OUR ALASKAN CRUISE: JUNE 2024

Part Two: Vancouver Tour

It was the day after our interesting trip to Vancouver, and we and eight others decided to see a bit of the city. However, given that the oldest member of our group was a spry 91 years of age we decided we would forgo a bicycle tour of the city and instead take more suitable transportation for the age of our group. I will say, though, I believe a bicycle tour would have been much more fun.

We chose a 4 hour tour called Vancouver Highlights Tour provided by Landsea Tours. The tour would take us throughout the city, over to Stanley Park, then finish with a delightful stop at Grandville Island.

Here are some of the highlights of the tour.

This was the entrance to Stanley Park. Here we learned that the area that the park encompasses today was first used by the Coast Salish people to hunt, fish and gather food for centuries. Evidence of their villages and activities have been found at several park sites. In 1899, one year after the opening off the park former Governor General Lord Stanley dedicated the park to the use and enjoyment of all peoples of all colors, creeds and customs, for all time. Stanley Park is Vancouver’s oldest, and Canada’s largest, urban park.

Off to the right as you entered the park was this rather fascinating stature. The plaque that was at its base gave us this information: this sculpture, craved in cedar, than cast in bronze is a tribute to the ancestral connection between this area’s aboriginal and Portuguese communities. The stature depicts Portuguese Joe Silvey and his family. The fishing nets and the whale harpoon refer to how the family made their living.

This was another attraction that we saw while in Stanley Park. Though commonly referred to as Totem Poles we learned that that is not quite correct. Rather they should be referred to as Story Poles. They were typically carved of western red cedar and each pole tells a real or mythical story. They are not idols nor are they worshiped. We would discover many more such poles on our cruise through Alaska.

Looking across the parking lot, and across the bay from where our tour bus was parked we could see the downtown skyline of Vancouver. Once a bustling logging town, the skyline is now dominated by residential and retail developments, and the unique white sails of the convention and cruise ship center. Also, if you look real close in the above photograph you’ll spot Vancouver’s version of the Space Needle.

Time to get back on the bus and head to our next stop.

This was our next stop.

Which offered us a beautiful view of where we would be sailing tomorrow as we began our actual cruise to Alaska. This area is known as Vancouver’s gateway to the Pacific.

Back on the bus and we were headed to our final stop.

Grandville Island has a little something for almost everyone.

There are theaters, educational centers and craft studios.

Even the cement factory is something special.

And then there is the Public Market, which had one shop in particular I was looking for in order to make the next day’s breakfast something special. Can you guess what I was looking for?

Arby’s may have the meats but Siegel’s has the bagels! And I was in desperate need of an everything bagel fix!

But there was more. Take a look.

Oh if I could have just had some shipped home. I love Ravioli.

Any chocolate lovers among us?

There were crafts of every shape, size and form. Honestly, you could spend hours in the market and never see the same thing twice.

We spent a delightful couple of hours wandering through the shops. We stopped for lunch and took time to also find the ice cream shop. All too soon it was time to return to the bus and make our way back to our hotel.

We absolutely enjoyed the time we had in Vancouver. The weather was perfect. Time with friends was wonderful. We wished we had had another day to spend there but tomorrow we were to board the Celebrity Summit for our cruse to Alaska.

Back at our hotel we felt like all was right with the world and nothing could dampen our soaring spirits. The the call came from our cruise line, Celebrity. Want to know what they said? In so many word they told us that because we didn’t have the documents they required they would not allow us to board the ship. Want to know what my wife said. Simply Try to stop us. And she hung up the phone. Tomorrow was going to be a most interesting day.