Stanley Park

Kelly left early for her bus to Toronto and Gowoon peeked to say goodbye around 7 am. I decided to sleep in.

Gitta, my roomie from Berlin, greeted me with a Good Morning. She just finished working for a year in Toronto and is now exploring the other parts of Canada.

She took me to the Save On Meats place(West Hastings St), just a few blocks from the hostel. It's a popular place where you get value for money breakfast. For $1.75 you get the cookie sandwich which was really yummy. For $3.50 you get a coffee to go with that. Woot! :) The guy was bubbly and nice and knew the local customers. I always like to going to places like that and blend in :)

We decided to eat it somewhere instead of getting on the waiting list. Gitta took me to Gastown so I know my bearing. After a few blocks, we headed our own ways.

Stanley Park
  

RedCedar trees

Stanley Park has been the most talked about park in Vancouver. Not only does it have stunning views, but also includes a variety of activities over so many hectares of land. Situated near downtown, it's known to be the first and largest urban park in Vancouver .Stanley Park Map

I followed the water as I headed to the entrance of Stanley. The harbour in itself was already interesting enough, coupled with a variety of sailboats and restos to take photos of. The seaplanes taking off filled the air with its roaring engines. A few joggers were running their daily kilometers while I cruised around and lazily soaked in the atmosphere.

Chanting Man

Stanley Park offers the opportunity for walking, cycling, rollerblading, picnics and other activities. Click Here to read more details About Stanley Park. I followed the whole seawall, as they call it. It is the perimeter that encloses the park itself and takes 22km to walk. And I did it. However, I wasn't aware it was 22 km. Had I known, then maybe I would have taken shortcuts. I didn't regret it though. I came across so many interesting displays of art and history. To top it up were the different native trees of Canada. I took a few photos of the Red Cedars which were booming all over my path with its height and shade.

Totem Poles

While walking around, I noticed a guy chanting to the trees. I wanted to approach him and have a chat, try and understand why he was chanting, or what he was chanting... but I thought it best to leave him to it and just try to capture that moment with my camera. Maybe it's just me, but I love chanting.. I feel like there's always a story behind a chant...... always.... and it all goes back to history I guess.

Horse Carriage

Further on to my walking I realized I got to the area that was passed the totem poles. Okay, so I missed it. and I said, nope, I can't leave the park without checking them out. I wasn't sure if i'll ever get to Haida Gwaii, so decided to walk 900m back to visit the totem poles.

Girl in Bathing Suite

All of the poles were facing the vast tall buildings of downtown Vancouver. There they all stood at Brockton Point with an explanation for the variety of animals or faces combined in a pole. They had 8 totem poles in total. Details on each Totem pole

Tea House up in Stanley

I stood there for a while. I know a lot of people are not into this, but for some reason I've always been amazed about the meaning of the animals. For more readings on the meanings click here

On the west side of the park were the second and third beach. Don't ask me why they've named it like that... I just learned to accept it. At least it wasn't difficult to remember haha. I stopped at the second beach and sat there for a while. Granola bars are always good company. I decided to choose a log and sunbathe for a while. Couples were all cooed behind a few logs further away from me. I watched  2 friends wet their feet and giggle from a distance. A seaplane just flew right over me, approaching for landing. When I was toasted enough, I packed up and got back on the road.

Second Beach

In exiting Stanley Park would be English Bay and then Sunset beach (right beside the bridge going to Granville Island). I decided to linger in English bay. It was packed with people who were waiting for sunset. It was actually the perfect day to do that. But since it was just about 6:30 I decided to walk around the shops. I found myself a really good fruit shop and bought me some bananas and oranges for the next couple of days.

In total I walked for more than 30km. WAHH!!!