barbevrn

We got up the next morning and had booked another excursion. We wanted to see more of downtown Vancouver so we booked this tour from the same company that we had used the day before. http://www.vancouvertours.com/tours_1a.html. One van picked up our luggage and took it on to the port and we loaded up in another. A large portion of this tour was a driving tour, so it was fast a furious.

The population of Vancouver is well over 2,000,000 with a large percentage of that being downtown residents. The number of high-rise apartments was staggering. It was quite interesting to see big lush gardens and trees on top of these buildings. Many had swimming pools, umbrellas, palm trees. And some just had gorgeous flower gardens. It was indescribable.

We were picked up a few minutes before 9am but wound up waiting for a few folks that were picked up by another van. When they have multiple stops, they have "helpers" to make part of the pick-ups. We didn’t get off to the best start. But, as the driver had it right when he said ......"I’m going to stop talking now, because I know you’ll aren’t listening" This was just after we all spotted our ship. Everyone had tuned him out for just a bit, and he was smart enough to save his breath until the excitement died down.

Not the vest view, but our FIRST VIEW nonetheless. SIGHHHHH

Ok, back to our regularly sceduled review..........:p

Vancouver has been awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics and the construction of housing for the athletes and other event buildings was everywhere! Residents are extremely proud of being awarded the Winter Olympics. There are signs everywhere as well as a countdown clock. I tried to get a picture, but that is one of the drawbacks of an organized tour. We did not get to see the formal gardens of Queen Elizabeth's Park, but did get to go up on the viewing platform of the Revolving Resturaunt. There were some awesome views of Vancouver as well as the ships.

I can't figure out how to post a video. So I'll share a link. This is from the Capilano Fish Hatchery and taken through a glass window, so there is quite a bit of glare. I didn't realize how small these salmon were until we saw the ones in Alaska.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=6e451b53d6822f2a64f0d9&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

I'm trying to figure out how to post a video...........GRRRRRRRRR Anyway here is a photo of the Sea Bus

It is the same on both ends and never turns around. It pulls in to a docking station and all the doors slide open on one side for people to get off. Then all the doors on the other side open for people to get on. It has a station similar to a train or subway, but it is located on the water.

I didn't get any video of Capilano bridge. There are several on YouTube for anyone who wants more information. Even though it rained the whole time we were there, we got HOT. A long sleeve shirt, jacket, and rain gear was way more than enough

Just a few of the beautiful work of a local artist. He never cuts down a living tree. He only uses fallen trees and people call him when they know of any big ones that have fallen over

Surprisingly we went through Canadian Customs BEFORE picking up our luggage. We had been given our Customs declaration forms on the plane before landing. It was relatively painless with very little wait. I think we showed our passport twice with the first time being verification we had them before getting to the agent. When the agent asked DH the purpose of our trip to Canada and he said "we are going on a cruise" The agent asked the name of the ship. DH said "uhh, uhh.......you’ll have to ask my wife" I was about to bust a gut. The agent just grinned and shook his head and said "go on"

We got our luggage and hailed a cab. It’s 10:30 in the morning and we had a lot to see. It took around an hour to get to the hotel with traffic and all. Taxi and tip was somewhere around $40 to $45. We had booked the Sutton Place off of hotwire for a decent price compared to direct booking. I’d hoped for Pan Pacific, but it was a no go. Anyway, they said our room would not be ready until 3pm for check in. What????? We are dressed for Texas NOT Canada. We stored our luggage and went across the street to Denny’s (another great pointer from the boards).

We had a tour booked for 2pm and started worrying a little, so at 1pm DH went back to see if our room was ready. No, but they did have one near the elevator. We took it and yes it was near the elevator with only a wall separating the room and elevator. LOL We picked up our luggage from the concierge desk and they asked if we needed a "taxi" I said "no thanks, we have a tour in a bit". On the way to the room, DH explained that they meant did we want our luggage delivered. LOL.......whoops, Did I mention I’m a Texas girl and this Motel was a 4 star. We changed into a couple of layers and got out the rain gear. We hoped for a 15 min power nap but got a call from downstairs that our tour operator was there almost half an hour early.

This is the tour we did.....http://www.vancouvertours.com/tours_2.html It started raining towards the end of the Grouse Mountain portion and pretty much the entire Capilano Bridge portion. Again, thanks to the advice here......we were prepared and stayed warm and dry. We finished off the tour with the public transit "SeaBus" which can transport up to 400 passengers from the West Shore to Vancouver. Just think "city bus" on water........ It was quite interesting.

We had thought about looking for a casino, but after getting up at 3am and traipsing through the rain, we were pretty much pooped! After grabbing something to eat, we called it a night.

A little history: DH and I (early to mid 50’s) have taken several cruises, all Carnival and all to warm sunny destinations. For the last several cruises, DH has told me "No more until we go to Alaska". Whoops, I slid a few more in. Being that I hate cold weather, I wasn’t sure at all that I would like Alaska. But, by reading CC and viewing some of the pictures, I found myself getting excited by the sheer beauty and size of Alaska.I spent a fair amount of time on cruise critic (cough, cough) and got some wonderful advice and information.

We initially booked in February and wanted a balcony from the get go. I did call and change the room 3 times I think. LOL I wanted it to be perfect. Once we were booked overlooking life boats, and I wasn’t sure we would like that. Then, I was able to get an extended balcony.......and last, our coveted aft balcony. We watched fares and due to DH’s "mid 50’s" we were able to score an awesome rate. Let’s just say it was an aft balcony for the same price we would pay for an unassigned ocean view on the Conquest Crazies Cruise. To make the deal even sweeter we started with $744 OBC.

Aug 26th.........Our alarms went off at 3:00am, not that we slept that well anyway. We were completely packed and ready to go. I decided NOT to take a coat at the last minute and go with the layers as so many had advised. It proved to be the absolute correct decision. Many thanks to everyone! We had a friend driving us to the airport and she arrived promptly at 3:45am. Our plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until 06:30, but we wanted to arrive the full 2 hours early since we would be flying into Canada. We checked our luggage and each of our bags weighed in around 45 lbs. We had to show our passports 3 or 4 times before we ever left San Antonio. Boarding was a breeze and our plane was not full so we were able to spread out. DH sat in the isle an I sat by the window. We were both happy. I wanted to get some photos of the night lights leaving.......but, when I turned my trusty little camera to airplane mode it had a warning: Please turn off your camera during take off and landing and follow directions of flight attendant. Well, hummm.......something to ponder. But, I guess the newer cameras are considered electronics.

Our first plane landed a little early in Denver and it was time to turn our clocks back THE FIRST time. We saw several TSA agents board in advance. I’m not sure we even had to show picture ID. Several people got dinged when their boarding pass was scanned and were pulled out of line. As we went through the gait the TSA agents had passengers pulled over to the side all along the walkway. I'm not sure what criteria they used, but I guess we did not fit any of the profiles. Again, the plane was not full and we were able to spread out. After the go ahead for approved electronics, I did take out the camera and got a couple of picture when the terrain started changing. We landed in Vancouver and turned our clocks back AGAIN. Not bad timing when you can leave Texas at 06:30 and be in Vancouver at 10:30 am.... I’m sure we would have been fine flying in the day of our cruise, but it sure was a lot less stressful flying in a day early. Besides, we were ready to see Vancouver.

We will be coming in a day early for our cruise. Since I am just a tad impatient and also want to make the most of our day, we will probably take a cab from YVR to Sutton Place. For some reason, I was thinking that I had read that the cabs would rip you off if you pay cash. I can't seem to find it now. How do the cabs use credit cards and what makes it more difficult for them to rip you off?