Travel Blog: Day 14

Has it really only been 2 weeks? It has started to feel like an eternity. A comfortable eternity. I actually just got back Victoria a couple of hours ago.

I travelled to Victoria yesterday with Kevin to commemorate BC Day on the steps of the BC Legislature. What do we call this holiday in Ontario? Simcoe Day? The Civic Holiday? Regardless, this is the 150th anniversary of BC's existence, so there was a huge celebration for the sesquicentennary (sp?). Stephen Harper was present, alongside the BC Premiere. The main impetus for going to Victoria was to see Feist, who was headlining the evening's performances. Sarah McLaughlin and Burt Cummings (The Guess Who) also played during the day.

If you were wondering, yes, Feist is eccentric, if not downright weird. Her performance was quite artsy, and not the best possible selection for this type of crowd, especially since most are only familiar with her one hit. But it was a great night, capped off by NO FIREWORKS! I simply don't understand that. You have this massive celebration on a public holiday, thousands, literally tens of thousands of people are out for this great event, and there were no fireworks. Quite the unclimactic finish to the evening, but a great show none the less.

Oh, and I got to see Devin. Woot! Going back to Victoria on Saturday morning for about 10 days.

Vancouver! Part 2

This whole time I'm staying at Jenn's apartment downtown, very close to Stanley Park. (Thanks Jenn!) The property situation here is similar, again, to Toronto's. A spate of new condos going up downtown, but more aesthetically pleasing ones, unlike the bland and unoriginal ones that keep on springing up along the rail yard in Toronto.



Thursday I walked down to Chinatown, and specifically to the Chinese Gardens. What a beautiful spot, and the guided tour was very valuable. Funny story #1: He looked, acted, and sounded like Radey Barrack. When I get the film developed, I'll post the pictures. Which leads into Funny story #2: I'm using an oldschool nondigital camera. Mainly because we (being my family) can't seem to buy decent cameras that won't break. I also explored the final two areas in the downtown core, Gastown (the "historic" district) and the West End where Jenn lives, including the Denman, Davies and English Bay areas. On Friday, I had a blast from the past for late-lunch/early-dinner with Henry, whom I havn't seen since elementary school. Exactly a decade ago!



Now Friday Night. What a crazy crazy time. It seemed like everyone was in for the weekend, and staying in Jenn's studio apartment. Tori, who was in Civil with me and will be working for Kiewit with Jenn and Cody, was staying the night with her friend. Kevin, also from Civil, was in from Victoria where he just started working. Cody also came across from West Van with his friend Josh. We started out at the Davie's street party, where they had blocked off the street for 2 huge beer tents. Once those closed down, the gents headed off to Caprice, a club on Granville, to finish off the night.



Saturday & Sunday saw another burst of activity, once I got over the hangover. Breakfast at O'Doul's, the Wine Bar/Jazz Club, a downtown stroll with Kevin, another visit to Surrey, and then to White Rock, then a trip over to Cody's in West Van filled up Saturday. Sunday was the parade, then Stanley Park, the Vancouver Aquarium, then pub hopping to complete the night.

Vancouver! Part 1

Travel Blog: Day # I've Lost Count

Ok, so I haven't updated in ages.... Basically since I got to Vancouver over a week ago. Here goes a long update of everything that I've been upto.

Well, before I get to any details... Man, I love Vancouver. Soooo many reasons. I've thought about it for a while, and it boils down to the fact that it's a vastly diverse Canadian metropolis that isn't Toronto. It's not that I don't like TO, I love it, it's my favourite place on earth (next to Sydney). But I've gotten used to Toronto, and have been taking its many jewels for granted. There are so many events and neighbourhoods in Toronto that I simply ignore, or dont take the effort to go and experience. In a "new" city such as Vancouver, I'm inclined to go out and discover each and every neighbourhood, experience each and every festival or parade (yes I even did gay pride events).

