The Wolve Travels: mile 4331

You see not very much change in the mileage, and that's for a good reason. We have made a stop in Vancouver, BC and did the tourist stuff. That means we left the bike parked and took public transportation and got driven around. Nice for a change not to battle the traffic yourself.
Anyway, since our camp site is at the Capilano River at North Vancouver, we made the bus ride to Lonsdale Quay and took the Seabus over to Vancouver, or better to the Seabus terminal near Canada Place. This gave us on the Lonsdale side a great view over all the city, from Gastown and further East, all the way to Stanley park in the West. Once in the city, what better way to explore an unknown place than to use the "hop-on, hop-off" Sightseeing Busses. And we made good use of our tickets, using many stops to explore on foot, then hop on again and get driven to the next attraction.
One thing one discovers very quickly is that Vancouver is a very vibrant, multi-cultural, and vivid city. It is also very environment conscious and saves energy and water in every aspect, not to mention environmentally friendly transportation systems. The Olympics in 2010 have certainly driven the city to a higher level and made it more attractive.
It also is very visible that the culture of the First Nation People is very much present in todays life through paintings, sculptures, and carvings all over the city, but also clothing, building shapes and many other things are trying to make reference and building a bridge to Nature as often as possible.
Stanley Park, a story of its own is the green lung of the city and a nice place to get sporty, or just walk along the miles of seawall. The view of the surrounding mountains and/or city is spectacular around every bend, and the park itself showcases the Vancouver Aquarium, the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Deadman's Island, the Totem Pole Park, Brockton Point, and many more. Of course one has to mention the Lions Gate Bridge connecting North Vancouver with Stanley Park, for which North Vancouver would have not developed if the bridge wasn't built by the Guinness Family (yes, the one who make the Stout). Anyway they sold it back to the state 1955, for exactly the same amount it had cost them to built in 1937/38.
Northeast of the Lions Gate Bridge is the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. A Rainforrest with Red Cedar and Douglas Fir Trees, hundreds of years old, and several hundred feet tall, the bridge was first built by George Grant Mackay 1889 and changed hands several times (as well its construction to more modern construction elements). It is an impressive picture to look down in to the Capilano River Gorge, or to walk the treetops between high outlook platforms and suspension bridges 100 ft above the ground, or to walk on to the canyon lookout, called the Cliff Walk.

We will be off the grid for a couple of days, as we will continue to Vancouver Island tomorrow and then make our way North to Port Hardy on to Prince Rupert. Not knowing when we can connect again, don't give up looking out for new posts.