Vancouver Waterfront

We were sad to leave the ship this morning - while we had disappointing weather and some frustrating moments with cancelled excursions, overall we really enjoyed the cruise, although we all agreed that we prefer the more expedition type of cruises which are nature orientated. 

We had our last breakfast on the boat and then disembarked, walked off the boat directly through a customs area and then walked to the hotel which was a 200 metre walk, as it is based at the waterfront.

As the rooms were not ready we left our bags at the hotel and started walking along the waterfront area to Stanley Park. This photo of the waterfront was taken from the park.  Vancouver is a stunning city, we were all immediately impressed with it and I can see why it is often thought of as the most beautiful city in the world. It was very hot, and it was good to see the city under blue skies in the sunshine. We walked for a long time and then turned back, and went to a restaurant on the waterfront where we met Gavin's brother, sister-in-law and niece for lunch - our nephew was working but we will see him tonight. It was lovely to see all of them again, and of course they could not believe how our boys were now men as last time they saw them they were much younger!

After lunch we all did our own thing - Luke, Meriel, Gavin and I wandered into the shopping area of Vancouver as Meriel wanted to see the Lululemon store (this is where the company was founded). They then went for a run and we walked all the way to Sunset beach and English Bay. The downtown architecture is all modern and attractive, big glass and steel buildings but there are some more traditional buildings amongst them. 

We are now meeting the Canadian family for supper, we are going by seabus across the bay to a restaurant with great views over the city. It has been a busy day but very enjoyable.