I flew into Vancouver on Monday the 28th, and took public transit downtown. As is the case in Toronto, the Airport is nowhere near the downtown core. And there is no direct link either. I had to take 2 different buses to get to the core of the city. Unlike Toronto, Vancouver won their Olympic bid, and had serious impetus to extend the LRT system to the airport. We'll see how long it takes Toronto to do the same.

The next afternoon was spent discovering a few of the neighbourhoods around the downtown core with Cody, namely Granville Island (think markets and artisans) and Yaletown (condos and yuppies!). That night we met back up with my host Jenn and her friends for a birthday dinner at a Malaysian restaurant, before the girls headed off to a pole dancing class. Scandalous.

Wednesday was spent mostly in Surrey, visiting some family, meeting up with some "old" cousins, and meeting a "new" one. New as in I didn't know about her. She's 19, not a baby. I'm not huge on extended family, so I haven't really gone out of my way to discover the close to a hundred cousins that I have. Side note: My cousin Sabrina is what I call a "high performance vehicle." This girl is on a full ride at Stanford, doing track, and I went to her training session. Crazy stuff.

That night was the HSBC Festival of something or another at English Bay... Huge fireworks show and competition between Canada, the US, and China I believe. It was like the Benson & Hedges show that Toronto used to have. And might still have. Someone let me know if Toronto still has it.

Travel Blog: Day 6

July 28

Flying out to Vancouver today (I was terribly confused on that point until yesterday... yikes).

Went to Taste of Edmonton yesterday in downtown Edmonton, and thoroughly enjoyed the public square, the food, the atmosphere, the whole cultural feeling of it all.  Even though Toronto has the Taste of the Danforth, I've never made the effort to actually go out to it.  It is events like this that make me remember that the Canadian Identity really is that great mosaic that they talk about in elementary school, instead of the "anything not-American" identity that some people like to push on us (*cough* the lib party... ignore that).  

When I get back to the Toronto area, I'll definitely be going to more events in and around the city.  Festival City has definitely shown me a good time, but I'm sure that the GTA has just as many, if not more, opportunities for cultural exploration, and just plain fun in the sun.

Travel Blog: Day 4

July 26

Spent the last 2 days down at the Rexall Edmonton Indy, the only Canadian stop on this year's IRL race schedule.  And what a weekend of racing it has been.  The crowds were great, the weather was great, the on track performances were great.  In today's main event, Paul Tracy, the Thrill from West Hill, finished in 4th, in his first race in the newly unified circuit. Gotta love PT.

Also got to see Frankie Muniz, yes that's right, Malcolm in the Middle, driving in the Atlantic Series. He didn't fare so well, but it was cool to see him zipping around the track at the City Centre Airport.

Tonight we went down to the Capital Ex (formerly Klondike Days) to see the finale concert of the fair.  Dragonette opened (which I missed.... again!), followed by Bedouin Soundclash and the evening was wrapped up by Metric.  They put on a great show in threatening weather (which never materialized, thank God).

Edmonton has billed itself as "Festival City", and I will concur at this point in time.  Not only was the Indy and Capital Ex going on this weekend, but they also have the Taste of Edmonton happening downtown.  With superb public transit specifically adapted for these events, getting to and from everything was simple and not overly time consuming.  Toronto would have managed to totally screw that up (AKA not sending enough buses to the Exhibition... for ANY event that happens there).  Kudos to Edmonton for being such an efficient host.

Travel Blog: Day 2

July 24

Well, my first full day in Edmonton has been quite eventful. Staying with Will & Colleen near the U of A campus again (a giant thank-you to them).  Highlights for the day:

The Bodyworlds exhibit at the Telus World of Science.

