Vancouver, British Columbia, Part One: A Day with Stanley and the Queen

Day 1 (Wednesday, June 21st, 2023):

After a six hour stopover in Salt Lake City, with an additional one hour delay, I landed in the city of Vancouver, Canada at 00:01. Two minutes later, I received a text from my cell phone carrier saying, “Welcome to Canada!”.

It took me about 15 minutes to unboard, then I went downstairs to declare my arrival.

By 00:32, I was on the train to downtown. By 00:56, I was off the train and in the streets of Vancouver.

When I exited from Broadway – City Hall station, I could see a Wendy’s sign. There was also an A&W next to the Wendy’s, with an “OPEN 24Hrs” sign. I saw three people inside; one cashier and two customers. I opted out.

I walked to my bus stop, about a two minute walk from the station. After about two or three minutes of waiting, the bus came, but I decided not to get on since I didn’t know when I would eat again. I walked back to A&W.

Inside, there were three homeless people; One on the floor, one sleeping on a side table, and one sitting in a chair on the other side of the restaurant. After I had ordered and received my food, I left. I saw my next bus sitting at the stop light through the window right before I was handed my food.

I ran towards the bus as it was going to the next stop, food and suitcase in hand, but my pursuit was worthless. 

I sat at the bus stop bench, ate my food, and reflected on my life. That was actually when I had my first poutine, on a bus stop bench in Vancouver at 01:30 in the morning, after not having a proper meal for hours.

My next bus arrived at around 01:40. On the way, I saw; a Circle K, a Jenny Craig, a Scotiabank, a Petro-Canada (which reminded me of a Petroamérica I had seen in Peru in 2021), and a Tim Hortons.

I was off the bus by 01:56. The street had these white and blue lights up in the trees, not sure why. It was really quiet outside. I was carrying my suitcase in my hand instead of rolling it on the ground to avoid making noise. There weren’t any cars out.

I had passed by an intersection that had blinking green lights, but again, no one was there. I felt like I was in a horror film (which, fun fact; many of them, including “It”, were filmed in Vancouver).

I saw some black rabbits on the way. Two to be exact. Then, at 02:28, I made it to my hostel.

I entered the building and knocked on a glass window to be let into the lobby. I handed over my passport and my phone with my check-in information on the screen. I was told my reservation had been cancelled, and that it was currently “after hours” or something like that (he briefly explained it to me).

I was told that I could sit down on the coach around the corner. I did that for a bit, scrolled through my phone, then he finished checking me in.

He walked me to my room. I put my stuff away, and that was it. I crawled into bed and went to sleep after a while.

After I woke up, I went downstairs to enquire about the bike rentals. Someone at the front desk had told me that the two bikes that they had were being rented for the day. She asked me where I was planning on going, and I told her “Stanley Park”. She said there were bike rental places near the entrance there.

I left my hostel at around 10:36 to head down to the bus station. It took me on a path that went down the forest. A woman walking on the trail greeted me. I suppose that by 10:52, I was on the bus.

I passed by Petro Canada again, this time in daylight. I passed over the bridge where I could oversee Granville Island, the place I was planning on going to later in the day. I was off the bus by 11:17. 

I headed downtown to see the Gastown steam clock (It’s the world’s first steam powered clock. It was developed in 1977 to cover a steam crate. It’s a pretty cool spectacle).

After doing that, I walked back around to find food, and decided to settle for a Tim Hortons I had passed by earlier (The reason why I didn’t go in the first time around was because the line was much longer). After I got my food, I walked along the waterfront, and saw some spectacular buildings and sculptures.

There was an airport on the water (Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre) that I could see from the viewing space (Vancouver Convention Centre), and I could also see a cruise ship in the distance as well, near Canada Place. I stood there and watched the planes take off and land for a bit.

To the left side of me was a fantastic view of the skyline; these gigantic glass towers sitting above the trees, and to the side of the water.

And I think it was around this point that I realised, the reason why I liked Vancouver so much was because it’s everything that Phoenix is not; it’s cool weather, it’s green, it’s fairly diverse, it actually has good food, there’s water, it’s easily bikeable/walkable, etc.

I headed down to the park below, Harbour Green Park, and found a bench on the side of the bike paths to eat my Tim Hortons.

While sitting on the bench, I realised that nearly everyone who passed me by was either of European descendancy (white) or Asian descendancy (Asian/oriental). There were a lot of people running or on bikes, exercising.

I sat there for about 30 mins, listened to music a bit, then continued walking.

