VANCOUVER
the city of vancouver, capital of the canadian province "british columbia", is a seaport, canada's largest, located at the s-w corner of canada, eastern of vancouver island.
it is a young city, which developed from 1863 onwards. it now has more than 600000 inhabitants. vancouver is multicultural: about 50% have a first language other than english. roughly 30% are of chinese heritage; the indigenous population is about 5%.
viewing vancouver means: many skyscrapers, lots of ships, large harbour facilities, and high snow-covered peaks in the background.
both north and east of vancouver are mountain areas. at 80 km to the north is mount garibaldi, an (ex-)volcano. its highest peak reaches 2678 m.
the central area of vancouver is located between burrard inlet to the north and the fraser river to the south. thus many large bridges have been built.
in the older parts of vancouver city quite a few traditional architecture creations can be seen.
a special feature is the ice skating rink on robson place. it is amenable year-round. any kind of people are active there, from naive amateurs to professionals, and sometimes competitions are held. even just watching the ice skaters is true fun.
the buildings in vancouver, older ones and modern ones, show a lot of impressive architecture, outside and inside.
some creations are just large, even very large, yet some are unique in that they are based on quite ingenious designs.
a building like this one is almost "a piece of art", certainly more than a construction to provide office space!
a special effect of buildings which have an outside of large glas areas is that they reflect the environment - creating views which are almost confusing.
even people who know nothing about vancouver may have seen pictures of this extremely unusual public clock.
this "steam clock" is actually not that old - was erected in 1977 in the middle of vancouver's gastown district. it is driven by a steam engine and electric motors. the clock announces the quarter hours with a whistle chime, and it produces a puff of steam from its top at the full hour.
because of the clock's noise levels and inability to keep accurate time, since 1986 it gets mainly handled by its electric motor.
canada place is a complex located at the burrard inlet waterfront. it houses the vancouver convention centre, its world trade centre, and is the main cruise ship terminal. the architecture focusses sail-like configurations.
several art museums are built as modern architecture as well, as are various leisure precincts.
so, that is vancouver. lots & lots & lots ot things to see there - more features, and more different ones, than in any other canadian city, in my view.
postscriptum 1 did i photograph people? yes. is this here me? no. guess what this is?
postscriptum 2 did i do a trip with a waterplane? yes, but only once.
postscriptum 3 did i travel by train? yes, once, a big voyage - from vancouver via jasper, edmonton, winnipeg, hamilton to toronto
postscriptum 4 have i visited nearby located areas and city? indeed, i did. this includes: vancouver island (visit by ship and bus), whistler ski area (reached by bus), seattle/usa (by ship and by train), and bellingham/usa (by train) - see the map on top.
postscriptum 5 finally, how happened my daily moving during my time in vancouver? by walking, by busses, and very much with a wonderful bicycle - here it is!
cheerio!