First thing to notice is that EVERYTHING in Alberta seems to have serious corporate sponsorship. Torontonians, can you imagine if Bell had the naming rights to the Ontario Science Centre? Regardless, this exhibit was absolutely astounding.  I am glad that I was able to catch it here in Edmonton, as I missed it when it was at the OSC.  The bodies looked fake at times, but the effect is still striking and memorable.  It made me realize how fragile the human body really is, how complicated each of the systems within it are.  They showed full bodies (devoid of skin), as well as different systems, such as the skeleton, nervous system, musculature, intestinal, etc., to demonstrate the different functionalities.  For all the super nerds out there, the process of preparing the bodies (as well as the individual systems or organs) is very very cool. Look it up, it's called plastination, invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens.  All I can suggest is that you must see this exhibit if it rolls through your city.  The exhibits on the lungs, fetuses, and the pregnant mother are worth the price of admission (almost $30).  They had a mother who was 8 months pregnant when she died.  And the baby is also preserved.  Inside of her.  Quite a moving sight.  No worries about controversies, the mother knew she was going to die, and the baby could not be saved, and donated her body to be plastinated.

MSTRKRFT & Booka Shade:  Concert @ the Starlite Room

Man, what a performance.  Went with Megan Lenz, and saw an absolutely great show.  I hadn't heard of Booka Shade until I got my ticket, and heard them for the first time at the Starlite.  This German duo were amazing, and really had the crowd going.  Unfortunately, Megan didn't get to see MSTRKRFT as she had to go to work the next morning.  And she missed one helluva set.  But the one comment I have for Edmonton's electro/dance scene... jeez, they really don't know how to dance.  Maybe I pre-judge, because I don't know the Toronto electro scene all that much (Montreal's is wicked), but other than a few bright lights, like the one dude who lit it up before the crowds got in, there was a mass of whole uncoordinated and unaware dancers. Jumping and twisting yourself has never qualified as dancing.

Overheard in Edmonton:

"We don't do aisles here"

WTF?

No angus burger?!?!?!?

Travel Blog: Day 1

5:15pm Whatever time zone this is.

Finally landed in Edmonton. The plane from Calgary to Edmonton was puny.  The guy behind me sneezed, and the plane took a dip during our ascent.  Never before have I been scared of flying. 

Travel Blog: Day 1

8:19 am

Well, I finally sit down. NOT on my flight. So the shocking news is that I did not leave home late.  We left in plenty of time.  But the gods of traffic chaos descended on the 403 and BAM! all lanes closed.  So of course, I got here just minutes too late to check in.  And the fee to change my flight? Another $150+tax, almost the original flight cost.  And I wore the worst possible pants.  Going through security they almost made me take them off.  The security  guy with the magic wand almost got to 2nd base. 

Standing in line at Tim's I noticed a familiar face: the Honourable Tony Clement.  I should have stopped him for a chat, but he looked like he was making a bee-line for the newsstand.  I'm guessing only to pick up the best of newspapers, the National Post.

That's all for now, I'm in for a 2hr delay, then a reroute through Calgary. Fun times ahead.

Travelling

In yet another attempt to delay the official beginning of my "adult" life, I'll be travelling to the West Coast of this beautiful country. Even though I've had plenty of time to try and figure out what I want to do at this juncture of my life, being at home hasn't proved to be the best location to do great thinking. So I'm headed away to see some sights and do some thrills, do some "communing with nature" (thats total BS, but I'll be seeing some nature sights), and spending more of the money that really isn't mine.

Here's my itinerary:

July 23: YYZ - YEG
I'll be flying into Edmonton, and visiting Holly, Colleen & Will. They're all friends from First Year (Sci 07!) and I'll be going to the IRL race (where Paul Tracy will be making his "debut"!).

July 28: YEG - YVR
Flying into Vancouver, visiting Jenn, Cody, my cousins over the week and long weekend.

Aug 5: Ferry to Vancouver Island
I'll be traipsing across Van. Isle for about 2 weeks, hitting up Nanaimo, Victoria, and hopefully Tofino/Ucluelet. I'm also going to make a mini trip into the states to Anacourtes. This will be the most relaxing part of the trip.

And then on Aug 18 I fly home.