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Days 1 - 5 Home to Vancouver & onto the

Inside Passage Cruise

Day 1 - 11th May - Nailsea to London Heathrow to Vancouver

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So,....after over a year of planning, we are finally on our way! Matt and Freddie arrived to collect us early - and we had soon loaded the car and turned off everything before setting off. After our last big trip’s fiasco with the trains, Matt had said he would take us direct to Bristol, and we were there in good time - so much so that we caught the earlier train. Sitting on the train on Platform 15 waiting to set off, we were surprised to see - or rather NOT see, the old Royal Mail building in Cattle Market Road has finally gone! Fond (maybe) memories for Phil of his many years working there and now just a very large building site!

Our train was one of the new Hitachi ones.....  more legroom but harder seats. We bypassed Bath and Chippenham, so had a quicker journey to London, to change for the Heathrow Express.

A quick change of trains at Paddington, and we were going back the way we had just come on the Heathrow Express. As we had already checked in on line, we just needed to drop our bags, quickly done and then make our way through security, not quite so quick.  We then had a 5 hour wait for our flight..... so went and got something to eat and then whiled away the time reading. After getting through the Departure Gate, we then were told our flight was delayed......, and so finally took off just over an hour late, at 6:30pm. The 10+ hour flight was uneventful, and as we were coming towards Vancouver we could see snowy tipped mountains, and the sun reflecting off the water below - a great first glimpse of what we hope will be some spectacular scenery.

After quite a slow process through customs, although we did manage to keep moving, it was about an hour later before we finally emerged with our bags and found a taxi to take us to our hotel in downtown Vancouver. Can’t wait to start exploring tomorrow... but as it is now 6am Sunday morning UK time bed is calling.

No of Miles Driven 0

No of steps walked today.... 7776

Day 2 - Sunday 12 May - Vancouver

We started today by walking down to the waterfront in search of breakfast...... at Canada Place we could see two large cruise ships moored up..... we later found out that there were 4 docked. This accounted for the Police presence on the road junction, that we didn’t understand at the time. But later find out that on busy cruise arrival/departure days the waterfront road was closed to all but taxis, collections/dropping passengers! Later in the morning when we returned there it was very busy and we could see why!

After a lovely, if different, breakfast - Phil having fruit and waffles and I had tutti fruity crepe - we paid a quick visit to the Visitor Information centre, where a very enthusiastic lady gave us lots of leaflets! She even beat me on the amount I would have collected!

Then it was onto the Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour- with the pick up point also moved from the waterfront road....to the next street up. There was an option of two routes - City and Park.... so we went for the City tour first. This was really good, if a little chilly, as the sun was refusing to come out and it was a bit grey. We saw the modern Vancouver with lots of high rise buildings, went past the two sports stadiums, and into the old Vancouver in Gas Town, where the statue of Gassy Jack, the founder of Vancouver, first built a Saloon and others then built in the area. When tragedy struck, and it all burnt down, they started again, and from these humble beginnings, Vancouver was built. Also in GasTown is the Steam clock.

Having done the City Tour, we stopped off for a quick coffee, and a warm up, and then strolled through Canada Place, which was teeming with people, who it seemed were all booking in for one of the 4 cruise ships departing today. There were large rooms here that seemed to be booking halls- no doubt we will find out more come Wednesday!

We then set off on the Park Tour.... which took us to Stanley Park, a large peninsula of trees, plants and a hive of Activity on a Sunday afternoon. The sea wall has a footpath and cycle path around the whole of Vancouver, and is well used. Stanley Park was lovely, and after going around most of it on the bus, we got off and walked back along the sea wall for about 4+km and got a different perspective. This took in the interesting features of Siwash Rock, the Lions Gate Bridge, Girl in the Wetsuit and the Totem Poles. Apart from walking, which can be done in either direction, all wheeled modes of transport, cars, buses, bikes, skaters, could only go one way round..... and so had to do a complete circuit.

After looking at the Totem Poles we rejoined the bus again, and continued on the Tour, which after leaving Stanley Park, pretty much follows the City Tour we had done this morning. On reaching Gas Town, we got off to have a closer look at Gassy Jack and the Steam clock. We stopped to watch the clock chime the half hour, billowing out extra steam while it did so. From here we walked back to our hotel.

We strolled down to the Waterfront a little later to get some dinner. By this time the sun had finally decided to come out...... and the far shore was looking lovely in the evening sunlight. The cruise ships had all left, but while we were eating dinner we saw one coming in.