The park was admirable. It gave me a good sense of Vancouver; the Vancouver city feel. I thought it was well landscaped, with good city planning. It’s definitely very walkable.

I saw some amazing towers walking towards Stanley Park, by the Coal Harbour Marina; many, many yachts. I made it to Stanley Park by 13:43.

I knew the park, especially the seawall, would be too big for me to walk around, so I decided to rent a bike, which was my original plan. I researched which bike rental companies were the best so I could ride along the seawall. I figured Freedom Bikes would be it for me.

It was a short walk there, about 7 or 8 minutes. The process was fairly simple, I just had to show ID and give them my card, which they would charge later, and I had to give my address, or hotel name. And sign (I’m also not being paid to say this, I just want to promote a genuinely good company if you’re ever in Vancouver :)).

I was told that the law in BC (British Columbia) was that one had to wear a helmet while riding or else face a fine. I chose to wear a helmet. It’s not the law in AZ (Arizona).

A worker adjusted the seat for me. They asked if I needed a basket for my bag; yea, kind shop.

I zoomed off at 14:09. I knew I was being timed by the hour; only 7 CAD an hour, but still.

So now, for a bit of history: Stanley Park was originally inhabited by the First Nations people (Native Americans/Indigenous People of Canada) up to around 1000 years before the birth of Christ. The area was explored by Captain George Vancouver in 1792, making it one of the first points of English colonisation in the city. By his account, he had a surprisingly peaceful interaction with the locals.

The area was inducted as Vancouver’s first park back in 1886; it was named after Lord Frederick Stanley, the former governor general of Canada (represents the monarch of Canada), and the original presenter of the Stanley Cup.

It’s often been called one of the greatest urban parks in the world, due to its seawall. The park is slightly bigger than the Central Park in New York, sitting at 1,001 acres.

I honestly don’t even know what else to say about the place, so I’ll just enter some photos and videos here.

I did see the nine o’clock gun, which is essentially a cannon that stands as a timepiece. Unfortunately, I never stayed around long enough to watch it fire.

Some more photos and videos:

Seeing the third beach was my favourite part of the seawall ride.

I enjoyed riding around the seawall so much, I did it two times, one more time than I expected.

I returned the rental by about 15:56. I only had to pay for an hour and a half ride… so pretty cheap.

I started walking to Granville Island at 16:01. I passed by a nice 4 or 5 story Starbucks, and by a nice Safeway.

I walked all the way down Denman street. I saw an A&W and Tim Hortons on the way. I also saw a trans lives matter sign posted above a crosswalk button, something one would never see in Arizona.

Just before that, I heard a woman I passed by saying Canada is turning into a “fucking slum”. I’m not sure what made her say that. She seemed pretty upset. It was not about me.

The rest of the walk was mainly just beach and park by the road, with views of the mountains and Stanley Park. There was a lower part of the walk that resembled the seawall; this was Sunset Beach Park, at the English Bay.

I saw a shipwrecked ship; it seemed real. Then, at about 16:30, I started walking down the first dock I saw to board a ferry to Granville Island.

It didn’t take long for us to cross the river, maybe 3 minutes (I paid the fare on the boat).

Once I was on the island, I wasn’t sure where to go, so I just found somewhere to sit, which was conveniently right in front of the public market. I was inside by 17:33.

I walked around a bit and decided to eat at a place called “The Market Grill”. It took me about 10 minutes from ordering to get my food. I had ordered poutine and a maple syrup burger, or smth.

Since the entire market would be closing soon, I decided to get something from Lee’s Donuts, a classic doughnut shop, before they closed at 18:00.

I walked a little bit to the other side of the market to Lee’s. When I got there, I was standing behind a retractable belt barrier, to the left of a decent-sized family.

The girl behind the counter asked me if I was in line, and I replied, “I guess”. She laughed and said, while laughing, “yea, I guess”.

She saw my food in my hand and said, jokingly, “I hate you right now”. Typical teen slander. Then, she asked if I got it from inside the market. She figured it was from the Market Grill.

The doughnut shop only had about three options left, so I ordered a cinnamon doughnut, the most delicious looking option. The price was two something. I paid, didn’t tip, and continued on my way.

I went outside with my food. There was a First Nations (native/aboriginal) man who was playing the pan pipes. He stopped playing and left once it was time for the markets to close, and people started leaving 🙏.

The burger was good. I had better poutine at A&W.

I saw a middle-aged lady at the table next to me, who I’m guessing was Chinese, holding up a selfie stick. It reminded me of when I was in Chinatown in NY in 2015, and my mother bought me one.

