September 1, 2012

• Parental leave

  

  1) ma and papa just south of Squamish
  

  My folks have been on parental leave, of sorts, visiting Western Canada. They arrived from London to Calgary 3 weeks ago and landed on our doorstep - via Lake Louise and wine tasting in the Okanagan Valley - on August 17th for a fortnight stay and a cruise up to Alaska and back with us (but that's another post). They were last in Vancouver in 1979 and the city has transformed immensely since then. We put them up at the Westin downtown during the stay and enjoyed wining and dining with them making pits stops at The Salmon House, Salt Tasting Room, Water Street Cafe and here at the condo complete with some Dom Perignon to celebrate their anniversary (which is actually today!) - Happy Anniversary kids! Hope you're enjoying the golf at Chateau Banff Springs.

   

  2 & 3) there will be Dom!
  

   

  4) papa, ma and moi at home; 5) ma and papa up on the rooftop terrace at our place
  

   

  6 & 7) Guinness notes that Jack Chow's Insurance Building is the thinnest commercial business building in the world .... it's about 7 feet wide and is a landmark in Vancouver Chinatown
  

  

  8 & 9) a morning visit to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park in Chinatown (hey, that's our home in the background!)
  

  

  10) papa and moi at DSYS; 11) ma and papa pose for the requisite photo op
  

  

  12) so pretty!
  

   

  13) papa settles into the suite; 14) at Jack Poole Plaza and the Olympic flame
  

   

  15) Papa wonders where the heck G is taking him (answer: this is Blood Alley in Gastown and we're going to Salt Tasting Room)
  

  

  16) the menu board at Salt Tasting Room; 17) decisions, decisions
  

  

  18) mom`s board of food; 19) my wine BC wine flight
  

  
  

  20) decisions, decisions at Water Street Cafe; 21) I had oyster appetizers where they restaurant buried the precious pearls in a sun-dried tomato madeira sauce (I'm not a fan)
  

  

  22 & 23) visiting Granville Island
  

   

  24) ahoy! ... fish; 25) this is where we buy our veggies
  

   

  26) (sigh) orchids; 27) fresh local fruit
  

   

  28) ma and papa browse the fish
  

   

  29) another requisite photo op ... this time at Granville with the Burrard Bridge and English Bay in the background; 30) shades of John Lennon?....
  

   

  31 & 32) taking the AquaBus across False Creek to home
  

  One of the things Papa was very keen to try while in Vancouver was the notorious Grouse Grind climb up Grouse Mountain. I was not too enamoured of the idea as, having done this, know just how tough a slog it is. The trip up is one-way only and once you're past the quarter mark, you're committed. My Papa is on the closer side of 80 years old not 70 so I must admit I was a tad hesitant. But Papa runs daily and plays near-on 100 days of golf a year and, again to be honest, is probably better fit then I. So .... on a coolish Sunday morning with fog still hanging on the mountain up we went. Papa did tremendously well over the roughly hour and a half of constant ascent and can add his name to the roster of official Vancouverites having successfully conquered the Grind. Well done Papa!
  

   

  33) Papa at the Grind gate; 34) [Papa thinking] I'm going up there?!
  

   

  35) happy at the half way marker; 36) onwards over the bridge
  

   

  37) negotiating the scramble and brambles; 38) hamming it up at the three-quarter mark
  

  
  

  39) reaching the TOP; 40) me making it official at the Grinder Timer
  

   

  41) Papa makes it official too!
  

   

  42 & 43) decisions, decisions again ... a tough one for Papa as ice cream is his favourite food and Casa Gelato has 218 varieties on display at all times to choose from
  

   

  44) like kids in a candy shop; 45) with mom at Stanley Park
  

  

  46) with Papa at Stanley Park; 47) at the Stanley totem poles
  

  

  48 & 49) one evening we ventured to West Vancouver to The Salmon House for a lovely dinner overlooking the City
  

  

  50) there were scallops; 51) and REAL oysters
  

  

  52) and roast chicken; 53) and Hadai Gwaii halibut wrapped in BC smoked salmon
  

  

  54) the view of English Bay from our table; 55) G, Papa and ma taking in the view after supper
  

  

  56 & 57) we also did a road trip up to Whistler of course
  

  

  58) ... and then onto the Holland American Volendam we all went

  ---

   

  • 5:37 pm
  • 1 Comment