Ash and Andre's Awesome Adventure: Vancouver day 2

We woke up this morning nice and early (not as early as Rachid and Patty, they were already gone!). We decided to spend the day in Stanley park because we were told that is the #1 thing to do in Vancouver. That is also where their world-famous aquarium is. So we drove through the crazy Vancouver traffic, paid our $10 for parking and headed to the aquarium. There was a 20-minute lineup outside, but we finally got in. Upon entry, they snap your picture in front of a green screen where you can later purchase that picture for a mere $20... not today.

The aquarium had a special "4-D" Theatre in it where you watch BBC's Ocean movie. The movie itself is 3-D, so you have to wear those rediculous goggles. The 4th dimension is that it is interactive. Whenever there's a splash on the movie, you get sprayed with water. The seats vibrate according to what's on screen, wind blows and even bubbles blow in the theatre. It was pretty cool (and free with admission, so a bonus!).

We saw some dolphins doing some tricks and lots of fish. All n' all, it was reaaally worth the $27 it cost Andre and the $21 it cost me (I still have a student ID -- woop woop!), but I'm glad we did it.

After the aquarium, we wandered around Stanley Park and went to one of the little restaurants for lunch. Nothing spectacular, but acceptable. We then went to the totem pole park (within Stanley park) where they had tons of massive totem poles. They also had a fabulous native crafts gift store where I could have spent lots of money. I bought a couple of native art greeting cards.

We then went down to the water, and I was picking along the shoreline for treasures. I found a crab carcass... that was about the only cool thing. I didn't keep it... what would you do with a crab carcass?

We then left Stanley park and went to the pier near Rachid's place. The breeze off the ocean was very nice on a hot day. It was about 26 degrees and very sunny.

Our dinner was a sushi platter. You haven't had sushi until you've had Vancouver sushi. All of the fish is freshly-caught, and there are some decent sushi chefs around too. The sushi shop was just below Patty's studio. Patty is a wedding/fancy dress designer and she's been doing enough business to open up her own shop/studio. She still works her full-time day job and teaches a class at the Institute of Design on the weekends... I don't know when she finds time to do anything! But her dresses are very cool and they're all made with eco-friendly materials (again, how Vancouver!).

We ate dinner at Rachid and Patty's friend's house. Their friends weren't there, they are actually supposed to be house-sitting for a few weeks, but since we've been here they haven't been staying there. Their house backs onto the river and the yard is beautiful. They have a huge deck with a hot tub and heat lamps if it's too cold, etc. etc. etc.

Right about when we were ready to finish the dishes, Rachid somehow locked his keys inside the house and we had to figure out a way to break into the house. Andre was using a camera and a large stick to try to break in the front door through their peep window (see picture). Finally, I found a ladder under the deck and there was a window open upstairs so Andre climbed into the window like a monkey (the screen came off easily). I had had this idea about 20 minutes before, but no one listens to me! Shortly thereafter, the father of one of the people who live there stopped by to see if everything is alright. I don't know if he saw us trying to break into the house or if it was just random and just wanted to make sure the cat was being fed.

After that, we headed home. Rachid and Patty headed back to their friend's house to spend the night, so we won't see them before we leave. But we said our good byes before they left.

So here we are. This concludes the Canadian leg of Ash and Andre's Awesome Adventure, tomorrow, we're in Port Angeles!

TTFN