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The Best and Worst of Vancouver
April 10, 2005
Our family is in Vancouver B.C. for a short holiday. We're staying in a small apartment in the West End of downtown. For my wife and I, this is our fourth visit here since moving to Seattle from Chicago 11 years ago. (I was here for a while way back in '76, just before my freshman year of college). In a previous post, I talked about some of my favorite Vancouver neighborhoods outside of downtown. This time we're in the maw of the urban beast. So here's my Best and Worst of Vancouver, at least for this trip....so far. BEST OF VANCOUVER Stanley Park, especially the swans in the lagoon, and the playground and purple starfishes at Second Beach. The mountains, the bays, the sounds. The fashion victims. The big look right now, perhaps straight out of Japanese anime(?): miniskirts and huge, clunky, fat-soled boots. The mini n' boot thing really only works with stiletto-heel boots or Nancy Sinatra white go-go boots. A terribly fashionable bath and shower products store called Lush, on chic Robson St., that even clueless males can love. (Guys, get the "Freeze" shower gel). Products available via their main page. An whole-earthy grocery store on Robson called Capers, with a take-out section to die for. The Aria Convenience Store, at 837 Bidwell St., just off Robson. What a find! At this compact Persian deli, we scored a take-home dinner for The Gods. A few containers of a Gormeh Sabzi - a freshly made stew of beef, kidney beans and fresh green herbs; chunks of a feta-like cheese marinated with lemons, red pepper, dill and olive oil; a rich yogurt-garlic dip; and a long, flat, oval loaf of fresh and chewy sesame seed-studded bread. The 50ish man stuck in traffic on Denman Street, on a fancy motorcyle with a heavy-duty sound system blaring.....opera! The cosmopolitan, international feel. Diversity that doesn't need talking up - it just IS. The proximity of Peak Talk blogger Pieter Dorsman. Our family enjoyed a rocking good time with Pieter and his lovely wife and daughters today, first visiting them at their scenic home in north suburban Vancouver, and then enjoying a great excursion to Shannon Falls and a scrumptious lunch at the Roadhouse Restaurant, right across the road. Originally from Holland, they lived in Hong Kong before settling on the Left Coast. Pieter is a former investment banker now doing financial and business planning for early-stage start-ups in technology and bio-tech. More engaging, friendly folk than Pieter and Irene I cannot recall meeting in quite some time. We look forward to seeing them again, and showing them the real Seattle. WORST OF VANCOUVER The fashion victims. The drivers. The traffic. The general hyper-ness of everybody and everything. Nearly impassable crowds on downtown sidewalks. Starbucks over-saturation; and I'm NOT a Starbucks basher, or a chain-store basher. But this is ridiculous! The godawful tunnel logjam just before the Richmond tunnel on the Route 99 approach from the south. Now I know - next time, the Route 91 short-cut. The magazine section at the big downtown bookstore called Chapters: about seven conservative titles, compared to roughly double the number of "progressive" titles, the 22 (count 'em) gay and lesbian mags, the seven tattoo magazines, and the five cannabis magazines. Housing costs. Lack of children. Posted by Matt Rosenberg at April 10, 2005 08:05 PM Trackback Pings TrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Best and Worst of Vancouver:
» ROSEN-VISIT from Peaktalk Tracked on April 10, 2005 08:17 PM Comments:
I hate to get all metrosexual, but Lush rules. They're going to open one in Bell Square, 10 minutes from my home. Me and the wife are psyched. Posted by: Ken J at April 11, 2005 08:43 AMTheir bath-bombs are da bomb, too, Ken. Oh, and the Temple Balm. You rub it on your temples, natch. Posted by: Matt Rosenberg at April 11, 2005 02:58 PMHow high is Shannon Falls? I have a photo of my son-in-law in front of it when the flow was phenomenal - gushing from the top. Now the sign at the bottom says it is 335 meters, which is about 1100 feet. If it is that high it should be on the short list of the highest waterfalls in Canada. But that list has two other falls in BC, as I recall, but not Shannon. Vancouver is a great city. But the drive from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish ranks even higher! Posted by: Ron at April 11, 2005 05:36 PMYou actually found seven conservative titles at Chapters? Wow. One of Heather's minions must have screwed up. Posted by: Vancouveroid at April 12, 2005 03:23 PMVancouveroid: I was being fairly liberal in my counting of conservative titles at the bookstore, i.e. including Reason (libertarian), and The New Republic, which happened to have to a fairly conservative-leaning leaning story teased on the cover of the issue I saw in the rack....So.... Ron: 1100 feet for Shannon Falls sounds about right, it was VERY tall, and in full flow, quite a sight. Made Multnomah Falls, east of Portland, look like a tiny trickle in comparison. And I agree, the drive from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish on Rte. 99 is awesome...you kind of just want to hop in kayak and go explore Howe Sound. Altho personally, I don't care if I ever see Whistler or not. The road is being widened to four lanes from two, for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which will exacerbate the land rush. Posted by: Matt Rosenberg at April 13, 2005 09:55 AMPost a comment
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