Category: Vancouver

Bright Nights in Stanley Park is often referred to as the Christmas Train. If in Vancouver at Christmastime, come down to the Stanley Park and take in the massive Christmas light display. I did some Internet research and, apparently, there are 250,000 plus visitors each year. The charity that benefits from all this is the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund. About 800 fire fighters put in 8,000 hours over 3 months to set up and tear down 3 million lights and associated decorations. We visited on Boxing Day and, by 5 PM, the woods and light are wonderfully magical. […]

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Although chilly (5 degrees C) it was not raining and we decided to walk the two streets and look to see what restaurants took our fancy. A place called MeeT on Mainland was near to where we started and it was a burgers and beer kind of place but – it took a moment looking at the menu – it was entirely vegan. We continued to walk the two blocks. There were pubs, Italian, Greek, and a couple of chains like The Keg and Cactus Club. In the end I wanted to try MeeT because my wife, who is a […]

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This year in Vancouver‘s Stanley Park, the Ghost Train is entitled Jack O’Lantern’s Journey Through the Dark Forest. It is a more whimsical take on a Halloween theme and is based on the story of Jack, an Irish trickster who was cursed to live in-between heaven and hell, but managed to get an ember of coal so he could make a lantern from a turnip. The event is very family focused, but there’s just nothing to beat that miniature train ride through the dark woods. Note that you can drive, park for free. Buy tickets online mind you and you’ll […]

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Bard on the Beach in Vancouver is approaching its 30th birthday given it started in 1990. This year they put on As You Like It, Macbeth, Timon of Athens and Lysistrata, based on Aristophanes’ ancient play. My family took in As You Like It, which was set in 1960s Vancouver and included no less than 25 Beatles songs. What was so clever was the weaving in of the songs into the context of the play. And that it was not simply singing the songs, the players acted the songs. This helped As You Like It because, as a play, it […]

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On August 20th my brother and I went on a “sibling date” to Science World. We live in Vancouver and had been before, but the exhibits had been modified since our last visit, so we decided to give it a go. The Telus World of Science opens at 10:00 AM, we arrived at 10:30 AM. There was already a fairly long line for tickets, and it looked from the outside as if many people were visiting the exhibits already. Once we got to the desk I asked for one youth ticket and one child ticket as I am 17 and […]

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Escape Vancouver Completely (by way of North Vancouver) Without Touching a Car Part 5 of 5 – The Pinnacle at the Pier After a fun time with the Night Market (part 4 of this series), it was time to put our feet up. My primary reason for picking the The Pinnacle in North Vancouver was the location. Due to not having a car for this adventure, I desired walking distance from the Seabus. And this place was really close. One thing I’ve noticed in the last 3 years is that the hotel rates in the Vancouver area have gone nuts. […]

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Escape Vancouver Completely (by way of North Vancouver) Without Touching a Car Part 4 of 5 – Shipyards Night Market For our relaxing day and night off, my wife and I planned, but didn’t plan too much. Being overscheduled does not lead to relaxation. We were on foot so anything we did would be local. I had imagined maybe walking up Lonsdale Ave, but suddenly we were in the middle of the Shipyards Night Market, which was in full swing by the time we had finished dinner (part 3 of 5 of our adventure). This night market was literally out […]

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Escape Vancouver Completely (by way of North Vancouver) Without Touching a Car Part 3 of 5 – Tap and Barrel Right beside Lonsdale Quay (part 2 of this adventure), there is an area called The Shipyards, which is in what they call Lower Lonsdale. There’s a funky art gallery and a night market (more on that later) and a couple of restaurants. We first looked at Pier 7, but the menu had only one option for vegetarians. We wandered over to Tap and Barrel, which I assumed would be a burger-fries-beer mentality. It was, but it also held a number […]

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Escape Vancouver Completely (by way of North Vancouver) Without Touching a Car Part 2 of 5 – Seabus to Lonsdale Quay It is incredibly easy to reach the North Shore, specifically North Vancouver, by transit. It was a three-block walk from the Vancouver Art Gallery (part 1 of this series) to Burrard Station. From there, you can buy your tickets from machines to get onto the Skytrain. You need two zone fare for the North Shore. Start at Burrard Station and go to Waterfront Station on the Expo Line. You then follow the signs and walk to the Seabus. It […]

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Escape Vancouver Completely (by way of North Vancouver) Without Touching a Car Part 1 of 5 – The Vancouver Art Gallery This year my wife and I were celebrating a significant wedding anniversary and decided to get away from it all and actually relax. As you might imagine, children complicate matters; we could not go far for long. I devised an escape that would let us feel like we got away from it all while still maintaining a reasonable distance in case of an emergency. My second objective was to be able avoid having to use a car. We like […]

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