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Wanderung 13

Any Which Way But Loose:

Meandering Many Miles in Multitudinous Mechanisms

September 2006

Saturday, September 16th - Disembarking in Vancouver, Canada.

Monika and I were again up at the crack of dawn and headed up to the Lido deck for a final meal on board. By the time we came on deck, our ship was already in Vancouver's harbor. We watched it nestle up to the cruise ship dock as we ate breakfast. The sun arose over the mountains to the east across the bay, so we watched that a bit before returning to our cabin.

On the way back, we said good-bye to Lois, Bill, and Phyllis, who was mourning the loss of good bread pudding at every luncheon. Back on our verandah we waited patiently for our clearance to disembark while we watched the crew unload luggage. We finally were cleared to leave shortly after nine o'clock. Clearing Canadian immigration and customs was remarkably quick. We also had only a short wait for a taxi, so we arrived at the Lord Stanley Suites Hotel, located just south of Stanley Park, about ten o'clock. We were so early that our room wasn't ready yet, so we stowed our luggage in a side room and walked down Robson Street looking for the starting point for our next Volksmarch.

After walking up and down streets for the better part of an hour, we finally found the starting point at the "Running Room" athletic store just around the corner from our hotel. We picked up the instructions for the Stanley Park Volksmarch but then returned to the hotel to check in and settle into our room. Much to our surprise and delight, our suite had a small washer-dryer combination, so Monika immediately started to wash the dirty clothes we had accumulated on the trip up to that point.

I tried out our room's cable Internet connection, but it turned out to cost ten Canadian dollars per day. In my book, if you are paying well over $100 a night for a hotel room, the Internet connection should be a free amenity, so I declined that service. Searching for a wireless Internet connection from our balcony, I found several available networks but none that performed satisfactorily so I gave up on doing our email for the day and settled in to bring the trip journal up to date.

But the day was bright, sunny, and all together too good to waste, so after lunch at a nearby Subway, Monika and I started off on a Volksmarch around Stanley Park. Our route basically circled Stanley Park on a path along the seawall that surrounds the peninsula. For most of our route the path had different lanes to separate the bicyclists and roller bladers from the pedestrians. Some rude bicyclists and bladers ignored those signs, using the pedestrian path and almost hitting us, but for the most part we could walk unmolested around the park.

The first section of the Volksmarch was out to a little point that gave us a great view of the harbor. Across the way we saw the huge piles of yellow sulphur which really are an eyesore in an otherwise pretty harbor. The Zuiderdam was still docked at the cruise ship pier along with two other cruise ships, and that brought back fond memories. Seaplanes were taking off or landing every few minutes and small boats of every description were chugging up and down the harbor, so it was really a bustling scene of constant activity.

At the farthest end of the point was a small but pretty lighthouse, and from there we followed the seawall into the next bay. A harbor seal poked its little grey head up right beside the shore and we both fumbled to get out our cameras but he was gone again, quick as a wink. We waited a bit to see if he would resurface, but after a while we gave up and continued on toward the Lion's Gate Bridge in the distance. The next landmark, or possibly a seamark, was a small bronze statue of a "Girl in a Wetsuit" perched on a rock just offshore, which reminded me very much of "The Little Mermaid" statue in Copenhagen harbor except that this girl had SCUBA fins instead of flippers.


 

Our path along the seawall led us right under the Lions Gate Bridge. Up close it was even more impressive than when seen from a distance. "Up close and personal", the bridge itself was quite a sight vaulting across the harbor mouth to North Vancouver. The tower on the peninsula side of the bridge vaulted up at least a hundred feet high out of the water just offshore, and then our eyes followed that long, uninterrupted span of the suspension bridge over to the tower on the other side of the straight.

Ships and boats were constantly passing back and forth underneath the bridge, including graceful sailboats, powerful but ungainly tugboats, heavy barges, and the like. The bridge seemed to mark some kind of a speed limit zone for powerboats because I saw several powerboats suddenly slow down when they crossed under the bridge. I had to laugh when I saw a powerboat being towed back to the marina by a harbor patrol boat; I suspect he had either run out of gas or had engine trouble.

From the Lion's Gate Bridge we worked our way back to the city along the western side of the peninsula. We again saw a flotilla of five or more freighters or tankers moored just offshore, and since we saw them every time we visited the park, I assume that they are a regular feature of the scene. We also walked past Siwash Rock, a rugged shaft of stone jutting up from the ocean about twenty feet from the seashore. According to an Indian legend, a guy by the name of "Skalsh the Unselfish" was turned into stone by "Q'uas the Transformer" as a reward for his unselfishness. The rock does resemble a face a bit, but if that was the reward for unselfishness, I had to wonder what the punishment for selfishness would be like!

By the time we reached Second Beach, we had been walking a couple of hours and were getting somewhat footsore and weary, so we stopped to rest on one of the benches conveniently provided for that purpose by the city of Vancouver. We could see a municipal pool in the distance to our left, but it appeared to be closed for the season. People had flocked to the beach itself, however, which was not surprising given the brilliant sunshine and balmy temperatures. The water was undoubtedly cool because I didn't see anyone actually swimming in the ocean, just a couple of young children paddling on the shore.

Re-entering downtown Vancouver, we walked slowly along Denman Street and finally found a food store tucked into a mini-mall. There we purchased some rolls, ham, and low fat cheese for our evening meal, and limped back to the hotel to put up our feet and have a simple supper. It was a far cry from our dinners on the Zuiderdam, but if I ate like that all the time I would have even more trouble with my coronary arteries than I already have, so it was probably just as well. After dinner Monika processed our pictures from the last couple of days while I fooled around with some tricky Sudoku puzzles (unsuccessfully, this time), and then we just collapsed into bed for the night.

Copyright 2006 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
Prolog
Map
September 2006
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Epilog

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