphin show – Raptor show & tell. No touching though :(


A Beluga whale – Bald Eagle in flight during the Raptor flying show – Sunset from the ferry


An electric vehicle charging station. Right outside this restaurant’s door. Priority to the environmentally conscious.

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