M's parents joined us in Vancouver for the last 2 weeks in July and an eventful 2 weeks it was. The weather was really well behaved even if they weren't! The first couple of days were spent acclimatising and getting over the jet lag. The evenings were mostly spent watching the sun go down over a stir fry on the balcony or over some sucky sweets on English Bay.
Hiding beer from the police on English Bay
M had a couple of days off while they were here which worked out really well because it allowed her to act as tour guide. One of the first trips was down to Chinatown where they bumped into a man selling edible Pot Pourri.
This man will loosen the dung in you
Actually he was a Chinese herbalist who was probably highly qualified to prescribe a natural remedy to cure whatever ails you. Whatever occurred in that small shop on Gore Street, Matt and Anne ended up paying for it for the next 2 weeks. They had to adhere to a strict regime of one cup of boiled pot pourri soup a day. I only smelled the stuff cooking and it was the oddest smelling pot pourri I've ever encountered. Judging by the facial gymnastics required to down this jazzy tea, it apparently tasted pretty odd aswell.
But other than the minor herbal unpleasantness and the very basic continental breakfasts provided daily by Maitre'd Maisy the rest of the holiday was spent sampling the tastier delicacies and cuisine that Vancouver has to offer. We had lovely meals in Gotham - a fine Vancouver steak house, but being the resourceful vegetarians that we are we still managed to roll out of the place, Cin Cin (thats 2 chins appropriately enough), Quattro on 4th and the Sandbar on Granville Island.
Chin, Chin, Chin and Chin at Cin Cin's
It'll take us weeks to recover from all that rich food. We're quintessential amnesiac bullimics - we eat all round us and keep forgetting to upchuck. Bellys on us like poisoned pups as my mam would say. Speaking of getting poisoned, I've come up with a failsafe plan which allows me to drink beer and not die the next day - dont drink pitchers, especially pitchers which smell like Frish. It's not that I'm a lightweight, I'd actually prefer a bout of Weil's Disease fresh from a bottle to some of the hangovers I've been having recently.
Vancouver's Celebration of Light Festival happened to coincide with Anne's birthday on the Wednesay evening. So after dinner we watched the fireworks on English Bay from our balcony.
The theme of Italy's display was "Gastric Disturbance"
More Fireworks - sponsored by Syrup of Figs ©
Then on the weekend I wasn't on call we rented an SUV and headed up to Whistler picking M up from work on the way. We stayed over on the Saturday night and headed up the mountain in the cable car on Sunday morning after a breakfast which for me mainly consisted of high quality ketchup. It was our first time up the mountain even though we'd been in Whistler (9 out of 10 snowboarders prefer it) a couple of times and it was pretty impressive. A beautiful clear day with temperatures approcahing 35 degrees.
If anyone asks..... we're in the Rockies
Bizarrely though there was still snow in patches on the ground further along some of the hiking trails so I spent the time up there with a snowball pleasantly melting on my head and down my back. I also accidentally invented the snow ball headache ®
Anne even built a snowchild (it was a very small snow man). The scenery was absolutely spectacular - a definite highlight of the trip. Then we headed North towards Pemberton and I had my first experience of +40 degree heat. Like typical Americans, the heat was so intense we only ventured out of the air conditioned environment of the car to pop into a shop to buy prog (aka ju ju's).
Ciao Daaaaaa
So other than that it was a pretty relaxing holiday for all involved. Our final outing was to Bard on the Beach - a really entertaining production of Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream complete with Prince songs and a cameo appearance by Fr. PJ (the priest what married us). The rest of the time was whiled away settling effortlessly into the local lifestyle, walking around the city shopping, drinking schneeky lattes in the local Blenz, or the odd impromptu siesta on the balcony.
What do I have to do to get your attention, send you smoke signals?
On the last Friday of every month some militant hippy locals organise a peacefully disruptive city bike ride called the Critical Mass bike ride. It's an international movement to encourage the use of bikes as an alternative to the car. I was on the ride at the end of June with two guys from work and it was great crack - Orange furry bikes, doubledecker bikes, musical bikes, tandems for 3, bikes pulling pramfuls of kids, all meandering through rush hour traffic forcing motorists to stop and allow them pass through. Its great because there's never a route published - it's follow whoever's at the front, which makes it impossible for the police to plan for it or contain it. It's purpose is supposedly to promote alternative means of transport but really it's just an excuse to hook up with a couple of hundred bizarrely dressed madsers and have a bit of fun in the sun while seeing parts of the city you'd never otherwise get to see. This month there was bikini clad cyclists, the everlasting wheelie and 1 brave lone naked cyclist who hilariously was forced to don a pair of shorts to get into the pub for a pint at the end of the ride.