A lovely first day, off to explore Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge tomorrow.

No of Miles Driven 0

No of steps walked today.... 20821 or 14.62km

Day 3 - Monday 13 May - Vancouver

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Today started off looking like it was going to be lovely and sunny, but didn’t really quite live up to expectations.... it was nice, but not as sunny and clear as we hoped.

We had decided we would start with Grouse Mountain, and on reaching the waterfront at Canada Place for the free shuttle, there was one waiting for that destination.... however it was already full! So instead of waiting nearly an hour for the next one, we opted for the much more frequent free shuttle to Capilano Bridge instead.

We were soon on our way, and had a chatty driver pointing out places of interest on the way... including the Olympic Cauldron just along from Canada Place, that we had both missed yesterday on our bus tour. He told us that it is rarely lit now as it costs so much, I think he said about $10000 a time, and that he had only seen it lit once - more about this later!

We continued on, and through Stanley Park, on the main road and over the Lions Gate Bridge. It was nice to do this after seeing it yesterday. Arriving at Capilano Bridge, we soon got our tickets and set off to explore this. First off we made our way over the Suspension Bridge..... the span is 140 meters and it is 70 meters above the river....... and it certainly sways quite a bit!

Next it was onto the Treetops Adventure.... a fantastic walkway among the trees, with platforms built around various trees to link it all together. This was great fun. Following this we moved onto the boardwalk along the edge of the canyon to get glimpses of the suspension bridge and the cliff walk on the other side. Then it was back across the suspension bridge again.

By this time our legs needed some recovery time, so we had to stop for an ice cream! We soon moved onto the Cliffwalk, that is a narrow walkway suspended out from the cliff face over the river... brilliant.

We had been collecting the various imprint stamps on our map as we went around, and so after a fantastic few hours here, we collected our achievement certificate on our way out.

We had been told we could get tickets on the public transport bus, to take us up to Grouse Mountain. The bus stop is conveniently just over the road, and within a few minutes of arriving along came the bus we needed. Phil asked for two tickets and proffered a $10 note, the driver said he didn’t deal with paper money, and for us to just get on! So our ‘free’ shuttle continued!

Grouse Mountain is a huge skiing complex in the winter. We took the Skyride gondola up to the top, and although the views of Vancouver weren’t as clear as we would have liked, it was great to look down on the city and pick out places.

We followed the bear prints along to the 5 acre enclosure for the two resident Grizzlies...... who had emerged from hibernation in early April. These two bears were both found orphaned as small cubs in June 2001, and have been living on Grouse Mountain ever since. They have been well monitored over the years. We had some fantastic views of them as they explored a lot of their area around the perimeter while we were watching. Back at the main building we watched a couple of short films in the Theatre in the Sky - about the bears and another about the Bear Refuge near Prince Rupert which we are booked to visit later in our trip - so that was really interesting. Then it was back down the gondola, and a short wait for the free shuttle back to Vancouver.

As we came back towards the waterfront, we caught a glimpse of flame, and realised that the Olympic Cauldron was lit! So after a quick bite for dinner, we strolled along to it, and there was throngs of people, all smartly dressed milling around. On asking one what it was all about - they were from Sotheby’s - real estate - and obviously having a big event taking place at the Convention Centre (which was the Media Centre during the Olympics)

We had quite a wander around the Cauldron, admiring the flames, which were giving off quite a heat, and feeling very fortunate to have witnessed it lit, especially after this mornings comments from our bus driver.

Then wandering back along the front, before returning to our hotel, we heard three blasts of a ships horn, and hung around a bit, and then saw the cruise ship that was docked, inch it’s way out and slowly make its way out past Stanley Park and under the Suspension bridge. Someone near by us watching commented that it was 3 hours late leaving..... but we don’t know why. So, we saw a lot more this evening than we were expecting.

 No of Miles Driven 0 No of steps walked today.... 13645 or 9.58km

Day 4 - Tuesday 14 May - Vancouver

A much lazier day today...... as Vancouver lived up to it’s reputation as a wet location! The cloud was down and it rained for most of the day.

We started off by going for a little wander.... to find Christ Church Cathedral. It wasn’t far from our hotel, and we went in for a look. It wasn’t that big, and had a mix of traditional old style stained windows and some more modern touches as well.

We then went down to Canada Place, and had a look around - finding the walkway that joined it with the Convention centre on the other side and that had quite a lot of Artwork and artefacts from the Winter Olympics on display. This was interesting to see, and good to find an area we had seen from outside.