There was also a huge seagull walking around the tables. It finally landed on mine while I was on the phone, and looked me in my face. I shooed him away.

Also, before that incident, he was on another man’s table, about to eat his food, when a woman cautioned him about the bird.

Anyway, my cinnamon doughnut from Lee’s was good. There was a gelato shop near me that was still open, but I was too full to get anything from there. By 18:41, I was off to Queen Elizabeth park (named after Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, wife of King George VI of England).

Let’s just say this next area of town I walked through was very “progressive”.

Walking through the park, I saw a lot of activities going on; dancing, running, biking, rowing… I saw a totem pole.

There were these nice homes situated by the water, with a nice view of the downtown skyline. That’s when I read a sign about Vancouver protected public views and view corridors.

I had heard of protected city views in places like London and Paris, but I didn’t know it was a thing in Canada as well. It makes a lot of sense though for a city like Vancouver. I suppose that it’s less for historical purposes, and more for natural beauty purposes.

One lady had photos of her family posted outside her house, in her yard.

Passing by one building, while talking on the phone, I heard banging. When I looked up, there was a child in a window waving at me. That made me really happy; it made me feel accepted there.

This next particular part of the neighbourhood reminded me so much of Portland, Oregon.

Making it back onto the main street (high street?), I saw a facility called “Canadian Tire”. I must admit, I found the title pretty humorous. I guess we do the same thing in the US.

I saw a nice Whole Foods, and Home Depot.

I passed by a, what I believe was a, nice Canadian government building. It had an interesting structure, sort of neo-brutalist.

I saw a Chinese church, which I also thought was interesting. There was a sign in front in English and Chinese; worship services in English and Chinese.

There were also just general advertisements in Chinese, something not uncommon in Vancouver.

About an hour into my walk, I decided to go to the grocery before I went to the park instead of afterwards. I passed by some interesting looking homes. Definitely a bit older.

I entered Safeway at 19:54.

It was actually similar to the ones we have in the US. Most of the food labels had English and French.

At checkout, I was told a reusable bag would cost $2.25 (or $2.50), and a plastic bag would cost 25 cents. I determined right then that I didn’t need a bag.

I left, made my way down the street, and began walking on the route to the park again.

I arrived at the grounds at 20:24. There were a lot of meadows in the park and the light was hitting the trees right.

By 20:35, I was outside of the Bloedel Conservatory, the peak of the park, and the highest point in Vancouver, at 152 m above sea level.

There was a nice row of benches on top of the park that overlooked the city. From there, one could see the entire city skyline, along with some of the nature in the park. It was more like a miradouro (or viewing point).

There was even a man up there painting, which I was surprised to see. It reminded me of my time in Florence; but no, this was Canada.

The sun was setting on the first day of summer in North America; the longest day of the year. This was also my first time getting a clear view of the mountains since arriving there, in Vancouver.

At around 21:10, I moved to another spot on top to get a better view of the sun setting over the horizon.

It was here that I ate my canned pineapples from Safeway, while sitting on a stone wall.

There were some teens/college students nearby talking about the moon and Venus, how one of their dads was from New York, and I even heard a conversation about how easy it is to smuggle cocaine across the US border into Canada.

It was at this point that I left.

At 21:27, I got my last good glances at the view, and descended below. I went the exact same way I came up. However, once I left the park, I walked on the opposite side of the street from when I came; the left.

While walking, I noticed one particular house. It was shaped like a house a child would draw; slanted roof, chimney, two visible levels, 2 front windows on the first floor, and a centred front door. I thought that was hilarious.

By 22:10, I was on the bus, I imagine pretty tired from my day. I was off the bus by 22:27. I had a bit of a way to walk to my hostel, about 15 minutes, the same as the night before.

After I got back, I went to a bar downstairs, with my journal, to get a beer. They didn’t have the regular one, so I got a lager instead. Then I sat down and wrote about my day.

I didn’t talk to anybody and nobody talked to me. However, beforehand, someone did tell me that they liked my outfit.

While in the bar, I wrote, “Today was a great day. I’m sitting in a bar now, downstairs in my hostel, writing about this.

I saw everything I wanted to; Gastown, Stanley Park, Granville Island, and Queen Elizabeth Park, to watch the sunset. I’ve spent a lot today.

The bike ride was the best. I forgot I spent money on that as well. I don’t know how I spent so much.

I plan on going to Capilano tomorrow or Lyon park (free) and maybe doing the Grouse Grind. That’s it. And maybe the grocery store. I’m pretty tired now, but I anticipate tomorrow.”

I was back in bed by 00:15.

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