Orange furry bike
Declan DaVinci
Out with a bang
Hiding beer from the police on English BayM had a couple of days off while they were here which worked out really well because it allowed her to act as tour guide. One of the first trips was down to Chinatown where they bumped into a man selling edible Pot Pourri.
This man will loosen the dung in youActually he was a Chinese herbalist who was probably highly qualified to prescribe a natural remedy to cure whatever ails you. Whatever occurred in that small shop on Gore Street, Matt and Anne ended up paying for it for the next 2 weeks. They had to adhere to a strict regime of one cup of boiled pot pourri soup a day. I only smelled the stuff cooking and it was the oddest smelling pot pourri I've ever encountered. Judging by the facial gymnastics required to down this jazzy tea, it apparently tasted pretty odd aswell.
But other than the minor herbal unpleasantness and the very basic continental breakfasts provided daily by Maitre'd Maisy the rest of the holiday was spent sampling the tastier delicacies and cuisine that Vancouver has to offer. We had lovely meals in Gotham - a fine Vancouver steak house, but being the resourceful vegetarians that we are we still managed to roll out of the place, Cin Cin (thats 2 chins appropriately enough), Quattro on 4th and the Sandbar on Granville Island.
Chin, Chin, Chin and Chin at Cin Cin'sIt'll take us weeks to recover from all that rich food. We're quintessential amnesiac bullimics - we eat all round us and keep forgetting to upchuck. Bellys on us like poisoned pups as my mam would say. Speaking of getting poisoned, I've come up with a failsafe plan which allows me to drink beer and not die the next day - dont drink pitchers, especially pitchers which smell like Frish. It's not that I'm a lightweight, I'd actually prefer a bout of Weil's Disease fresh from a bottle to some of the hangovers I've been having recently.
Vancouver's Celebration of Light Festival happened to coincide with Anne's birthday on the Wednesay evening. So after dinner we watched the fireworks on English Bay from our balcony.
The theme of Italy's display was "Gastric Disturbance"
More Fireworks - sponsored by Syrup of Figs ©Then on the weekend I wasn't on call we rented an SUV and headed up to Whistler picking M up from work on the way. We stayed over on the Saturday night and headed up the mountain in the cable car on Sunday morning after a breakfast which for me mainly consisted of high quality ketchup. It was our first time up the mountain even though we'd been in Whistler (9 out of 10 snowboarders prefer it) a couple of times and it was pretty impressive. A beautiful clear day with temperatures approcahing 35 degrees.
If anyone asks..... we're in the Rockies
Ciao Daaaaaa
What do I have to do to get your attention, send you smoke signals?On the last Friday of every month some militant hippy locals organise a peacefully disruptive city bike ride called the Critical Mass bike ride. It's an international movement to encourage the use of bikes as an alternative to the car. I was on the ride at the end of June with two guys from work and it was great crack - Orange furry bikes, doubledecker bikes, musical bikes, tandems for 3, bikes pulling pramfuls of kids, all meandering through rush hour traffic forcing motorists to stop and allow them pass through. Its great because there's never a route published - it's follow whoever's at the front, which makes it impossible for the police to plan for it or contain it. It's purpose is supposedly to promote alternative means of transport but really it's just an excuse to hook up with a couple of hundred bizarrely dressed madsers and have a bit of fun in the sun while seeing parts of the city you'd never otherwise get to see. This month there was bikini clad cyclists, the everlasting wheelie and 1 brave lone naked cyclist who hilariously was forced to don a pair of shorts to get into the pub for a pint at the end of the ride.
Orange furry bike
Declan DaVinci
Out with a bang
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3 comments:
Dave here......just thought id let you know that Sharon and kieran got engaged a couple of days ago. Grainne now working, ciara working and in good form. Its all good. Vancouver sob, looks great, Dublin is buzzing, enjoying the summer, get your asses to the rockies, you wont regret it.
Shame, good to know the spirit of "Syrup of Figs" dribbles on ( & down ).
You know Pavement say if you think of a word that rhymes with Pavement they'll kill your family etc, well what about - enslavement, raiment, there were a few others but i've forgotten them now, ah well.
hi dave. thats hilarious news about kieran and sharon. i didnt get the impression kieran was the marrying type the last time i talked to him :) we're heading to the rockies at the end of the month for 2 weeks. cant wait.
djasha - you've obviously never really been picnicing on the curragh....
hi peadar. go on. make the next comment coherent. i dare you. did you get those files i threw up to that gmail account?
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