October is Pumpkin month! (in Canada!)

Day 7

Today was another exploring/eating day in downtown Vancouver.

An adventure in itself in trying to get a bus pass. We thought a local grocery store (Seoul Grocery) would let us use a credit card to buy two one-day bus passes, but they didn't for whatever reason. So we ran over to the bank to exchange some cash which did make some small purchases easier.

A few minutes and a one-day bus pass later and we were on our way into downtown Vancouver. The bus system here was a little more expensive then Seattle (we would have had to pay $2.50-3.75 per trip) but equally as easy. They are all over.

So we head downtown, walk towards the waterfront and stop in the Tourist Info building. I found these very helpful when I went to Ireland/England years ago and the same applied here. Tons of maps and guides to give us an idea of what to see and how to get there.

So we walked around Canada Place (a convention center and Imax theater on a pier) to get a great view of the harbor looking over to North Vancouver and the mountain ranges. Next we decided to walk to Granville Island. Via map it didn't look to bad and it we got a nice walk through the downtown shops. The problem is the bridge went OVER the island and we had to walk a ways past the island down and back around .. a 10-20 minute detour.

Granville Island is a small island on the south side of Vancouver with a public market and some shops. We found some nice treats for an afternoon snack - a pumpkin spice donut at Lee's donuts and some pumpkin and maple gelato (in honor of Canada) at GI Gelato. Yummy.

This time we take the bus back downtown .. our next section of town was to see Gastown, the old historic section of the city which is filled with some tourist shops and a steam-powered clock that blows off every hour (we stayed to watch).

From there a late afternoon snack at the Salt Tasting Room .. which was in a back alley in GasTown (Blood Alley). A different restaurant. You choose three different meats or cheeses and some condiments and basically have it on some bread while drinking some wine (or beer in my case). We had some brie, a spicy ham and some smoked pork. We had as condiments a honeycomb, some apricot jam and Guiness mustard. All very tasty, pretty affordable, but they get you on the drinks (which cost more than the tasting plate!

From there off to Chinatown (having to walk through junkie central to get there!). We walked around a little bit, through a garden, but as it was late, most of the stores were closing. We found a local restaurant to have dinner, we weren't that hungry and our portions were huge. Hun's Noodle House. This was pretty much a Chinese diner. The meals were cheap, nothing special compared to cheap Chinese restaurants back home, but it was filling.

Now we walk down Main Street to the Skytrain. Since we had a day pass we could ride it all day as well as the bus. We hop on the train and .... there was nowhere or no one to validate our tickets. We just hopped on .. road it through (and under) town and got out at Waterford station (the end of the line).

We wind our way through the station to the Sea Bus which would take us across to North Vancouver. We figure we'd get a free boat ride out of the deal! Just like the train .. everyone just hopped on. Nowhere to check you actually PAID the fare. Do they just work on the honor system here?

We ride over to North Vancouver .. a 10-15 minute trip. Walk around the waterfront there .. find a bus and head back to our hotel .. just in time to catch the end of the presidential debates (and the beginning of So You Think You Can Dance Canada!).