To her credit, my mother did manage to stay quiet enough that I didn't actually wake up till almost 7am on Saturday. I have no idea what time she got up, but I got to sleep in. Apparently she went out and found a Tim Hortons so she could have some coffee, and when I did finally get up and dressed, etc... We went downstairs to have breakfast.
Breakfast is served in the Garden Terrace. Which is neither a garden, nor is it a terrace. But...that's what they were calling it. It was a nice place, and the chairs and tables were extremely comfortable. Breakfast was good, but absolutely not worth the $60 that we were charged for it. Yes, you're reading correctly, SIXTY DOLLARS for breakfast. Uh-huh, gotta love the Four Seasons.
Afterwards we were planning on taking the trolley ride around the city. Did you know that nothing in Vancouver opens till 10AM? Seriously, you can't do anything (as a tourist anyway) till after 10. We had to wait that long for the trolley on Saturday and again that long for the shuttle on Sunday. On Saturday we went for a walk while we waited. I showed my mom the hotel I stayed at the last time I was there, as well as the Hyatt where many drunken hours were spent, and a few other places. We walked along Robson Street too, not that we could actually do any shopping, but we looked in all the windows. I think the only place along there that we really wanted to go back to was the candy store, which we ended up forgetting about. Oh well, no big deal.
So, when finally the trolley came we got on and were the only passengers. The driver was quite amusing, and very friendly and was surprised that we had tickets already (we'd purchased them the day before because we knew we'd want to take the early trolley and I forgot you could buy tickets from the driver). It turned out that the driver we had was to be the 'overflow' driver for the day, so for some reason once we got to Stanley Park we ended up having several stops along the way till the trolley that was running behind us caught up. Off we went, on the rest of the trip around the park...when we got to the gate where we were supposed to leave, the gates were closed. The driver spoke to a park ranger and was very annoyed about the whole thing, complaining that nobody informed them, etc.. etc.. The Ranger patiently explained that nobody had informed them either.
So, we got to see a whole lot more of the park than we ever would have if we'd just gone on the regular route. So, the detour suited us just fine. However, it put that driver way behind, so the original driver came back and took over so that she could catch up on her schedule. Actually, the day was sort of funny that way, we ended up only seeing those two drivers even though I'm sure there must have been several more. Even after we got off at Granville Island it was those two drivers that ended up picking us up.
So, we took most of the tour on the trolley without getting off till we got to Granville Island. Which I love. I went there last time I was there too, and really I think it's my favourite place in the city. Stanley Park is nice, but Granville Island is fun. There's shopping, there's boats, there's a market.... Really, it was great. I can't quite remember how long we were there, but it seems like for quite a while. I bought a few things there too. Something for my brothers fiancee for her birthday and something to give my dad for Christmas. And postcards, which I always buy no matter where I am, because I'm sort of dorky and I collect them.
All we heard about all day Saturday was this amazing display of fireworks that were going to take place that night. Apparently every year they have a competition between three countries. Canada always participates, and then two other countries also play along. The week we were there was the grand finale, which meant that all three countries got together to put on a display that was supposed to be absolutely phenominal. They were expecting half a million people in English Bay. While I love fireworks as much as the next person, I do not love crowds. And half a million people is about 499,999 people too much for me, so I refused to go. Yeah, I'm a party pooper, whatever. My mom was able to see them from her smoking station downstairs, so whatever. She saw them, and I watched Trading Spaces and chatted online. ;) Why should my Saturday night in Vancouver be any different from normal?
And um...Oh, I forgot. We went back to Gastown Saturday evening so we could have dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Which was incredibly good. I ordered the most plain thing on the menu, and when it came it was far more spicey than I expected, but still it was good. I believe I managed to eat it all (which is quite a feat these days) and I don't think it even caused me problems. It's a miracle. Actually...spaghetti is something that's always been fine for me, I guess there's not a lot of fat in it.
So, there we go. Day 2. I'm sure I've already forgotten things, but that's the general gist of it. Mom was in bed super early that night again, she actually got up to go downstairs and watch the end of the fireworks. And actually, even I went to bed earlier than I normally would, but at a more respectable time than the previous night.
Oh, a funny thing. After the fireworks were done, I saw this big flash outside the window, so I went over to look out and saw this huge line of people down below going into a building across the road. I had no idea what it was. There was no sign, there were no lights and there was no music. Though, I was convinced that it must be a club of some sort for all those people to be lined up. The line was huge. I gave up on figuring out what it was and went to bed. But the next morning mentioned it to my mom. She knew what was down there....it was a train station. Brilliant me, of course the half million people that were down there watching the fireworks needed to get home somehow, didn't they? So, yeah, they were waiting in line for the skytrain. Sometimes I'm an idiot.
Posted by Michelle at August 26, 2003 06:32 PM