Stanley Park, Day 5

Perhaps the cocoanut pie was a mistake last night, but it certainly ended a perfect day, and perhaps this morning for breakfast, the mixed berry scone, which would have fed a family of 4 was yet another mistake. You are never to old to have a greedy eye.

However it was wonderful fuel on which to saunter round Stanley Park under cloudless blue skies and a comfortable short sleeve temperature.
I did think this park at the edge of Vancouver was the perfect combination of Cramond foreshore in Edinburgh and Central Park in New York.

We were in the company of cyclists, rollerbladers, skate boarders and other walkers as we hugged the shore line. We passed under bridges and watched container vessels piloted by tugs negotiate out of Vancouver, en route perhaps to Japan across the vast Pacific. They dwarfed the little yacht with the white sail and the motor boat out for a day's sailing.

We passed sandy beaches with children flying kites and sun worshipers in groups and singly, soaking up the good weather.
We passed Orientals holding parasols and aficionados of Tai Chi doing their thing without a shred of self consciousness.

We stopped for lunch at the Fish House in the Park and ate salads at a table outside in a meadow of daisies. Eventually we continued on by Lost Lagoon, watched a heron wading in the shallows, and a raccoon skulking in the undergrowth. Ever present were Canadian geese foraging amongst the grass.

When it was time to go, by luck and good guidance we managed to navigate back to where Oilman had parked the car in a shady corner under giant cedar trees, then home to the hotel for a rest before going out later for dinner.
It's a great life if you can get it!