We then went up a couple of levels and had a good view - albeit rather limited due to the weather - of the inner harbour, across to Stanley Park and the Lions Gate Bridge in the background. We were on a level with the ‘sails’ of the building and sat and took in the view for sometime.

Later on we strolled back to Gas Town and then back around to the waterfront, taking in the Grand Pacific Railway Station that has been well restored. We saw the Lookout Tower on the Harbour Centre, but decided against going up today, which was our original plan, as we really wouldn’t get much of a view.

We tried to go into the Convention Centre to look at more of the Artwork, but were told it wasn’t open to the public today - probably due to the Sotheby’s very large  gathering!

So after grabbing an early dinner, it finally stopped raining for a short while, and we took the opportunity to walk down outside of Canada Place pier.... right to the end. It was quite chilly and exposed - maybe a taster of the temperature to expect on board boat?!

So a quieter day, but we’ve ticked most things off our list for Vancouver.

No of Miles Driven 0

No of steps walked today.... 15005 or 10.53 km

Day 5 - Wednesday 15th May - Vancouver & Cruise......

Inside Passage - Vancouver to Anchorage

So, where to start for today...... well, the weather is a good starting point - what a difference a day makes! After yesterday’s chilly, breezy, miserable, wet day....... we woke to blue skies and brilliant sunshine! What a contrast.

So after leaving our bags at the hotel for the morning, we had a quick - ish - breakfast at Bellagios (same as our first morning) and then looked into where we needed to take our luggage later. Then it was off to the Lookout Tower at the Harbour Centre. The lift goes up the outside, so you get to look out as you whizz up the Tower.

The views were stunning, and you could see a long way today – so glad we managed to have a good morning for this. There were lots of information boards to tell us what / where we were looking at, and we could pick out various places that we had visited. We could even see the gondolas going up and down on Grouse Mountain!

We spent quite some time doing the 360 degree lookout before returning back down the lift. Then it was back to our hotel to collect our luggage.

We managed to walk back to the waterfront with our cases reasonably easily, and were soon being directed to the luggage check in area, below street level of Canada Place. We thought we could check the luggage in, and would then go off again for a while, as we had been given a check in time of 2pm. But, once the luggage was taken, we were told to follow the sign and go to check in - although it was only about 12. So we followed on and had soon checked in, and then it was onto Security. This took a little longer, as it was US border control, as we were heading off to Alaska.

All in all it was very similar to going through an airport, but seemed much smoother and more ordered, I think we must have walked around Canada Place about 3 times going through the various processes! But everywhere there were lots of staff to tell you where to go. So, by about 1pm we were actually on board, and our luggage had arrived at our room, and we had unpacked by just after 2!

So, then it was off to explore a little. We are in a lovely room, with balcony, on the 9th Deck. We went up to the top deck - 14, and had a wander, and then got some lunch from the buffet. A bit more of a stroll around, and then returned to our room to sun ourselves on the balcony. It was really hot!

At 4pm everyone had to go to the Muster stations for a safety briefing, after the emergency sirens were sounded. And not long after that finished ...

 And we were off. We watched from our balcony as we sailed out of Vancouver, and under the Lions Gate Bridge. Then we were trying to work out from our very small scale map where we were as we travelled along the coast, trying to pick out where we would be traveling down in a few weeks time along the Sunshine Coast and we saw a ferry crossing Horseshoe Bay, which we would be doing on our way to Whistler.

By this time it was quite breezy sitting outside- we had put our jeans back on (after changing into shorts earlier in the afternoon), and jumpers and coats, hat and gloves! So, to warm up a bit, we went for a walk, up to the top deck again - where it was even windier!

After this we thought we would go for dinner. We had opted for the Anytime dining, rather than eating at the same time on the same table every meal. This meant we could turn up when we wanted, and be seated where there was space. I think you can wait for a table on your own if you want, but we’re happy to share, and so were soon shown to a table for 8 - the others were all Americans, a couple and a 4 together. So it was very pleasant to have people to chat to while eating a delicious dinner.

At one point during dinner we could see that we were very close to shore on both sides.... and later on in the evening we went through another stretch of narrows as well. Back to our balcony after dinner, and the wind had dropped, and with plenty of layers on we sat out for a while, admiring the scenery and the calm water, in the twilight.

No of Miles Driven 0

No of steps walked today.... 10565 (although I don’t think when I was pulling cases from the hotel to the waterfront registered!)