After being in Whistler for 4 months we though it was time to take some time off and head back to explore Vancouver a little better. We were both excited to go see the city after a quick and busy stop way back when we arrived in Canada. We both managed to get time off work for a couple of nights away.
We left Whistler as early as possible and had a quick breakfast in Squamish before finishing the 1.5 hour trip down to Vancouver. We had a plan during the trip see as much as possible in the short time we had. Once we arrived we were happy that we could check in to our accommodation on arrival. We had booked in at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, which was a beautiful old hotel in the heart of downtown. Nick works for the Fairmont and got us a discounted rate on our room and the food and beverages at the rooftop restaurant and bar. The price we paid here was cheaper than a 4 person dorm room only 4 blocks away (where we stayed when we arrived back in November).
We dropped our bags in our room and headed to our first destination, a short walk and water taxi trip later we found ourselves at Granville Island. Granville Island is a funky little island, with fine waterfront restaurants, theatres, galleries, studios, unique shops, cafes and fresh food market.
After taking a stroll around some shops and galleries we found the Granville Island Brewing Company. We had ‘tested’ the beer in Whistler so we thought we better go in and ‘test’ the rest of their brew out as well. We managed to try every one, all 8 different beers that they had on tap! But it’s ok when they are only small 5oz glasses, by the time we left feeling a little drunk and decided they passed the test.
Then we headed to the Public Market for lunch, which was going to be a hard decision with all the amazing foods on offer. We opted with some delicious Thai food but were too full to try any more. After lunch we hoped back into a water taxi and headed towards Yaletown where we wondered around and strolled back to the Fairmont.
When we got back we went and made use of the pool and spa, and accompanied ourselves with another couple of beverages. After getting back to our room we cleaned ourselves up and headed up for a drink at the roof top bar. We want to go check out more of the city so we went to Top of Vancouver the revolving restaurant for a bottle of wine. We got there before the sunset so we were able to see the city by day and night. We had fantastic views of the Vancouver Harbour and the city skyscrapers while enjoying a bottle of wine and completing two rotations around. We then headed back to the Fairmont’s roof top restaurant for dinner before calling it a night.
The next morning we had planed to hire some bikes a ride around Stanley Park, we were able to get BMW bikes from the Fairmont free of charge. We headed off on the almost 9km trip around the seawall, it was a chilly morning but the rain held off. We got great views of the Vancouver skyline from across the other side of Vancouver Harbour.
As we made our way around we passed some nice little beaches, obviously a little to cold for a swim this time of year. We then came across 14 smiling bronze statues, they were great for a few photos and a laugh at the different poses. After our bike ride we went shopping, before heading back for another spa at the hotel.
That night we had tickets to the ice hockey to see Vancouver Canucks play Los Angeles Kings, who won the Stanley cup the year before. We headed to Rodgers Arena which was just a short walk away, stopping off for a Japanese dinner along the way (Vancouver has some of the most amazing Sushi I have ever had). We got to the game early to check it all out, it was a good game and in the end the home team went down convincingly 4-0. Most of the Canuck supporters had left before the end of the game because the result was so far out of reach.
The following morning we checked out early and headed back to Whistler as Nick had to work at 11am. It had been a great couple of days in Vancouver and it was especially nice that we could get out of the Whistler bubble for our weekend.
Chao for now,
N & S xx
Abroad with Nick & Som... 
Nicely done for a short trip. The bike ride looks very enjoyable and those statues are great! I feel like going into a jacuzzi now though.
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