Tuesday, June 7, More Vancouver

Our breakfast this morning included scrambled eggs, Canadian bacon (Dave just calls it bacon – this is Canada after all), sausages, breaded roasted tomato slices and orange slices – all served on beautiful china, with linen table cloth and napkins to match.  We are certainly being treated to elegant breakfasts.

We took the bus and SkyTrain into Vancouver City.   We needed to give up our seats on the bus because there was both a toddler in a stroller and a man in a wheelchair who required that seats be raised to make room for them.  Jim got to sit in a seat on the train with a huge window facing forward.  He got to take several pictures.  He concluded that it would be difficult to increase the trains from 2 cars to 4 and impossible to increase to 6 without huge rework.  This train went in about 10AM and it was well filled.  

 

There are a lot of reminders that Vancouver is not just a city of office workers.  There were a lot of working ships and piles of logs afloat in the waterways.

We went to visit the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens and Scholar’s House.  It was the first full size scholar’s house and garden constructed outside of China.  Artisans from China constructed it in 18 months, using traditional materials brought in from China.  It is a peaceful site that represents how a highly educated man would have lived in China 500 years ago.  

 All high-ranking civil servants needed to be scholars.  In addition to things we westerners recognized as marks of a scholar, these people had to excel in things like calligraphy and music.  Our tour guide was outstanding.  He explained all of the symbolism throughout the house and the gardens, and explained everything with lots of expression.  He appointed each of the members of our tour to different roles and explained their actions in a variety of situation.  We were the scholar’s parents.  Some of the women in the group were his concubines.  One man was the scholar and was placed in a lot of situations.

Our guide pointed out many examples of Yin and Yang – complementary opposites.  For example the stones and designs on one section of floor were round – feminine – and across the courtyard, a very similar pattern was done with angles - masculine.

There were many stones that came from a very acidic lake that corroded them into interesting shapes.  A scholar would have had them to remind him of the mountains and to make him think about what might be visible in a stone.  One looked like George Washington in one view and like a horse’s head from another angle.

Our guide used a gong to summon koi (fish) for feeding.  He plunged it into the water after striking, a technique that worked well.

We ate lunch in Chinatown in a restaurant / bakery frequented by local Chinese residents, but we neglected to note its name.  We had beef noodles in a delicious sauce and pork pot stickers.  They were delicious!  All of the Chinese waitresses were wearing Canuck shirts in honor of the local team.  The team will be playing in Boston tomorrow night.

We spent the afternoon in the aquarium located in Stanley Park.  It is a wonderful place filled with rare fish, reptiles, birds, mammals, insects and invertebrates that are exhibited in settings similar to their natural environments.  Jim took so many pictures and it is difficult to decide which ones to include in this blog.  

 

We also saw a demonstration of birds of prey that are local to British Columbia – a bald eagle, a pair of hawks and a barred owl. One of the perches was almost directly over our heads - it was a thrilling place to stand.

On the ride back, we were treated to a great view of the Vancouver skyline.

The city is making a big push for bicycle transportation.  They have put in bike lanes in many city streets and have facilitated their use on public transportation.

We returned to our B & B to pick up our car and drive over to Steveston for dinner.  We ate in a small Italian restaurant called Paesano’s and had a very good meal. We started with a bruschetta-like dish: thick bread topped with tomatoes, onions, olives, capers, and melted cheese, served with a sauce.  Jim had homemade manicotti and Ardith had veal Marsala with penne pasta.  We enjoyed two great desserts – Jim had pears that were stuffed with hazelnut and bread then topped with sugar then baked and drizzled with chocolate.  Ardith had white chocolate gelato with a raspberry center and coated in white chocolate.  Wow!  Our very pleasant waitress linked us up with the 2 women at the next table who were regulars.  One of them has a son who will be one of the referees at tomorrow night’s Stanley cup playoff game.  She said not to blame him for last night’s blowout.

After dinner, we took a stroll around the docks to take a tiny bit off our fabulous meal’s calories.