Another Bon Voyage

Yesterday, I boarded the Queen of Oak Bay and sailed to Horseshoe Bay (1 1/2 hours). Then I got on the Express bus to downtown Vancouver (1/2 hour), where I boarded yet another bus to get to my son's place in Burnaby (1/2 hour). We had a great visit that included lunch in a Mexican restaurant. That was a poetic touch, as we hadn't seen each other since before Robin and I left for Mexico in December. I was relieved to see that Bumble is living in a pleasant neighbourhood (he moved while we were away). We spent some time at his apartment, which has a great view of Vancouver,
then went for a walk down Hastings Street. I found a great mural, and Bumble says there are a lot of them farther along Hastings. Next time I'm over, I'll go mural hunting. Unfortunately, there was a pole in front of this mural, with an electrical box on it, so I couldn't photograph the whole mural - just a taste of it, along with its credit.

We strolled around the neighbourhood, seeing the sights, getting me my exercise. I had been feeling guilty because I'd got straight onto the ferry without going for a walk or to the gym, and then I'd had the delicious but fattening lunch. I needn't have worried. When I got home last night, I took off my pedometer. It had registered 15,305 steps. I felt, as I told my friend Jane this morning, as if I'd been hit by a brick. I am recovering, but slowly.

We were sitting at a picnic table, talking, watching kids kick a soccer ball around, when I panicked. I looked at my watch, read it wrong, thought I had to catch a bus right that minute in order to be in time for the 7 pm ferry home - so we ran for the bus stop, and I caught the bus right away. I was about ten minutes down the road when I realized I had read the clock wrong, and it was an hour earlier than I thought. Never mind, I said. This way I won't be rushing for the boat. When the boat was twenty minutes late leaving the dock - because there were stalled cars on the car deck - I rolled my eyes. That was another hour I could have had with Bumble. Again, never mind. I'll go back next month. We plan to stop for the night in Vancouver on the way to Wyoming in the Turtle.

After the first bus ride, I had half an hour to wait at Granville and Georgia in downtown Vancouver, so I entertained myself by taking a few photos. The



bus stop is right in front of the Hudson's Bay Company, whose windows were fun to photograph.



A block away is the art gallery. We considered visiting it yesterday, but we're both rather broke right now, so we decided to put that off for a while. It is a beautiful building, though, and there's an exhibition on that I would love to see before it goes.

I realize as I work here that I did take rather a lot of pictures yesterday, and if I keep posting them, I'll be here all day - and this post will be three blocks long. What I think I'll do is - some time in the next couple of days - I'll post a slideshow on YouTube and link it to another post. Not Theme Thursday, because that's Swing, and I can't figure out how to make that fit. Friday Photo Shoot-Out's theme is M - anything that begins with M. I suppose it would be cheating to post My Trip to Vancouver . I'll figure something out.



Meanwhile, though, this is the teaser. I enjoyed my visit, and I could feel the big city excitement, but I don't think I could live there. It was good to get off the boat in Nanaimo and be driven down our quiet streets. Vancouver is way too noisy - and it's just so shiny.