Day 2--Stanley Park

Dave and Meg at the Totem Poles in Stanley Park

Day 2--Will our luggage ever arrive?

Dave and I woke up several times during the night, but finally woke up for good around 6:45.  We got up, and I went downstairs to check on the status of our luggage while Dave showered.  I talked to Jeff, the concierge, and was dismayed when he said that our luggage still had not arrived.  He said, “Don’t worry, it will be here before you get on your ship!”  I said, “Yes, but I’d like to be able to change clothes while I am in Vancouver!”  He laughed at that, but said he would contact the airline and find out where our bags were.

We decided to go out and explore, so after my shower, we walked down to Canada Place, getting a bite to eat at Tim Horton’s along the way.  (Side note, this Tim Horton’s did not take Visa!  Only Mastercard or debit cards.  They did take American money though.)  We continued on to Canada Place, the port from which all the cruise ships leave.  It was gorgeous down there, right on the harbor with views of the mountains on the other side. 

We had purchased tickets for the Vancouver trolley online (you could get two days for the price of one), so we traded in our vouchers and got our tickets and then we hopped on the first trolley which left at 9am.  We rode the whole loop to get our bearings and then got off at the third stop, the Westin Bayshore.  We chose that stop because there was a White Spot restaurant about a block away and we had been told by locals that the White Spot was a great place to eat.  Plus, there was also a Chevron gas station nearby.  We had also been told that Chevron stations had a free coupon booklet with buy one admission, get one free coupons for several of the places that we wanted to visit.  So we stopped at the station, got the coupons and then went in to have lunch.  We both had the special, a smoky BBQ burger with a fresh blueberry pie for dessert.  And when they say fresh, they aren’t kidding!  This was more of a fruit tart than a pie.  Both burger and pie were delicious.

We then decided to walk the Seawall (which runs around Stanley Park) to go see the Totem Poles in the park.  It was a beautiful walk, perhaps a little over a mile and right along the Burrard Inlet, with fabulous views of the city.  I took lots of pictures along the way and we saw three or four seaplanes come in for a landing just while we were walking.  Many of the locals use seaplanes to get around up here. 

We got to the Totem Poles and I took more pictures there.  I took a couple of pictures for people so that they could be in the photos with their families and they returned the favor for Dave and me.  I wandered around the gift shop for a bit and then we caught the trolley back to our hotel (they stop right across the street!).

Now was the moment of truth...would our luggage have arrived?  We walked in, checked with the concierge and were told that yes, our luggage was there and they had brought it up to our room for us!  Hooray!  When we got to the room, we also found that the maid had been by to clean.  We got a drink of water, reveled in the joy of having our luggage, and then decided to head back out.  I wanted to stop on another one of the Red Trolley Loop stops, Prospect Point.  So we waited and waited for a trolley to come.  (Really, morning is a better time to ride these than afternoon.  In the afternoon, delays build up and they run off schedule.)  Finally one came and we hopped on. We rode to Prospect Point, and hopped off.  We got some water (the day had turned quite warm and I was very thirsty) and then we walked over and took some pictures of the Lion’s Gate Bridge, North Vancouver and the mountains.  Then more gift shop browsing for me and we headed back to the room. 

Once we got back to our hotel, we got off and walked to a local Rexall drugstore that we had seen when we had gotten our breakfast that morning.  We picked up some more water and a few other toiletries.  We went back to our room, and I uploaded the pictures from the day.  Then I went across the street to get a snack and snag some free internet so I could update my blog and check email and Facebook.  Then I went back to the room, took a shower and fell into bed.  It had been a long day!